For the first time in Europe a GC32 foiling catamaran competition will be decided by match racing.

Two boat-on-boat contests to determine the finalists took place on Saturday at the GC32 Alps Challenge Traunsee in Austria. Adam Minoprio at the helm of NORAUTO continued to show his dominance – hardly surprising as a past Match Racing World Champion.

In their match NORAUTO went 3:0 up against the Austrian Team PROFS I Youth America’s Cup Team. Meanwhile Team ENGIE and ARMIN STROM Sailing Team had a tougher fight, the winner gaining the second berth in tomorrow’s Final. However in this latter contest no winner was decided at the close of play today, with the scoreline at 2:2. A deciding match will be held tomorrow.

Today each of the foiling catamaran teams needed to make it to three wins to win their match and proceed to the next round.

In the match between the first and fourth placed boats (the order determined by Thursday and Friday’s fleet racing) NORAUTO was unbeaten against the young local team. NORAUTO’s Kiwi skipper Adam Minoprio is heading for his third victory on Lake Traunsee having won here in 2012 and again the following year with a Chris Draper-led Luna Rossa crew.

Despite their defeat, it was nonetheless a great experience for the Austrian underdogs, led by match racer Max Trippolt.

“We are very thankful for the chance to participate in this great tournament with some of the best sailors in the world,” said Trippolt. “We missed qualifying for the finals clearly, but nobody can take away what we have learned here.”

Tomorrow the Austrian team will get to fight for third place against the loser of the Team ENGIE v ARMIN STROM Sailing Team match.

The second semifinal was a thriller. The Swiss ARMIN STROM Sailing Team started strongly, taking the scoreline to 2:0, but then Team ENGIE managed to tie the series at 2:2, match point. The fifth decisive race will take place on Sunday.

Flavio Marazzi, skipper of ARMIN STROM Sailing Team said: “We were not able to conclude this after having a 2:0 lead. We have a new crew so we have had some small problems in adjusting to each other. If we can improve our teamwork tomorrow, I’m sure that we will be able to reach the finals.”
Results semifinals (Match Race, Best-of-Five):

NORAUTO Racing Team (1) – PROFS I Youth America’s Cup Team Austria (4) 3:0
Team ENGIE (2) – ARMIN STROM Sailing Team (3) 2:2*
* Decisive race on sunday