MATCHRACE.CHMatch Race Events

Walker goes to max to advance in Bermuda

2007-10-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

Bermudian Blythe Walker kept alive the hope of a Royal Bermuda Yacht Club member winning the $100,000 King Edward VII Gold Cup when he won a five-set quarterfinal match against Brian Angel of the U.S.

Walker, who finished third last year, trailed Angel 2-0 before running off three straight for a 3-2 victory.
“We wanted to provide max spectator value,” said Walker. And he did, crossing the finish line in the last race to a cacophony of horns, whistles and screams on a rainy day in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Walker advanced to tomorrow’s Semifinal Round where he’ll square-off against Björn Hansen of Sweden. Hansen continued his incredible run from yesterday’s near elimination.

Hansen won the Repechage Round with a 5-0 record and then claimed a 3-1 victory over fellow Swede Johnie Berntsson in the quarterfinals. After starting 2-2, Hansen has won 10 of 11 races and stands a formidable challenge for Walker.
“He’s one of the more aggressive match racers,” said Walker.

In the bottom half of the ladder America’s Cup winner Ed Baird of the U.S. will meet Frenchman Mathieu Richard. In the quarters Baird defeated Italy’s Paolo Cian 3-0, the same score which Richard, last year’s runner-up, defeated Bermudian Glenn Astwood.
Astwood, the Bermuda National Match Race champion, had threatened to have Richard run off the island if he lost his match, but he called off the hunt.
“We got used to looking at him from behind and he’s not a bad guy,” said Astwood. “It’s been a great week for us because we didn’t expect to get this far.”

Walker quickly fell behind 2-0 in his match against Angel. In the first race he was penalized for what he deemed a questionable call. In the second Angel simply outsailed him. After that, Walker and crew regrouped.
“We said we were faster than him,” Walker said. “So we wanted to get an even start and sail clean on the racecourse. Except for the last race, we did that.”

In Race 5 Angel forced Walker to circle around the pin end with about 40 seconds to the start. As Walker sailed back towards the committee boat on port, Angel, on starboard, forced him to sail to leeward. Angel held a three-boatlength lead early in the race, but no lead was safe in this match.

“I’m not sure it was racing or riding a rollercoaster,” said Angel. “Every race had a lead change. The boat that led off the start line lost each race.”

So it would happen to Angel. The turning point in the match came upwind on the fifth of six legs. Walker trailed around the leeward mark, but was less than one boatlength behind. Halfway up the leg Walker put in a fake tack that Angel bit hard on. Although Walker didn’t gain much in the next cross he was able to get to the right side of Angel.

At the top of the leg Angel approached the windward mark on port while Walker came in with the right-of-way starboard tack and speed. The two were basically even, but Walker had an adroit plan to draw a penalty on his opponent, and it worked.

“I was ahead on port but not laying, and he’s coming in fast on starboard,” said Angel. “My thought was to slow down and hope he’d go behind us, but it didn’t work.”

Walker said, “We came in on starboard and he luffed on port thinking we’d go around the mark. We didn’t. We just held on starboard. I wasn’t sure we’d get him, but once he stayed on port I knew we had him.”

The Hansen-Berntsson match was another close one. Berntsson led at the windward mark in each race, but could only convert one for a win. In the fourth and deciding match he was penalized twice, although he disagreed with the second call at the finish.
“I did exactly what I planned,” said Berntsson. “When we were luffing he came down and crashed into us. But Björn and his team did an excellent job. They hunted us all over the racecourse.”

Although the Baird-Cian match was decided 3-0 in favor of Baird, it was much closer than that. Cian, like others today, felt he let some chances get away.
“I think we sailed well every first beat and every start. We had a big lead in the second and third races,” said Cian. “I’m not disappointed by our overall performance, but I’m disappointed by the fact that we didn’t win one of those races. That’s why they’re the defenders of the America’s Cup. They put pressure on us very well.”

Racing today was conducted in a blustery south wind between 2 and 20 knots that shifted through 50 degrees at times.

Baird, Lindberg and Cian looking strong

2007-10-11T04:49:00.001-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

As the rounds robin at the King Edward VII Gold Cup wind down, time’s running out for some crews in Hamilton, Bermuda.
The three group leaders – American Ed Baird, Staffan Lindberg of Finland and Italy’s Paolo Cian – are all undefeated at 4-0.

Second in each group – Bermudian Blythe Walker, Mathieu Richard of France and Glenn Astwood, also of Bermuda – have one loss each and control their destiny.
Behind the top two in each group a mad scramble’s about to ensue.

The top two from each group at the end of round robin racing advance to the Quarterfinal Round. Third and fourth from each group advance to the second chance Repechage Round, from which the top two advance to the quarterfinals. That means that accomplished skippers such as New Zealander-cum-Californian Scott Dickson, Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg and Björn Hansen, and American Sally Barkow, a past Women’s Match Racing World Champion, could be eliminated tomorrow.

Baird is among the skippers who’ll likely advance. The America’s Cup winner from Alinghi won his only match of the day and moved to 4-0; good for first in Group A. Baird’s one win came against the event reigning champion Ian Williams of England.
Baird wasn’t happy with his start, slightly late and tight to leeward of Williams, but he used his position to luff Williams away less than one minute into the race. Later up the first leg Baird easily crossed Williams approaching the windward mark, and was never seriously threatened from there.
“I was a little late for the start,” Baird said. “I turned down to burn some time and when I turned back up I realized I was late. But it wasn’t too bad because I didn’t want to get stuck down in the coffin corner and hit the pin.”

Walker is second in Group A with a 4-1 record. Last year’s third-place finisher scored two wins on the day, one over Denmark’s Peter Wibroe, which he won after luffing the Dane halfway down the run to the finish.
His second win came over Dickson, and the Kiwi who lives in California basically gifted the race to the Bermudian. Dickson had gotten a pre-start penalty on Walker, and then Walker compounded the problem by being on the course side at the start. Walker, however, cleared himself on the start line and then had starboard advantage on the port-tack Dickson. Dickson tacked to avoid, but then hit the pin end of the start line. That penalty canceled out Walker’s, and then Walker sailed away to the win.
“At 30 seconds I thought I was looking good,” said Dickson. “At 20 seconds I thought I was looking great. At 10 seconds I was patting the crew on the back. And then I hit the pin.”

Lindberg (4-0) and Richard (3-1) look solid to advance from Group B. Both have been here several times before and their prior experience is helping them move forward. Behind them Johnie Berntsson of Sweden and Finland’s Jon Eriksson are both 2-2, while Holmberg is one loss behind at 2-3.

Cian, the Italian helmsman of South Africa’s Team Shosholoza at the Louis Vuitton Cup in May, has streaked out to a 4-0 lead. Cian had a huge win against David Tabb of England in his first race when he tacked to port off the start line and found a lifting puff. In his second race rival Brian Angel of the U.S. aided Cian’s win by being on the course side at the start.

Another Bermudian, Glenn Astwood, is second at 4-1. Astwood, who won the Bermuda National Match Race Championship, scored a come-from-behind win against Brazil’s Daniel Glomb in his first race and then took down Robbie Allam of the U.K. in the second race. Allam also was on the course side at the start and had a penalty.

