County Waterford sailor Ruairi Finnegan is one of twelve of the world’s best match racing skippers from nine countries who are competing in the City of Shenzhen, China this week for the final event of the 2023 World Match Racing Tour from 12-17 December.
The winner of the event will be crowned 2023 Match Racing World Champion and take home a share of the USD 200,000 purse.
As Afloat reported previously, Finnegan, who is World No. 36 in the Open Match Race rankings, is crewed by Noah Fisher, Daniel Little and Ryan Fitzgerald.
The World Match Racing Tour kicked off its highly anticipated Shenzhen Baoan Final as the top twelve match racing teams from nine countries gathered in the Baoan District of Shenzhen, where they were met with a mix of conditions that tested their skills on the opening day.
The Race Committee, run by Principal Race Officer Randy Smith, successfully completed four flights of the round-robin. Among the day's standout performers was Sweden's Björn Hansen, who finished the day with a strong score of 3-0. Hansen, who hasn't been competitively match racing since 2016, was eager to return to the circuit.
Also on three wins is New Zealand's Nick Egnot-Johnson and his KNOTS Racing after winning against USA's Chris Poole, Denmark's Jeppe Borch, and fellow kiwi Gavin Brady.
Although the tough conditions today made for interesting results, many favorites still need to get some racing done and will shake up the leaderboard tomorrow. The 2023 Bermuda Gold Cup Winner Johnie Berntsson and his team have one challenging race under their belt.
On the conditions, Bernstsson commented, "Unfortunately, there was a close loss after leading most of the race and where the verdict was finally decided. I am very happy with the way we sailed the race in light winds, which are normally very difficult conditions."
The 2023 Congressional Cup winner and number one ranked skipper Chris Poole ended today with a 50-50 score, two wins and two losses. Despite being faced with flight delay challenges during the official practice day yesterday, Riptide Racing was ready to get their points on the board today.
