Two Swiss teams will be looking to shake things up on the World Match Racing Tour as they join the world’s top match racers at St. Moritz Match Race.
Event veteran Eric Monnin and rising Swiss star Jérôme Clerc will take on eight Tour Card Holders plus several wildcard entries on home waters next week at St. Moritz Match Race, the sixth stage of the world’s premier match racing series.
Monnin has targeted reaching the final of the event – and plans to take down some big names on the way. With a string of good results from Grade 1 events around Europe, Monnin says he and his team can go far at St. Moritz Match Race.
“We have been training hard and finished third at two Grade 1 events this year, in Pornichet, France and Sopot, Poland,” he said. “We also raced the European match race championship. We are outsiders at this event and are happy with that status. If we are on form, we know we can go far. We have raced the semi-finals in St. Moritz before and it goes without saying that our goal is to do better.”
Jérôme Clerc’s Société Nautique de Genève team won their place at St. Moritz Match Race after being crowned Swiss national match racing champions at the Volvo Match Race Cup. Clerc has never won a race against any of the top ten teams – but plans to rectify that this year.
“Last year we came to learn about the World Match Race Tour and at the time we ranked lower than 200th in the world,” said Clerc. “This year we have got a bit more experience. We currently rank among the top 100 crews in the world and winning the Swiss Championship against the Monnin brothers helped boost our confidence. We have never won a match against one of the top ten teams, but we will be aiming to this year. We feel a little bit like a low ranked tennis player facing a Masters tournament… A sizeable and motivating challenge. We can’t wait.”
As the Tour heads towards its climax the pressure is on for the Tour Card Holders to come away from St. Moritz with a good result. For several key players such as Mathieu Richard’s and Damien Iehl’s (FRA) French Match Racing Teams, currently seventh and eighth on the scoreboard, as well as Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team, lying in tenth place overall on his debut season as a Tour Card Holder, a good result at St. Moritz Match Race is vital to their progression up the World Match Racing Tour standings.
At the head of the rankings is Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing, but snapping at his heels is Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar who heads to St. Moritz Match Race on a winning streak with two consecutive wins at the last two stages of the Tour. Second-placed Peter Gilmour misses St. Moritz Match Race, opening the door for the chasing pack to occupy the number two spot.
Although it is the first time he has competed at St. Moritz Match Race, Danish skipper Jesper Radich, currently ranked fourth, said he’s not fazed by the prospect of racing at the event. He said:
“My current goal is to get back into match racing. This will be my first St. Moritz Match Race so the guys that know the boats well will have a small advantage over us, but that doesn’t worry me.”
Swedish match racer Johnie Berntsson is also highly motivated going into the St. Moritz stage, and will be looking to remedy a disappointing first half to the season.
“We have raced St. Moritz before and we are delighted to be back,” he said. “We hope to get some good results.”
St. Moritz Match Race runs from August 30 to September 4.