Racing today was postponed for nearly five hours while the race committee waited for the wind to settle on Hamilton Harbour. An 8- to 10-knot southwesterly eventually filled.

For a complete crew list and head-to-head results please visit the official event Web site at www.BermudaGoldCup.com.

Baird undefeated in first day of racing in Bermuda

2007-10-10T05:56:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

The top two finishers in each group at the end of the round robin advance to the Quarterfinal Round while the third- and fourth-place finishers advance to a Repechage Round.

Baird, who helmed Alinghi to victory in the 32nd America’s Cup in July, is the only skipper at 3-0 because he’s the only leader who hasn’t had a bye. Each team receives one bye in round robin racing.

“It’s the first time I’ve stepped on a boat since the Cup,” said Baird, of St. Petersburg, Fla. “It’s also the first time the four of us have sailed a match race regatta together. We’re just trying to sort it out as we go along.”
Baird is sailing with Alinghi teammates Rodney Ardern, Lorenzo Mazza and Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen, who all sailed the Cup.

“It was a vintage Bermuda day,” said Williams, the skipper of Team Pindar. “It was lovely wind, lovely sun and good for us because we got two wins.”

Lindberg, sailing in his sixth consecutive Gold Cup, is one of three tied for the lead in Group B.
“We started well and did well on the racecourse,” said the tall Finn who is ranked No. 5 in the world. “We had good communication on the boat and good crew work on the racecourse. We’re looking forward to tomorrow.”

Cian is tied with Glomb for the lead in Group C.
“Our team is working very well,” said the Italian who helmed South Africa’s Team Shosholoza in the Louis Vuitton Cup last May.

Local heroes Glenn Astwood and Blythe Walker also fared well on Day 1. Walker, who placed third overall last year, is third in Group A with a 2-1 record, which is identical to the spot and record Astwood holds in Group C.

Walker might’ve been at 3-0 tonight if not for a penalty he incurred in his Flight 2 match against Ian Williams, the event’s defending champion. Walker was able to pull even with Williams on the final run, but then got penalized for taking his competitor past the layline to the finish.

Astwood, however, moved to 2-1 after overcoming Brian Angel of the U.S. in their Flight 3 match. Trailing on the second upwind leg, Astwood initiated a tacking duel that eventually allowed him to get to the right of Angel where he found more wind.
“When I’m behind I love to start a tacking duel, so that’s what I did,” said Astwood, who won the Bermuda National Match Racing Championship in August.

For a complete crew list and head-to-head results please visit the official event Web site at www.BermudaGoldCup.com.

Ola Argentina

2007-09-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

Mi name is Domingo Contessi and I'm part of the TAG Heuer Sailing Team and active reader of matchrace.ch

We are an amateur sailing team, with lot of experience in the J24 class and that started sailing in match race regattas at the last Nations Cup. We finish in 5th. place.

This is our web site: http://www.tagheuersailingteam.com/ if you would like to include it in your team section.

There is not much activity here as in Europe, but there is a company that is organizing really good events: http://www.match-race.com.ar/

The next one will be held in our city, Mar del Plata. We will use J/24 boats and 10 teams are invited (3 from Brazil, 1 from Chile, 1 from Uruguay and 5 from Argentina). Jurys will come from USA, Brazil and Argentina.

Maybe the teams are not top ranked in the Match Race rankings, the best one is our team with Juan Grimaldi as helmsman, but most of them are starting to take MR seriously and soon you will have more news from southamerica, for example another southamerican, Daniel Glomb from Brazil is actually competing in a few events Grade 2 in Europe. For this championship are confirmed a two time J/24 world champ and Panamerican Gold Medal (Mauricio Santa Cruz), Panamerican silver Medal and national champ. (Alejo Rigoni); J24 worlds runner up , southamerican champion and 8 times national champion (Juan Grimaldi), among many other top sailors from southamerica.

We will keep you informed of the final results.

Kind Regards.

Domingo Contessi.-

Alinghi's Baird looking to add Gold Cup

2007-09-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

“Winning the Gold Cup last year is my biggest achievement in sailing and will be until Team Pindar can win the match racing worlds,” said Williams, 30. “I really enjoy sailing in the conditions and the boats in Bermuda, the combination of which makes for really tricky racing. Although it’s easy to blame bad luck for losing, the boats really reward good sailing.”

Williams and Richard are ranked No. 1 and 2 in the ISAF Open Match Race Rankings and the World Match Racing Tour standings.

Baird, who helmed Alinghi’s yacht in winning the 32nd America’s Cup last July, has entered the Gold Cup for the 13th time. Previously he has placed third overall four occasions, most recently in 2004.

Baird’s not the only America’s Cup helmsman entered in the event. Others include Italy’s Paolo Cian of South Africa’s Team Shosholoza and Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg of the Victory Challenge.

Other returning competitors include Bermudian Blythe Walker who finished third last year, which equaled the best finish by a Bermudian since Gordon Lucas won in 1986. Eric Monnin of Switzerland also returns after placing fourth last year. Sweden’s Bjorn Hansen, fifth last year, and Finland’s Staffan Lindberg, seventh a year ago, are also entered.

The Gold Cup is slated as Stage 14 of 16 of the World Match Racing Tour. The tour champion at the end of the year will be named the ISAF Match Racing World Champion. The winner of the Gold Cup will earn $35,000 of the $100,000 prize purse.

The Gold Cup is the oldest match-racing trophy in the world for competition involving one-design yachts. It was first presented at the Tri-Centenary Regatta at Jamestown, Va., in 1907 by King Edward VII in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the first permanent settlement in America.

Locally based global insurance companies Renaissance Re and Max Capital Group Ltd. are the Presenting Sponsors of the Gold Cup. The Bermuda Department of Tourism is the Host Sponsor. Primary sponsors include Ace Ltd., Bermuda Premium Spirits, Bermuda Telephone Co., Correia Construction and Oleander Cycles. Supporting sponsors are Office Solutions, Izod, Wedgwood, ECL, The Bermuda IOD Class Association, The Fairmont Hamilton Princess and T2P Productions.

