Black Sheep on their way

A New Zealand team of sailors with a distinctly Far North flavour are competing in Europe with the eventual aim of America's Cup glory.
 Black Sheep Racing are pursuing their goals of gaining entry to this year's World Match Racing Tour to achieve their ultimate goal of competing for the America's Cup.
Kerikeri skipper Reuben Corbett, trimmer Bradley Farrand and bowman Tom Bentham of Tauranga began this year's campaign with a win in the Tallinn Open Match Cup, held in Estonia.
The event gave the team  some positive momentum as they headed  into the World Tour qualifying regattas.
The Danish Open Wildcard Qualifier was the team's first chance to gain entry to one of the 10  World Tour events.
It was a ruthless format in which   a round robin between the 12 teams determined the two finalists. 
After holding second position for the most part of the regatta, the team had a shocking final day that dropped them to fourth and saw them miss out on the final.
The Russian city of St Petersburg hosted the  back-to-back regattas as the second qualifier for the World Tour event in Marstrand, Sweden.
The team finished fourth, just enough to gain entry into the main qualifying event, Sail of White Nights.
In match racing, top qualifier  and world No5 Damien Ihel   chose to race Black Sheep Racing. Black Sheep Racing won 2-0 through superior trimming and expert boat handling by  Bentham and  Farrand.
 The final saw Black Sheep Racing against the local standout Eugeniy Neugodnikov, ranked 10th in the world.
Good starts, tight covering,  gybing duels and penalties  made for an exciting final in which Black Sheep Racing took out the final 2-0. 
Winning this Grade 1 regatta meant entry into the World Tour event in  Sweden.
But first,  La Rochelle, France, beckoned.
On the first day, the team won six of seven races, dropping one against local Cedrique Chateau and  scraping a narrow victory over fellow Kiwi sailor Laurie Jury and his team, Slam Kiwi Match. Black Sheep Racing's semifinal opponent turned out to be Kiwi Match. 
Kiwi Match took the first race but Black Sheep Racing bounced back to win the next two to win the all-Kiwi semifinal 2-1.
The finals were sailed against Cedrique Chateau. 
Black Sheep Racing had a strong start in the fifth and final race  and had a large enough lead to win by a sizeable margin. The team arrived in Marstrand  for the Stena Match Cup Sweden ready to mix with the world's best.
Sixteen teams competed, including nine of the world's top 10. 
Black Sheep Racing did not qualify for the quarterfinals but they beat   world No8 Peter Gilmour and No17 Keith Swinton in the round robin. 
 
Black Sheep Racing's world ranking is now 25th.
Their next regatta is a Grade 1 in France.