Victory for WAKA Racing!

Coming through the round robin with a 10-0 score record was a real confidence booster for us heading into the final day of racing. Unfortunately, our talented tactician and mainsheet guy Garth Ellingham was hit with heat stroke and we had to make a quick decision to forfeit one of our races. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best decision - we hadn’t had a loss on our record to date, however we were already guaranteed top spot heading into the Semis.

Semi finals with Garth still man down we brought in a new mainsheet, Peter Gilmour’s eighteen year old son David. Our chosen opponent Martin Kaye (Team Hong Kong) fought hard especially in the last race, but we managed to get a few penalties on him and after crossing the finish line in 3 straight wins, we prepared ourselves for the finals!

Results for the Semis:

Flight 1: Robertson/Kaye: Robertson by 44 sec

Flight 2: Robertson/Kaye: Robertson by 1m 23 sec

Flight 3: Kaye/Robertson: Robertson by 30 sec

Teams through to the finals:

Michael Dunstan (SLAM Match Racing Team)

Phil Robertson (WAKA Racing)

FINALS

Pressure was on and it was these moments that would make or break our dream of winning the Asian Match Racing Championships and entry to the prestigious Monsoon Cup. The pressure was on, with Garth recovered and back on board, team confidence was high, but the battle between SLAM Match Racing and WAKA Racing wasn’t to be taken for granted. After three intense races and some awesome sailing with Waka Racing dealing all the penalties, looking for every opportunity to take the lead, and keeping tight cover on SLAM Match Racing, New Zealand Team WAKA Racing were announced CHAMPIONS OF THE 2009 ASIAN MATCH RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS! We are thrilled to tell you that we will be heading in a few weeks to compete in the 2009 Monsoon Cup!

‘You made it look easy, but it certainly wasn’t.’- Peter Gilmour

WAKA Racing – Skipper Phil Robertson, Tactician Garth Ellingham, Trimmer James Williamson, Pitman Samuel ( Muscle Man)Archer Bell and Bowman Adam Martin would like to say a huge thank you to their sponsors, supporters for making it possible for us to come to this event.

Final Standings for the Asian Match Racing Championships 2009

Interview with Phil Robertson and Michael Dunstan

COMING NEXT FOR WAKA RACING…

The WAKA Boys will be joining crew members from New Zealand's Black Match Racing Team in a Ker 32 for the Raja Muda Regatta. We are racing from Terenganu to Penang to Langkawi with some fleet racing in between.


RAJA MUDA REGATTA so far…

Race One – 5th Place – Sailed in Torrential rain for 8 hours.

Race Two – 1st Place – An awesome result for us as we are racing against boats that are much faster than ours. We sailed around a rain cloud and all the other teams had to go through. Right in the middle of the cloud the wind dropped to nothing, and ‘Ku Ku Ker Chu’ ended up crossing the finish line 2 hours ahead of the next team.

UPCOMING AND CURRENT RACING

Raja Muda Regatta (finishes 21 Nov)

Sunseeker Australia Cup 26-29th November

Monsoon Cup 1- 6 Dec

Asian Match Racing Championships - WAKA Undefeated

'WAKA Racing leads after first round robin of the Asian Match Racing Championships 2009. Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. Photo: Gareth Cooke/Subzero Images'

Hi Guys,

‘Its hot, Its humid and its sticky’. Terengganu has given us everything we expected, except for no rain. The food is to die for but taxi drivers don’t like it when five all pile into there little Protons. Along with all the greatness Malaysia has to offer the sailing has been outstanding. We still remain undefeated after completing 10 races and guaranteed the top qualifying spot. Despite our good run so far we have a big task at hand tomorrow to pull this win off with some very tough racing ahead.

We started today well taking two early victories before a short break and rest from the intense heat. Coming back out onto the water for a long afternoon spell we picked our game up and sailed a lot better. Our best races of the day were from the two Malaysian teams Hazim and Mansor. Against Hazim he picked the first shift well out of the unfavoured side to gain the first cross. After a few tacks and close manoeuvres we managed to get a spinnaker hoist inside him and take the lead around the bottom. From here we extended and took a comfortable lead. With an early lead to us against Mansor he sailed well to stay close behind. He picked a couple of great shifts up the second beat to be up our tail pipe around the top mark for the last time. We then held this fraction of a lead to cross the finish line one length ahead.

A fantastic day for the Waka’s which we are stoked with. Another great feed and good night sleep is required to be on top of our game tomorrow. We plan to up the intensity a little and take everyone as if they are the best in the world.

Click here http://bit.ly/nlrMC if you would like to see some exciting footage of the racing on Day 3 of the Championships. Check out the latest footage aswell as results and press releases for this event at http://www.monsooncup.com.my

Waka Racing would like to thank Ian from Tax Management NZ for helping the team get up here to compete, along with Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ross Munro of Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.

Cheers

Waka Racing