King of the mountain to be crowned at St. Moritz Match Race

2007-08-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

ST. MORITZ – A new ‘King of the mountain’ will be crowned at St. Moritz this week, the latest stop on the World Match Racing Tour. The St. Moritz Match Race begins on Tuesday, with 12 of the top match racers in the world, including Jochen Schuemann (GER), who is fresh off his victory at the America’s Cup with the Swiss defender, Alinghi.
At St Moritz, the 12 deep field is competing for a prize purse of 150 000 Sfr (approximately US$ 125 000) in addition to critical ranking points on the World Match Racing Tour. This event features the top four ranked sailors on the tour, including the defending champion at St Moritz, Paolo Cian (ITA), who will be eager to get back on a winning track after a disappointing result (11th) at the Danish Open last week.
Similarly, Mathieu Richard (FRA), who topped the World Match Race Tour table before having a difficult time in Denmark (10th place) and slipping to second on the Tour, will be aggressively pursuing victory here in Switzerland.
Ian Williams (GBR) is now at the top of the table on the World Match Racing Tour after earning a third place finish in Copenhagen by defeating Sébastien Col (FRA) in the petite final. Col arrives in St. Moritz in fourth position on the Tour championship board.
But it’s not just the tour leaders who are competing in St. Moritz. Two-time St. Moritz winner Mark Mendleblatt (USA) is here seeking his third ‘King of the mountain’ title after claiming the title in 2004 and 2005. And Michael Hestbaek (DEN), who is with the United Internet Team Germany America’s Cup team, is also in St. Moritz, seeking World Match Racing Tour glory.
The rest of the field doesn’t make the competition any easier. Eugeny Neugodnikow (RUS) and his ‘Lord of the Sail’ team have only competed in one event on the current edition of the World Match Race Tour, but they made it count, scoring 12 points from a fourth place finish in Germany. That came after a Semi Final loss to Staffan Lindberg (FIN) in Germany, who just missed on scoring points in Copenhagen with a ninth place finish.
The home favourites will surely be Eric Monnin (SUI) who finished in seventh place last year in St. Moritz, and Matthias Renker (SUI). Monnin will be looking to make the final four in front of a home crowd in St. Moritz this week, while Renker is attempting to build on solid results on the Alinghi Swiss Tour over the past couple of years. Renker, along with Matteo Simoncelli (ITA) are attempting to score their first points on the World Match Racing Tour.
The St. Moritz Match Race 2007 will be sailed on Lake St. Moritz, which is located in the Engadin region of the South-eastern Swiss Alps. At an elevation of nearly 2 000 metres above sea level, it is likely the ‘highest-elevated’ match racing event in the world.
The sailors will have to make a quick adjustment to the unique boats used in St. Moritz. In contrast to much of the World Match Racing Tour, where 10 to 14 metre keelboats are in vogue, the St. Moritz event features the Streamline 7.15, a seven-metre, three-person, trapeze keelboat, which physically and mentally challenges skippers and crew alike.
The first day of the St. Moritz Match Race is on Tuesday, 14th August, with the Final scheduled to take place on Sunday 19th.

Kirsten Bollinger,Media St. Moritz Match Race

Radich wins Danish Open 2007

2007-08-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus

Danish eyes were smiling today at the Danish Open. Both finalists Jesper Radich (DEN) and Peter Wibroe (DEN) are products of the Royal Match Race Center here in Skovshoved and gave the enthusiastic crowd an amazing display of Match Race sailing. In a close fought battle Radich emerged victorious with a 3-1 score line and a cheque for 100,000 Dkr (approx. $18,000).

A champagne drenched Jesper Radich said “I can’t praise my crew enough, everyone fought right to the end and finally we are celebrating a victory at the Danish Open. It means an awful lot to us all that we have managed to defeat an ensemble of some of the worlds best match racers.” Amongst the field were 5 other Americas Cup skippers, the current European Champion and the current Tour leader.

After a poor start in race 1 Radich fought back to take the win, then in race 2 Wibroe came fast out of the blocks to take control of the race and level the score. A bounce back by Radich in match three saw him go to match point but it wasn’t all going Radich’s way. Match four saw Peter Wibroe engineer a penalty on to Radich, a fierce battle then ensued as the two crews fought their way around the course with Radich just putting enough distance between himself and Wibroe to shed the penalty right on the finish line and take the Danish Open.

Peter Wibroe was obviously disappointed to come second even though the goal of this young crew before the event had been to reach the semi finals. During the course of four days they have demonstrated Match Racing of the highest level to an appreciative audience; as Wayne Boberg (NZL), one of the International Umpires put it “Peter Wibroe is going to be the next big name in Match Racing in the coming years. He is a fantastic sailor and he has got the crew working well together. His temperament is perfect for a match racing, Peter really has got the keys for success.”

The wind conditions on the final day were a big challenge for the sailors. The wind shifted direction constantly with max left to max right being 70 degrees. Third placed Ian Williams (GBR) of Team Pindar was full of praise for the organizers, the Royal Matchrace Center, “They were very difficult conditions out there today in our match against Sebastien (Col) for third place. We were lucky enough to choose the favoured side. For us the third place here is a good result, we keep our first place on the ISAF Ranking list and take the lead on the World Tour. At the same time I would like to praise the organisers for a really good event where everything worked perfectly and we would like to return next year.”

Last years winner Sebastien Col (FRA) finished in fourth place whilst Swede Bjorn Hansen was fifth after his victory over Jesper Bank (DEN).

Final Results
1 Jesper Radich (DEN)
2 Peter Wibroe (DEN)
3 Ian Williams (GBR)
4 Sébastien Col (FRA)
5 Björn Hansen (SWE)
6 Jesper Bank (DEN)
7 Sten Mohr (DEN)
8 Philippe Presti (FRA)
9 Staffan Lindeberg (FIN)
10 Mathieu Richard (FRA)
11 Paolo Cian (ITA)
12 Rasmus Viltoft (DEN)

Nail biting at Danish Open 2007

2007-08-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus

The fight to secure a semi final place in the Danish Open went down to the last match of the Round Robin. As predicted from yesterdays results the teams have been going all out to make the semi final cut. The results of the last three matches were critical to decide the semi final places. There were potentially 7 teams that were in the hunt for the 4 places during the last flight.

The tension was mounting all afternoon as racing was suspended at 1400 due to a lack of wind. After a three and a half hour wait the last flight resumed during a thunderstorm.

With the rain pouring down Peter Wibroe and Bjorn Hansen had a sudden death match with a loss by either meaning elimination and a win by either would guarantee them a place in the semi finals. Wibroe took the bull by the horns and led from the start. On the second upwind leg Hansen fought back resulting in a luffing match. In a move used by Wibroe to good effect a number of times in this event he dropped his jib and kept control of the match, staying ahead to the finish, much to the delight of the home crowd.

With only a win being good enough to make the cut Jesper Bank had his back to the wall. Philippe Presti led from start to finish and held off a late charge from Bank which saw the boats overlapped on the finish line continuing an unsuccessful year so far for the triple Olympic medalist.

Going into the last match of the Round Robin the final ranking was still undecided. Ironically win or lose Col was through but the result was critical to Bank and Williams. Williams was ashore having done the calculations and found himself cheering for Col. Col didn’t disappoint Team Pindar as he sailed away from Mathieu Richard to a comfortable win.

At tonight’s gala dinner Jesper Radich will announce his choice of semi final opponent which may see Col up against their recently enthusiastic supporters, Ian Williams’ Team Pindar. Boats and side of entry will be drawn at the briefing tomorrow morning.

Round Robin Result:
1 Jesper Radich (DEN)
2 Sébastian Col (FRA)
3 Peter Wibroe (DEN)
4 Ian Williams (GBR)
5 Jesper Bank (DEN)
6 Björn Hansen (SWE)
7 Philippe Presti (FRA)
8 Sten Mohr (DEN)
9 Staffan Lindberg (FIN)
10 Mathieu Richard (FRA)
11 Paolo Cian (ITA)
12 Rasmus Viltoft (DEN)

Team Wibroe show how it is done

2007-08-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus

Recently crowned European Champions, Team Wibroe, have taken the Danish Open by storm today. With 7 wins out of 8 matches they easily lead the event in one of the strongest fields one could imagine.

