Adam Minoprio says it was just a series of little mistakes at the wrong possible time.
Many will speculate on other reasons, but the fact remains that Black Match's shock ousting at the Monsoon Cup in the weekend was a major surprise.
The defending world champion failed to make itbeyond the round-robin, losing seven of their eleven ties to finish 9th overall.
To his credit, an obviously shattered Minoprio fronted up to the media immediately after the loss.
"We failed to fire this week," admitted Minoprio, "to finish up with a bitter defeat is not a very good taste in the mouth. I'm gutted and all the boys are gutted. We made a lot of little mistakes too many times against good skippers."
"We expected to build on last year; The original plan was for this year to be our highlight year but it has ended up pretty disappointing."
Minoprio is an easy going, relaxed character but concedes it will take a while to get over the events of this week in Malaysia.
"I've got till March to dwell on this," he said, only half-joking. "In the meantime I have to hit the gym and bulk up for the Volvo ocean race."
* Michael Burgess travelled to Malaysia with the assistance of the World Match Racing Tour.
