Yachting: Kiwi frontrunner cool ahead of world title race

Adam Minoprio says it is quite comforting to be heading into the finals with a five-point buffer. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Leading the World Match Racing standings heading into the final event on the tour calendar, New Zealand sailor Adam Minoprio refuses to let the pressure of being the "hunted one" get to him.

The world champion will be crowned after this week's Monsoon Cup, which beings in Malaysia today.

The title is well within the grasp of Minoprio and his BlackMatch Racing crew of Nick Blackman, Tom Powrie and Dave Swete, who hold a 12-point lead over their closest rival, Australia's Torvar Mirsky. While Minoprio has a fairly comfortable buffer, Mirsky can still overtake his Kiwi rival in the race for the world title. The young Australian will need to finish at least two or three places ahead of BlackMatch Racing to leapfrog Minoprio in the standings.

Despite the high stakes, Minoprio said yesterday he is feeling pretty relaxed heading into the tour finale and believes it is his rivals who should be feeling the heat.

"It's quite comforting to know that we can go into the finals and we've got a bit of breathing room. At the end of the day everybody's going to be gunning for us and the pressure is on them.

"You can put yourself out of it by getting too stressed out. You've just got to ... make sure you're having a good time. If you are, you'll sail the way you need to," the 24-year-old said.

Mirsky and his MRT team have been in strong form in the lead-up to the season finale, winning a tune-up event in Perth at the weekend. The 23-year-old outsailed triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, double gold medallist Ian Percy and the Team Origin crew in the Australia Cup, a pre-cursor to the Monsoon Cup.

Mirsky said the weekend's win provided his crew a timely confidence boost. "There were some really famous guys [at the Perth regatta] that we knocked off and we are really pinching ourselves. We'll go into the Monsoon Cup with a lot of confidence," he said.

"If we have the same result in the Monsoon Cup that we had in Perth with us winning and Adam and his BlackMatch team coming fourth, we will win the 2009 World Championship.

"So we'll be working very hard to do just that."

While the 2009 tour has been dominated by the two Antipodean young guns, a number of experienced, top-name sailors return to the tour for the season-ending event after being involved with various other campaigns this year.

The likes of America's Cup helmsmen Ben Ainslie (Team Origin) and Francesco Bruni (Damiani Italia) will be eager to play a hand in determining the outcome of the world championship.

But if Minoprio is worried about some of the big names gunning for him, he's not letting on.

"The old hands don't want to get bitten by the young guys so they'll be more stressed out about it than we are," said Minoprio.

Racing in the Monsoon Cup starts today, with the final to be contested on Sunday. The crews will race in the Foundation 36s, designed by New Zealander Brett Bakewell-White.

* Where they stand

World Match Racing Tour standings - (after 8 of 9 events)

1. Adam Minoprio (NZL), ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 100 points

2. Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Mirsky Racing Team 88 points

3. Ian Williams (GBR), Team Pindar 75 points

4. Mathieu Richard (FRA), French Match Racing Team Racing 74 points

5. Peter Gilmour (AUS), YANMAR 71 points

6. Ben Ainslie (GBR), Team Origin 65 points

7. Damien Lehl (FRA), French Match Racing Team 48 points

8. Sebastien Col (FRA), French Match Racing Team 41 points