A fine example of the superb sailing today was the duel between Wibroe and Ian Williams of Team Pindar. In an exhibition of world class match racing Williams and Wibroe were at each others’ throats from the first moment they entered the gate. Williams engineered a penalty on to Wibroe during the pre-start duelling and they were evenly matched all the way to the top mark. William tried to drive Wibroe further off the top mark in search of another penalty, he gave up and tacked for the mark, at that moment Wibroe gybed round, shed the penalty and rounded the mark, costing him practically no time at all. Wibroe then found a channel on the far side of the course and sailed past Williams on the down-wind leg. They continued this impressively aggressive sailing until the final down-wind leg by which time Wibroe had clearly got the better of Williams.

In another demonstration of Team Wibroe’s growing confidence was their start line duel with Steffan Lindberg (FIN) of Alandia Sailing Team. The decisive moment came when both boats went head to wind on the pin end of the start line. Lindberg was on the pin-end side, the gun went and they both sat waiting. Wibroe dropped the fore-sail and finally Lindberg was forced to bear away, Wibroe followed and managed to squeeze over the line leaving Lindberg to gybe round to make the start. After that there was unfortunately no way back for Lindberg and Team Wibroe had another scalp.

But the results may not do justice to the fantastic quality of match racing that the traditionally very knowledgeable crowd at the Danish Open have been treated to. Sten Mohr, recently back to the Tour from America’s cup duty (along with 5 other crews which underlines Team Wibroe’s standard of performance) gave a master class of his own. In flight 11 match 1, he loaded his opponent Mathieu up with two penalties who then, in the obvious opinion of the umpires, did not make enough effort to shed one of them soon enough and was black flagged. “I wanted to take my penalty earlier but from my point of view it was not possible with all the other boats around us. Otherwise I have no complaints about the penalties, they were completely correct,” says Frenchman Richard, ”The current was not bad today, in fact the conditions were perfect. We are still after a place in the semi final and with the tough competition, 4 wins out of 7 still make it very realistic possibility.”

Richard’s point is a good one, apart from Team Wibroe (and unfortunately Team Wiltoft with no wins on the board) all the other teams seem to be evenly matched; tomorrows matches are really going to be worth watching as the crews fight for wins.

Racing is likely to resume at 09:15 tomorrow, instead of the scheduled 10:00, in order to make up for lost time due to wind conditions.

See also:

http://danishopen.kdy.dk/

Cheaty wind at Danish Open 2007

2007-08-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus

The first day of the Danish Open 2007 brought three skippers to the front after the first five flights of the Round Robin have been completed. Jesper Bank (DEN), Jesper Radich (DEN) and Bjorn Hansen (SWE) all recorded three victories out of five. Ian Williams (GBR), Sebastien Col (FRA) and Sten Mohr (DEN) all scored two victories apiece.

There was a northerly breeze of 5-8 knots which was very shifty during the early matches. Competitors also had to contend with a south running current.

During the morning flights the racing was close especially the matches between Hansen and Bank and then Hansen against Mohr. In both matches Hansen emerged as the victor after skilfully getting penalties onto his opponents. In the match between Hansen and Mohr, Mohr lead all the way and whilst trying to offload his penalty at the finish line infringed Hansen by not giving him room. A second penalty to Mohr sealed his fate and handed the win to Hansen.

Today brought a flurry of protests, 15 in all bringing about 5 penalties given by the on water umpires.

Chief Umpire John Standley said ‘One of the major changes since about 2000 is the increasing level of professionalism within the sport in general for both competitors and officials. There are far fewer drawn out discussions on the interpretation of the rules. During today for example there was little or no disagreement with the umpire decisions on the water.’

For Jesper Bank it was a particularly interesting day as he has not sailed on the World Match Racing Tour since the Monsoon Cup last year, where he finished 5th. “The wind came from the North today which I have never experienced at the Danish Open before. The current was strong at times which made things tricky but at the same time it was great fun. We are trying to get things together as a crew because we have never sailed as a team before. Everything is going well and with three wins out of five I am reasonably satisfied,” said Jesper Bank.

Not all the teams had the chance to race today on the sunny waters off Skovshoved harbour. After the first five flights the crews were changed and unfortunately at the same moment the wind vanished. After an hour of waiting for wind the crews were sent ashore and at 5pm sailing was stopped for the day.

Racing will start again tomorrow at 10am.

The racing can be followed live on the internet courtesy of the onboard tracking systems here

The Danish Open 2007

2007-08-07T23:54:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus / Gordon Smith

Round ten of the World Match Racing Tour, The Danish Open 2007, begins on Thursday following Wednesday’s practice. The prize purse for this year’s event has been raised to $60,000 dollars. Competing for the prize purse are crews from six different countries as well as six skippers who have just returned from one form or another of America’s cup duty. This truly strong field also includes the recently crowned ISAF European Champion in Match Racing, Peter Wibroe.

Included in the field is Ian Williams (GBR) who is currently ranked number 1 on the ISAF open ranking as well as being ranked number 3 on the World Match Racing Tour. Sebastian Col also returns to Skovshoved after his first appearance and first World Match Racing Tour win here last year. Sebastian will no doubt be keen to continue his record (from last year’s Danish Open and the America’s Cup) against Dane Jesper Bank ( the 2005 winner of the Danish Open), Jesper for his part will want to return to winning form after a disappointing America’s Cup campaign. Frenchman Mathieu Richard has a long and successful career in Match Racing and he must be considered a serious threat.

The matches will be sailed in the well known Danish DS 37 which is specifically designed for Match Racing, it is quick and lively, stable in its handling and yet extremely manoeuvrable. Larger than most Match Race boats it accommodates a men’s crew of 5. The Royal Danish Yacht Club’s Royal Match Race Centre’s permanent staff have been working overtime during the last weeks to ensure that the boats are in the condition that world class skippers expect.

There has been a lot of interest in taking part in the Danish Open 2007 with applications from the world over. From these, five crews from outside of Denmark were invited to take part in the Danish Open Qualifier event, the wild card entry to the Danish Open from this event finally went to Dane Rasmus Viltoft who sails often against Peter Wibroe and is also a member of the Royal Match Race Centre (hosts and organisers of the Danish Open).

Skovshoved Harbour, just north of Copenhagen provides the perfect setting for this event, the oldest event on the World Match Racing Tour. Because of the depth (and even depth) of the water, racing can take place right up to the harbour wall providing excellent access to the action for the spectators. Wind and sea conditions provide very even courses leading to the tightest duelling.

Racing begins every day at 10:00 and concludes at approximately 17:00. The round robin series will be sailed on Thursday and Friday, Saturday will comprise of the remainder of the round robin and the first semi final matches. Sunday completes the semi final rounds and the finals. (16:00)

See also:
http://danishopen.kdy.dk/
www.worldmatchracingtour.com

Team Wibroe in the hunger for...

2007-08-06T01:57:00.001-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus

Skipper Peter Wibroe and his crew got a lift in the run up to the Danish Open 2007 when they carried off the European Championship in Match Racing last month in Poland, and they are now pursuing the goal of competing at the America’s Cup in the 2009.

The sailors from the Royal Matchrace Centre were second place at the European Championships last year, but managed one better last month. Team Wibroe consist of Skipper Peter Wibroe, Philip Guhle, Jonas Hviid, Jeppe Bo Rasmussen, and Christoffer Olesen. However in this case Christoffer was not sailing as the competition was for crews of four, happily he is reunited with the rest of the crew for the Danish Open.

