Spindrift racing heading to Lisbon for World Match Racing Tour event
by Spindrift racing 2 Oct 2018 08:27 PDT
3-7 October 2018
WMRT Regata de Portugal - Welcome addition for Spindrift racing © Edouard Elias / Spindrift racing
With their maxi trimaran out of the water to begin its final check before the Jules Verne Trophy attempt, Spindrift racing is now focusing on their match racing programme and heading to Lisbon from 3rd to 7th October. The Portuguese capital will host the final event in the World Match Racing Tour before the World Championship event in Shenzhen (China).
The event, which was not initially included in the WMRT roster of events for 2018, has come as a welcome addition for Yann Guichard and his team. The team first sailed here in 2013, when they took part in the Route des Princes with their MOD70.
“We found out about this additional event a month ago and for us it is ideal to be able to train and compete in another event before the final in China. The race course is fantastic, as it will be just off the city of Lisbon. While we would, of course, like to do as well as we did in Marstrand, for us this new event is more of a training regatta. Since our last event in Risør, we have debriefed on where we made mistakes and the areas we need to concentrate on to ensure that we are at the same level as the top crews. It is up to us to get back to the level of teamwork that we had in Sweden. By finishing first or second in the fleet racing we can then chose our opponents in the quarter finals. This new rule means that the fleet phase has become very important and can maximise the chances of reaching the semi-finals. It definitely spices things up, and it is up to us to take advantage of it,” comments Yann Guichard.