Tomorrow is the final of Match Race Germany and it will be a battle between Damien Iehl and Ben Ainslie. The week has seen some exciting racing, but no match has been as action packed as the quarter final bout between two British heavy weights, Ben Ainslie and Ian Williams. In two matches there were 5 penalties, multiple collisions, a man overboard and a black flag disqualification. The first match saw multiple lead changes and the teams were neck and neck until the final lap when Ainslie’s crew were sailed to the wrong weather mark when in the lead; that should have left Williams a winner, but he was docked a ¾ point for damage caused in a collision. In the second race, Ainslie’s boat was hit by massive gust that laid the mast horizontal and, in the chaos that followed, tactician Iain Percy fell overboard and had to be fished out and returned by the umpires, earning Ainslie a black flag disqualification. Ian Williams was lucky to come out unscathed, as Ainslie’s spinnaker enveloped the boat his entire crew dived for cover wondering whether the mast would be next to land on them! Collision pic from Tobias Stoerkle and more here.
Bad Match