Team Wibroe won the final 3-1 against Frenchman Morvan; the final match was intense, including a penalty against Morvan after a collision.

”It was a good Championship, we started the competition without having a good run of form behind us and without much practice. We simply haven’t been focusing on match racing this year as we have been so much involved in the Farr 40 circuit. But actually sailing with the Farr 40 class has given us a lot with respect to our match racing. We already could see at the last European Championships that those with a lot of fleet racing experience got it together better in the boat. With the Farr 40 experience we have had this year we could see that difference in ourselves, in addition the east wind suited us perfectly. Actually we sailed better than we have before” says Peter Wibroe, who was more than satisfied with the boat speed.

All the way to the line
”It was perfect, even the psychological aspects were in place and everything clicked. I just hope that we sail like that at the Danish Open. In any case we will fight the competition all the way to the line,” states Peter Wibroe, who, during the weekend was training with the Finish Danish Open competitor Staffan Lindberg.

Right now Team Wibroe are number 12 on the World ranking list for Match Racing, but their clear goal is to make it into the top ten.

”We are going to do more with the Match Racing with our ultimate goal of competing for the America’s Cup. It is therefore important that we do ourselves proud in events like the Danish Open” emphasises Peter Wibroe.

The Danish Open begins next Thursday with the opening round robin matches leading to the final on Sunday.

Amongst the competing skippers are Jesper Bank, Ian Williams, Sebastian Col, Jesper Radich, Staffan Lindberg, Philippe Presti and Sten Mohr.

In all 12 crews will be competing at the Danish Open, where the last skipper will be Rasmus Viltoft from Royal Matchrace Centre after a competition in Middelfart during the weekend.

Sten Mohr's big dream

2007-08-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus / Gordon Smith

”I am certain that it is possible to establish a Danish America’s Cup project. It is a long way from being un-realistic even though it is going to take a lot of money. I don’t mean that the money is the only question; following on from my experience with 2 ½ America’s Cup projects in Valencia, it is clear to me the organisational element is even more important,” tells Sten Mohr, who returns to the Match Racing circuit on Thursday at the Danish Open sailed off from Skovshoved Harbour, north of Copenhagen.

The projects gave Sten a good insight into how important it is to have the organisational side well taken care of. ”One can have more than enough money, but if things are not well organised then all the money in the world is not going to save the situation,” emphasises the Danish America’s Cup skipper. A skipper who almost abandoned his sailing career in 1999.

At that time Sten was just 30 years old and it was obviously rather early to consider quitting, so since then it has been partly Match Racing and partly record attempts. It obviously did him no harm as two years ago he received the first enquiries about his involvement in the America’s Cup in Valencia.

”Yes, I had absolutely no experience in this game, either the America’s Cup or, for that case, big boat racing. Therefore I was delighted when I got the first calls about co-operating on a project. On a personal level I got a lot out of it even though we didn’t mange to make the final. Not succeeding in that way was a shame but I can luckily say that I performed up to my own target and I have only positive recollections of the last matches,” recalls Sten.

A big dream
He was for a short time working on the South African project Team Shosholoza, and then with the Swedish team Victory Challenge. After the break with Victory Challenge, Sten was destined for Team BMW Oracle from the USA. ”That was a huge experience and I could really notice the difference from sailing with a small team compared to a larger one. Everything worked as it should at BMW Oracle it was nearly like a dream. I had not really expected to be involved with something so big, something that has made such a positive impression on my CV, all that on top of a lot of experience and invaluable contacts.

In such a situation it is unbelievably important to know your own tasks right down to the very last detail. Our time scales were a little bit tight, but nevertheless we fought all the way to the semi-final against Luna Rossa.

I certainly want to try this again even though it is two years away. Now we will just have to see what the consequences of all the new rules will be. It could be that there are fewer sailors required if the syndicates are only allowed to have one boat,” says Sten Mohr, who at this moment in time is lying in the top 100 of the world ranking list.

New Ambassador for Sport
He has not sailed a match race since an event in Brazil in November 2006, where he came in third.

”Therefore we are coming to the Danish Open without the benefit of much training. We simply haven’t had the opportunity to train and so we are going to have to sail ourselves in” during the event. I rather hope that it is nevertheless going to go OK. From now on I am determined to sail as many match races as possible. In any case I have no plans to stop any time soon.” concludes Sten Mohr, who has been made the new sports ambassador for the Cancer Campaign focusing on skin cancer.

The Danish Cancer Society (”Kræftens Bekæmpelse”) is being publicised on one of the match race boats during the Danish Open 2007.

”From when I was very young it was very natural for me to take responsibility for both myself and my boat when I am on the sea. I have a big respect for the Sun’s rays, even in cloudy weather they can cause burns. The sea reflects the damaging UV-rays, which age the skin and in the worst instances cause skin cancer. We should therefore teach children at the earliest opportunity that they should take care of themselves in the Sun – with sun hat, shirts with long arms and sun cream (where the clothing doesn’t cover the skin).” says Sten Mohr.

On the coast and on the sea UV rays are reflected particularly strongly and this especially exposes sailors to the sun’s damaging rays. Therefore the ”Sun Campaign” will concern itself with sailors with its message ”Siesta, Sun hat and Sun Cream”.

So Stem’s participation in the coming Danish Open stands for more than just surviving in the competition for as long as possible.

The wild card (the final available place) place for this year’s Danish Open (from the 9th – 12th August) will be settled on Saturday at a qualification event sailed on the water off from Middelfart Harbour.

The Danish Open 2007 has a very strong entry list with sailors such as Jesper Bank, Ian Williams, Sebastian Col, Jesper Radich, Staffan Lindberg and Philippe Presti taking part.

In all, 12 crews will take compete for a prize purse of $60,000.

Bermuda Gold Cup

2007-08-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

source: Sean McNeill

With additional support from new sponsors Correia Construction, Ace Limited and a group of Royal Bermuda Yacht Club members, Les Crane, Event Organizer for the King Edward VII Gold Cup, announced today that the event prize purse has increased to $100,000.

The centennial anniversary Gold Cup, scheduled Oct. 9-14, has 20 of the 24 skipper slots allocated. Early entries include last year’s finalists, England’s Ian Williams of Team Pindar and France’s Mathieu Richard of the Saba Sailing Team. Williams defeated Richard, 3-1, last year in the first Gold Cup final for both skippers.

Williams won $25,000 for his efforts last year, but this year the winner will receive $35,000.

“This is a notable year for the Gold Cup, being the 100th anniversary of the trophy,” said Crane. “The Gold Cup is readily recognized around the world as one of the premiere match race regattas. It’s the only ISAF-graded WC event in North America.

“We’re pleased that so many prominent companies are taking note and wanting to be part of the celebration,” Crane continued. “Past Commodore Jordy Walker, a driving force behind the modern Gold Cup, played a key role in organizing RBYC member support.”

