The water off the Swedish west coast was as smooth as a ballroom floor this morning. This meant a long wait for the breeze to fill in from the north before the teams could head out on the racecourse for the first day of the WMRT West Coast Cup.
But once the wind filled in it brought perfect conditions for full power racing.Â
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The newly crowned Swedish champion in match racing from the organizing club, Patrik Sturesson, came out of the starting blocks blazing with a win over highly ranked skipper Hans WallĂŠn. Â
âWe come into this event with a completely new crew and I havenât sailed match racing since Marstrand so it took a while to get goingâ commented Hans WallĂŠn.
But the collaboration with newly recruited tactician Keith Swinton, WMRT tour cardholder last season, didnât need long to generate wins. The oldest skipper in the fleet sits on top with four wins after day one.
âThis is my first regatta without Anders DahlsjĂś on the M32 and we had to reset in order to perform today. We will only improve over the regatta.â
In the chasing pack behind WallĂŠn we have no less than half the fleet. Artemis Youth Racing skipper Rasmus Rosengren, Danish Olympic star Allan Nørregaard, Patrik Sturesson and Typhoon X racingâs MĂĽns Holmberg all sit on three wins and one loss.
MĂĽns Holmberg comments on todays racing, âThe conditions today were great on the waters inside of HĂśnĂś. Weâre feeling confident on board and weâve now sailed enough to find our roles on board. Except for our loss against WallĂŠn, where we actually felt that we had an edge, everything went like we planned today.â
With very similar conditions forecast, racing continues tomorrow. Follow the results live onwww.wmrt.com
