The 12 teams competing in the St. Moritz Match Race are ready to go following Tuesday’s practice session, on a day when the sun had to fight bravely to break through predominantly cloudy skies in the morning, before settling in for much of the afternoon.

A calm morning gave way to stronger, gusty breezes later in the day, allowing a good training session for the teams. Time on the water ahead of Wednesday’s first races is important, with critical World Match Racing Tour ranking points at stake this week, along with 150 000 Swiss Francs (approximately US$125 000) and the coveted ‘King of the Mountain’ title.

The teams greedily lapped up their allotted three hours of practice on the unique Streamline 7.15 keelboats, which are smaller (at 7.15 metres) than the typical boat on the World Match Race Tour, and feature trapeze hiking for the crews to add stability to the boat when the wind is up.

The inshore venue on Lake St. Moritz is also smaller than that typically found on tour, and promises to offer extremely challenging conditions, with shoreline effect windshifts and gusts making no lead safe until the winning boat has crossed the finishing line.

This event features the top four ranked sailors on the World Match Racing Tour, where the entrants will have a round robin and repechage series that will lead into the quaterfinals, semi finals, and finals on August 19th.

Group A

Ian Williams (GBR)
Sebastien Col (FRA)
Evgeny Neugodnikov (RUS)
Matteo Simoncelli (ITA)
Jochen Schuemann (GER)
Michael Hestbaek (GER)

Group B

Mathieu Richard (FRA)
Paolo Cian (ITA)
Staffan Lindberg (FIN)
Eric Monin (SUI)
Mattias Renker (SUI)
Mark Mendleblatt (USA)