Locally based global insurance companies Renaissance Re and Max Capital Group Ltd. are the Presenting Sponsors of the Gold Cup. The Bermuda Department of Tourism is the Host Sponsor. Primary sponsors include Ace Ltd., Bermuda Premium Spirits, Bermuda Telephone Co., Correia Construction and Oleander Cycles. Supporting sponsors are Izod, Wedgwood, Bermuda IOD Class Association, and T2P Productions.

Besides Williams and Richard, ranked No. 1 and 2 in the ISAF World rankings, other entrants include a trio of America’s Cup sailors; Gavin Brady, an afterguard member of BMW Oracle Racing, Italy’s Paolo Cian, helmsman for South Africa’s Shosholoza Challenge, and Magnus Holmberg, skipper of Sweden’s Victory Challenge.

Local favorite Blythe Walker, who placed third in last year’s championship, has accepted an invitation in the field of 24, which will also include the Bermuda and U.S. national match race champions.

The Gold Cup is slated as Stage 14 of 16 of the World Match Racing Tour. The tour champion at the end of the year will be named the ISAF Match Racing World Champion.

The Gold Cup is the oldest match-racing trophy in the world for competition involving one-design yachts. It was first presented at the Tri-Centenary Regatta at Jamestown, Va., in 1907 by King Edward VII in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the first permanent settlement in America.

In the post-war years, the club placed the Cup in competition in 1956 for match racing in yachts of the International One-Design Class (IOD). Bert Darrell had the honor of being the first to defend the Cup in this class and won it a total of six times. New Zealander Russell Coutts became the event’s all-time winner in 2004 when he won his seventh championship.

For information about the Bermuda Gold Cup
Sean McNeill
Director of Public Relations
Tel: +1 401 846 8812
E-mail: seanmcneill@cox.net

For information about the World Tour
Yvonne Reid
Tel: +44 1590 679613
E-mail: yreid@f10marketing.com

For information about Bermuda Gold Cup and Royal Bermuda Yacht Club
Donna Heslop
Sailing Secretary
Tel: +441 294 6716
Fax: +441 295 6361
E-mail: sailingoffice@rbyc.bm
Web sites: Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, King Edward VII Gold Cup, Bermuda Department of Tourism

PMT Racing reports from France

2007-08-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

source: Maciej Kolosinski www.atomic.sails.pl

Despite our big ambitions and will of fight we didn't manage to win with more experienced teams. Every match had a different history. That was the game of mistakes which we did more and our opponents severely used them.
We were too calm as well. Usually everyone described us as a very dynamic team, sailing within small distance from our rivals not giving them the chance to breath. At the end of the day we returned to aggresive and fast tactics that became to bring results. Despite having the left side we were winning the starts but lost the races due to mistakes on the course and one recall.

Tommorow we finish round robin and we have 3 more matches that we expect to win. If we manage to beat Mathieu Richard, Mads Ebler and Johnnie Berntsson we can qualify to quaterfinals.
The conditions yesterday were interesting, different waves and shifty wind from 3 to 10 knts.
The leader after 1st day is Torvar Mirsky from Australia who won 6 matches.

Results can be found here

Greetings from Atlantic

International Match Race ISAF grade 3 event "Ekaterinburg Cup – 2007"

2007-08-02T01:37:00.001-07:00

"Ekaterinburg Cup 2007" ISAF grade 3 Match race event was started on 1st of August, 2007 in Ekaterinburg (Russia). The event is holding from 1st to 5th of August on the Verkh-Isetskiy pond (Yacht-club KOMATEK). 12 skippers from Russia and India will participate here and two of best crew will win a right to take part in the "YAVA Trophy 2007" ISAF grade 1 Match race event, that will be held in Moscow from 28th of August to 2nd of September, 2007. The supposed format of the event is Round Robin, Semifinals and finals. The first racing day will be tomorrow 2nd of August.
--
Yana Dobzhitskaya specially for www.matchrace.ch

Jesper Radich ready for Danish Open MR 2007

2007-07-31T02:28:00.001-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus

America’s Cup skipper Jesper Radich had not really planned to compete at Match Racing’s Danish Open 2007. After the long commitment to the Spanish America’s Cup project ”Desafio Espanol 2007” the idea was to take a break and enjoy time with the family in their new house in Helsingor.

But Jesper’s better half, Sara, was quite clear that she didn’t think that that was such a good idea.”Sara simply said that I should get a crew together and enjoy myself instead of being frustrated and sitting around on shore.” As a result Jesper and his new crew have already been in action at the beginning of July at the Match Cup Sweden - Marstand Regatta and are now ready for the Danish Open 2007 (9th-12th August).

At the end of the week at Marstrand he finished in third place having endured a very tough week both in the duels and wild weather conditions.

It was Jan Neergaard, that encouraged Jesper to sail in Sweden.

”Jan wanted to hear if I had the desire to sail real Match Race again and I didn’t take much persuading, particularly when I had already said yes to taking part in the Danish Open. So although this was not the plan it turns out that I shall be sailing amongst some of the worlds best sailors again.

A couple of years ago I sailed the Danish Open and it was not much of a success. Then it was with a crew from our (then) recently established Spanish AC crew, which meant there were very high expectations but without any form or experience with which to deliver, it was condemned to do badly, really. This time I feel much better prepared and of course I have the experiences of Valencia behind me.

My goal is to establish a new combined Match Race and Fleet Race team,” says Jesper who shall also be sailing fleet races with a professional Croatian RC44 team in Italy and Dubai.

An Olympic Dream
Right now Jesper Radich has no plans for a quick return to America’s Cup.

“What about the next America`s Cup?”

”I will of course consider the situation if a good offer comes along, and I still have a dream of sailing at the Olympics. That could be the 2012 Olympics in London, where one might hope that there is a three man keel boat class. There are constantly changes in the classes and it is certain that something will happen before London in 2012. But that is a bit more of a long term dream,” says Jesper, who was among four Danish helmsmen in the recent America’s Cup.

And one can easily say that Jesper was a big success.

On board Desafio Espanol there was obviously tough competition between the helmsmen, but it was Jesper Radich who ensured them the semifinal place against Emirates Team New Zealand, who were later defeated by Alinghi.

For Jesper Radich the contract with Desafio Espanol ended the day that the team lost to Emirates Team New Zealand, Jesper had been contracted to the project since the 1st May 2005. In fact the whole thing started when he was out on a training sail with the Danish Crown Prince when he received an offer he could not say no to.

Well Paid”
I obviously couldn’t. Such an offer does not come along every day and I haven’t regretted it for a second. It has been a fantastic time even though it was hard. I can also only look back with satisfaction with my own contribution. At the same time it has given me a profile on the international sailing scene where I now have a lot of good contacts.

Along the way I have had to pinch myself on the arm, sometimes it was so unreal,” explains Jesper Radich, who after the Louis Vuitton Cup in Malmø had Sara his wife and their, now, two year old child join him in Valencia.

”She was given 2 years leave from work and that was just perfect. Sara was an important part of the project in that she has supported me the whole way. Without her help it would not have been possible,” underlines Jesper Radich, who has not managed to write his final university paper as yet, but hopes to find time for it this winter.

However he can feel good about his experiences and a happy bank manager.

”I was well paid. That is no secret. One can live a very good life as a professional sailor.

