Szczecin Match Race

Friday, 04 May 2018

Patryk Zbroja's team from Szczecin won the Szczecin Match Race World Cup regatta again, part of the Polish Match Tour series. Twelve teams invited from eight countries took part in the races, which were held on the Oder River in the city centre and on the Lake Dabie. In addition to the World Cup ranking points the skippers also scored points for the prestigious Match Race Super League.

The winning crew included Patryk Zbroja, Krzysztof �e�udziewicz, Maciej Gonerko and Marcin Zubrzycki.

This year's regatta’s lineup was exceptionally strong and evenly matched as all the skippers were classified in the top 100 of the world's rankings. Since the very beginning of the competition, the highest ranked Italian team of Ettore Botticini (No. 7 in the world) delivered an excellent performance losing only 1 race on the second day of the event. His victory over Zbroja allowed him to take the 1st place in the Round Robin and qualify directly to the Semi-Finals with the result 10-1. The next Quarter-Finals’ slots were taken by Zbroja, the Dutch Jelmer van Beek, both with 9 wins and 2 losses, Szymon Jab�kowski (7-4), Szymon Szymik (6-5), Nelson Mettraux and Afonso Leite, both with 5-6 score. The Round Robin was held in excellent conditions with medium and stable wind.

The wind intensified with every hour, forcing the organizers to reduce the sail area. The teams scoring higher after the Round Robin safely defeated their opponents in Quarter-Finals, respectively Zbroja vs Leite, van Beek vs Szymik and Jab�kowski vs Mettraux, all ending 2-0.

The Semi-Finals were held in a very strong and gusty winds. All the matches of the first pair, Botticini vs Jab�kowski, were very fierce, filled with penalties and turns of action. Even though the young Polish team sailed very well and aggressively, it was not enough to defeat the Italians. Botticini delivered a perfect, mature performance and ruthlessly took advantage of all the opportunities and even the smallest mistakes of his opponents. The 3-0 score for Botticini does not reflect the emotions and the level of the evenly matched competition.

The second Semi-Final provided even more excitement and drama. Van Beek was very close to the final round already leading 2-0, but Zbroja recovered quickly, managed a tie and qualified to the Finals in the decisive fifth race.

The match for 3rd place was won 2-1 by van Beek, robbing the well sailing Jab�kowski of a medal.

In the Finals only one match was sailed. It was won by the defender of the last year's title - Patryk Zbroja sailing on the TT-Line yacht.

"This is a special victory for us, again here on our home waters of Szczecin. In the Semi-Finals we were already one leg overboard, but we managed to recover and defeat Ettore in the Finals. I would like to thank the team for their hard work, especially in those difficult and demanding wind conditions" - said Patryk Zbroja.

Six umpires from Poland, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany and Finland umpired over 80 races.

The event was organized by the Polish Match Tour Foundation and MT Partners. The regatta was based in the North East Marina on Grodzka Island and the Centrum �eglarskie on Lake Dabie.

The next regatta of the Polish Match Tour series will take place in �winouj�cie on 22-24 June, whereas the next event on the Match Race Super League is Match Race Germany from 16th till 21st of May.

The regatta's partners are the City of Szczecin, TT-Line Poland, Western Pomerania, North East Marina Szczecin, D.A.D. Texet Polska and AVA Marine, Harken, Teknos - Oliva, Bryt Sails, and wodoaktywni.com.