Taylor Canfield and Ian Williams cement winning streaks at AWMRT season finale

Submitted on Wed, 19/12/2012 - 11:00;

Ian Williams and his team celebrating their Championship win. Photo: Subzero Images/Monsoon Cup.

The Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT) finished with a bang in Malaysia as over 100,000 sailing fans descended on Kuala Terengganu for the highly anticipated season finale – the Monsoon Cup 2012. The event was certainly action-packed as both the event title and ISAF Match Racing World Championship were fought and won.

A great way to finish the season

Wildcard Taylor Canfield of the US Virgin Islands took the Monsoon Cup event title from Kiwi skipper Phil Robertson during a dramatic final. Canfield’s win was his second consecutive on the Tour this season, demonstrating both his ability and tour card intentions for the next season. And after finishing the season in 7th place on the Tour leaderboard – the highest-ranking non-tour card holder this season –, he’s certainly put in a strong bid.

“We definitely want a tour card and if this doesn’t prove [what we can do] I don’t know what does. Whatever happens, we’ll put in a strong effort next year,” a jubilant Canfield said, celebrating his win.

“This win is the best we have achieved in our careers so far and the guys I’m sailing with, Hayden Goodrick, Mike Rehe, Dan Morris and Rob Dawson did a fantastic job here today,” Canfield added. “We’re the second US Virgin Islanders to win this after Peter Holmberg in 2006. We’ve been really pleased with how we’ve performed at the three Tour events we were invited to. This is a great way to finish the season and sets the bar for next year.”

Ian Williams matches world champion record

Meanwhile, there was more at stake than the Monsoon Cup event title. The Tour season finale also determined the season winner and ISAF Match Racing World Champion. It was UK’s Ian Williams who ultimately scooped the prize, successfully defending his title against arch rival Björn Hansen during a tense quarter final race.

The win finishes a great season for Ian, equalling Peter Gilmour’s record of four ISAF Match Racing World Championships. And with Gilmour announcing his retirement from professional match racing at the event, the door is wide open for Ian to break the record next season with a fifth Tour title.

Alpari Clubhouse proved a huge success in Malaysia

We docked the touring Alpari Clubhouse for the last time this season in Kuala Terengganu. An information hub, the Clubhouse enables sailing fans to find out more about both forex trading and the Alpari companies. Running demonstrations of the popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform and with plenty of free giveaways, the Clubhouse was never short of a crowd.

In addition, our sponsorship of young Kiwi skipper Adam Minoprio and his Alpari Racing Team saw the worlds of match racing and trading intertwine. Adam and team learnt the ropes of forex trading, competing against each other in an online trading contest on MT4 demo accounts for a pair of cufflinks from Official Tour Jeweller and Silversmith Partner, Garrard.

It’s only the beginning...

The Monsoon Cup 2012 was a great end to our first year as title sponsor of the Tour, and it’s only the beginning! With at least four more years as title sponsor, we’re already looking forward to next season. Make sure you check out our Facebook page for the full Monsoon Cup event album and follow us on Twitter for news and updates. To read more about our first year as title sponsors of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour, visit our sponsorship pages.