However it is a very poor situation where, as a professional sailor, you stand completely on your own without some kind of organisation behind you taking care of your interests and rights. It should be possible to organise the professional part a bit more, particularly as we see it in other branches of sport with Professional Players Associations and so forth,” points out Jesper.

For more information please contact Peter Falck, Chairman or Flemming Vitus, Press Officer.

See also:

www.danishopen.dk

www.worldmatchracingtour.com

www.isaf.org

Axhede succeeds in Troia!

2007-07-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

source by: Bob Fischer

Jenny Axhede of Sweden emerged the triumphal victor of the Troia Portugal Women’s Match Cup, defeating Sally Barkow of the United States by three races to one in an action-packed final the finished shortly before sunset. It was a final in which wind shifts and penalties played their part.

The first race was close, very close, and the two boats finished overlapped after Barkow had attacked throughout. Axhede won the start, shutting the gate at the committee boat end of the line so that Barkow was left with no option but to follow the Swedish skipper across.

A wind shift put Axhede back in front after Barkow had briefly taken the advantage and ten seconds separated them at the first mark. Barkow reduced this by half before the final run, but could not overcome her opponent in this race.

It was different in the next, a race in which Barkow won the start and progressively increased her lead to finish a minute ahead to level the score.

A penalty against Barkow, for failing to keep clear of the leeward boat, in the last seconds of the pre-start had an effect on the third race, but not entirely. The race was close with Barkow 12 seconds ahead at the first mark, holding that lead on the run, but when Axhede went left on the second windward leg and Barkow went right, the American’s game became unhinged with a left hand shift that brought Axhede into the game.

Barkow dipped when they crossed and there was a double tack, during which Barkow received a second penalty and took her turns instantly and dropped behind. She lost more ground when she took her other penalty turns and Axhede won easily.

Axhede led at the start of the fourth race and was never headed despite ferocious attacks by Barkow. Axhede’s all-Swedish crew of Nina Bake, Elisabeth Nilsson, Johanna Sarna, Annita Carlnnger and Erin Aderman, was faultless in all four races.

Earlier, Axhede had needed only three races to beat Klaartje Zuiderbaan of the Netherlands in the semi-final. Barkow had a considerably tougher time defeating Claire Leroy of France by 3-2. In the petit-final for third place, Leroy beat Zuiderbaan 2-0.

Final Classification with Prize Money:

1. Jenny Axhede (NED) $20,000.00
2. Sally Barkow (USA) $12,000.00
3. Claire Leroy (FRA) $8,000.00
4. Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED) $5,000.00
5. Camilla Ulrikkeholm (DEN) $3,000.00
6. Rita Gonçalves (POR) $2,000.00
7. Lotta Thorelius (SWE)
8. Julie Bossard (FRA)

Barkow on the lead at Troia Portugal Women's Cup

2007-07-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

source by: Bob Fischer
www.portugalwomenscup.com

The United States skipper, Sally Barkow, was the leader at the end of the second round robin of this Grade 1 event at the Portuguese resort at Troia. She began the day with three wins that took her total to 12 for only one defeat.

The first race was an enthralling one in which an early mistake by Barkow and her crew almost wrecked her chances. They were well upwind of the starting line when the sequence began and as they endeavoured to return to the pin end of the line, Jenny Axhede of Sweden went after them on starboard tack, holding them away from the line until the time penalty for starting was applied.

Another penalty came for being ahead of the line when the five-minute signal was made and Barlow appeared doomed as one penalty had to be taken immediately after starting. As Axhede started ahead, she should have had this match under control, but when Barlow took her first penalty, the Swedish woman failed to cover.

Barkow was behind at the first mark but took advantage of a shift to gain ground on the right, gybe and obtain an inside overlap on Axhede as they both headed out to the left side of the course. Higher and higher they went until they were pointing upwind. It was the ideally contrived opportunity for Barkow to offload her second penalty, and she did to lead back to the leeward gate.

It was there that Barkow went to the right hand buoy, tacking immediately to cover Axhede who opted for the left hand buoy of the gate. Barkow drew away to be 18 seconds clear at the second windward mark and was not troubled on the run home.

Barkow’s next two matches, against Rita Gonçalves of Portugal and Sweden’s Lotta Thorelius, were bread-and-butter affairs for the US skipper and her multi-national crew of Annie Lush (GBR), Sharon Ferris (NZL), and three Americans, Elizabeth Kratzig, Chafee Emory and Lindsay Bantel.

“We’ve go to nail her,” said Annie Lush before the last race, but total control however was not to be. The final match of the day was between Barkow and Klaartje Zuiderbaan and the Dutch skipper gained the advantage in the last seconds of the pre-start and denied Barkow any chance of passing.

Final scores after 20 flights (total of 14 rounds):

Sally Barkow (USA) 12-2
Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED) 10-4
Jenny Axhede (SWE) 9-5
Claire Leroy (FRA) 8-6 *
Camilla Ulrikkeholm (DEN) 8-6
Rita Gonçalves (POR) 5-9
Lotta Thorelius (SWE) 2-12
Julie Bossard (FRA) 2-12

*Claire Leroy wins fourth place into the semi-final round on countback.

The first to three wins semi-finals and final will be held tomorrow.

Organization: Sun Sailing Team and Clube Naval de Sesimbra. Main Sonsors: Turismo de Portugal.i.p.; Troia Resort. Sponsors: Grupo Sá Machado. Partners: Amorim Turismo, RTPN, Rádio Capital, Hertz. Oficial Partners: Marinha, Federação Portuguesa de Vela, ISAF – Federação Internacional de Vela, Crescer Ser, Administração dos Portos de Setúbal e Sesimbra, Porto de Sesimbra, Porto de Setúbal, Câmara Municipal de Grandola e Região Turismo Costa Azul. Suppliers: Chivas, Atlantis, Aquabona, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Capeduc, Nespresso, L’Occitane, Novis, Cateri, X. Yachts, Elvstrom Sobstad, Faz Acontecer, Nimbus Boats, PortalAventuras.com

For more informations::
AnaLima – Comunicação & Marketing, Lda
Ana Lima Mobile. + 351 917776018
Paula Martins Mobile. + 351 917776019
E-mail: alc@alcomunicacao.pt

Jesper Bank believes in TNZ

2007-06-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

source: Gordon Smith

... He cannot understand all the talk suggesting that it is better for the Trophy for Alinghi to retain the Cup.

”It is behind the times. I really have a tough time understanding how a whole group of people without influence on the result are getting involved. There are only two groups who can decide this and that is Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand. And what is the problem if the final shall return to New Zealand? With the last AC in Auckland there were nine boats at the start, whilst here in Valencia there have been eleven syndicates. But here it was not particularly meaningful that the Chinese and +39 were present. The Chinese had no money, while the crew on +39 Challenge had no pay half the time. And so we were again down to nine boats.

Many of the sponsors to the next AC will be large global companies and they are not so concerned where it takes place. Maybe.

The America’s Cup has now been sailed since 1851, and it has always been unbelievably facinating. So I am clear that that all the talk about it being best if Alinghi wins, should stop.”, underlines Jesper Bank, who has himself had a number of enquiries about a job at the next America`s Cup.
That happened shortly after he chose to resign as skipper for the German syndicate.

