Taylor Canfield, top seed in Group 2, is the first skipper to qualify for the Quarter Finals in the 2014 Argo Group Cup. Canfield lost his first match in Day 1 racing against Chris Poole, since then the #2 skipper on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour has sailed to seven straight points. He will sail Mathieu Richard in the final flight, Friday.
Second to qualify is Ian Williams, he reached a score of 7.5 points with 8 wins, but a ½ point deduction for the collision on Wednesday. The first pick for the Quarter Final automatically goes to the top qualifier from Group 1. Williams could face a challenge from Hansen when they meet in the final flight of Group 1 on Friday.
Canfield speculated on Ian Williams’ choice if Williams continues to lead and tops Group 1. “I think Williams will pick me,” he said. “It is a matter of the standings on the Tour and he wants to solidify his position.”
Earlier in the week Williams had said, “If Canfield is sailing badly I’ll would pick him.” He then said he would pick the lowest ranking Quarter finalist. We’ll get to see how it all goes down on Friday when the choice is made.
Three of the next 4 skippers in Group 1 Pierre Morvan, Bjorn Hansen, Keith Swinton and Johnie Berntsson may also qualify for the Quarters.
Group 1 teams who will not make the cup include RBYC Commodore Somers Kempe, David Storrs and Arthur Herreman.
Group 2 has finished sailing their Thursday flights and none of the teams except Canfield in Group 2 is safely out of the Qualifying session and into the Quarter Finals yet. Staffan Lindberg is in 2nd place after 10 of 11 full Flights with 5 points.
He along with 5 skippers sitting on 4 points can go through or go home. Skippers on 4 points with one flight left in Qualifying include David Gilmour, Eric Monnin and Nathan Outteridge.
Skippers on 4 points, but with two flights left to sail, are Mathieu Richard and Marek Stanczyk. He has sailed one less race after a crewman was injured in flight 8 and they missed their flight 10 match.
Lance Fraser, Phil Robertson and Chris Poole have already missed the cut but can play the role of spoiler on Friday. Fraser sails Richard, Poole sails Monnin and Robertson sails Lindberg.