”Yes, and that was very cheering, that so many want me for up and coming AC projects. That just goes to show that there has not been so much wrong with my sailing or the way I handled myself. Everyone could see how difficult the conditions were under which we had to work in the German syndicate.

We started late and at the same time the project was, from the begining, underfunded. It was therefore impossible to take the right decisions, we simply couldn’t make long term contracts. I honestly admit that last December I seriously considered my situation. Now I have never been the type to put my tail between my legs and run, but I should have said ’Stop’.

The more experienced on board the boat were also clear about how serious the situation was.
And when the boat was at last ready to sail AC, were were still a long way from offering the other syndicates any kind of real opposition. That was confimed when we brought a new trimmer on board with a lot of Cup experience. He confirmed our worst fears about the boats potential. For us there was only one thing left to do and that was to go out and do our best, even though the inevitable result was going to to be some serious defeats.

”The German press were also clearly unsupportive?”
”There was real mud throwing and it got very personal. I shall obviously learn from the whole experience and how I conducted myself. The objective from the start was to be better placed than when I was skipper on Victory Challenge. Fifth place should have been improved on here in Valencia. Unfortunately it din’t go quite like that. It absolutely must be the case that in the next project the financing must be in place before the first decisions are made. It is important for the quality of the decisions. Those that I work for shall, from day one, be absolutely clear on what the end product is going to look like.

There have been many clever people involved in our project. I will emphasise that at no point were we working in the dark. We simply got on and made the best of what we had and what we had as it developed. When one works in such a large project with a lot of ”hangers on” and critics, it is important to remember why one got the job in the first place. One only gets it, if one has the right qualities. The critical press were not forthcoming with alternative solutions.

If I was as impossible as some would have it, I would have been given the boot.” says Jesper Bank, who is now looking forward to sailing at the Danish Open 2007.
Clearly it is not quite the same environment as in Valencia, where, on some days there were upwards of 200.000 spectators.

”I have maybe earned a break after two years non-stop work. But we have also had a lot of pleasure and reward from sailing the Danish Open and it is with pleasure that we are looking forward to taking part at Skovshoved in August. We will also have had a months holiday here in Valencia so we will be rested and ready for the Danish Open. For us it is unique to sail amongst such good friends and I couldn’t think of a better place to get it all together again”, says Jesper Bank, who will also be competing at the Rolex Farr40 World Championships in Denmark later in the summer.
The Farr40’s first event is next month in Skagen, Denmark (the most northerly point of continental Europe) and then moves to Tuborg Harbour, Copenhagen after the Danish Open for the World Championships at the end of August.

Slovenia Match Race Cup goes to Republic South Africa

2007-06-19T04:01:00.000-07:00

Source: www.cleanport.si

Ian Ainslie along with his crew Golden Mgedeza, Solli Dipere in Szabi Waes, realized his match racing experience gathered in the last four years at the top level, while sailing for team Shosholoza in the AC campaign.

Another sunny day with winds exceeding all forecasts welcomed the ‘surviving’ four crews in the final stages of Slovenia Match Race Cup. Action continued with yesterday canceled second matches of semifinals. Both yesterdays losers Basic and Ainsle first equalized and then went on to win their semifinals, forcing Simoncelli and Morvan to Petit finals. In interesting matches that followed, Simoncelli earned his third place in the event with two straight wins against Morvan, who was noticeably disappointed with the final outcome.

But there was more in store for the spectators and invited guests on the spectator boats. Just like matches in the Petit finals, the Grand final matches were a real treat for the public. Only a boat length or two between the teams, countless tacks and jibes and great work aboard both sailboats made sure every match was decided no sooner than at the finish line. Two of the matches actually ended in a real photo-finish. Therefore, though Ainsle won the finals with 3-0, their work was by far not as easy as the result would imply.

At the prize-giving ceremony all teams earned loud cheers and congratulations and got some practical awards. Of course the first three teams were also awarded with nice artistic glass cups and the winning crew of Ian Ainsle with a one week charter form one of the sponsors.

We can only hope that competitors were nearly as satisfied with the event, as the organizers were with all the sailing and battles these young but top level sailors performed here in Izola in these three days.

‘Let the games begin’ hopefully again next year and in the years to follow at match racing events in the small Slovenian sea.

Results Slovenia Match Race Cup
1. Ian Ainslie (RSA), 2. Tomislav Bašić (CRO), 3. Matteo Simoncelli (ITA), 4. Piere-Antoine Morvan (FRA), 5. Andreas Willim (GER), 6. Torvar Mirsky (AUS), 7. Jure Orel (SLO), 8. Dario Kliba (CRO), 9. Andrew Arbuzov (RUS), 10. Przemek Tarnacki (POL).

RC44: Team Aqua conquers the Oeiras Cup in great style

2007-06-04T01:21:00.001-07:00

The Oeiras Cup ended up in style today, with one coastal race alongside the beautiful Portuguese coast followed by two fleet races. With two second and a third places, Team Aqua confirms its leadership over the class, conquering both the fleet race contest and the overall title.

Oeiras (POR), 3 June 2007 – The six RC 44’s teams involved in the Oeiras Cup started the day with a challenging coastal race across the Tagus River. Team Omega and Cro-A-Sail, the principal contenders to Team Aqua’s domination, made an unexpected gift to their opponent by crossing the line a couple of seconds before the start gun. However, this proved later on not to be a real issue.
Indeed, the course was taking the competitors in a tricky area alongside the Tower of Belem (where Vasco de Gama set sails on its way to India in 1498) and the famous Lisbon bridge; an area with windless patches followed by unpredictable 20 knots gusts…
As a consequence, Team Aqua - leader at the first mark - suddenly found itself at the back of the fleet, before fighting its way back to the top. Going from zero to hero, the Japanese team Beecom benefited from a gust to overtake the whole fleet and take the provisory lead.
The game of cat and mouse lasted approximately fourty minutes. The first boats to reach the stronger offshore wind were naturally the first to fly away. Team Aqua was the one, followed by Beecom and Team Light Bay. As for Team Omega, V1 Racing and Cro-A-Sail, they lost all their hopes at this stage, seeing their opponents fly away whilst stuck in the heart of the town…
A few minutes before the end of the race, Beecom managed to overtake Team Aqua. Team Light Bay finished third, followed by Team Omega, Team V1 Racing and Cro-A-Sail.
The Race Committee then organised two more fleet races, allowing the competitors to conclude the event after a total of nine races.
Team Omega took its revenge by winning both. Race eight saw a nice dual between the two leaders, Omega finishing slightly ahead of Team Aqua. Further back, Beecom got once again stuck in a rounding mark and had to abandon the race; kind of a Japanese speciality this week…
Finally, the last race of the Oeiras Cup 2007 saw another victory of Coutts’s team ahead of Team Aqua and Beecom. Very short and intense, the race saw a crewmember onboard Cro-A-Sail fall over boar, luckily with no further damage.
Today’s races were a great conclusion to the Oeiras Cup. All together, the six teams involved sailed a whole round robin, eight fleet races and one coastal race. A great achievement. Winner of the Portoroz Cup and second of the Croatia Boat Show Cup earlier this season, Team Aqua increases its lead in the RC 44 Championship Tour, ahead of Cro-A-Sail, Team Omega and Beecom.
The next regatta on the calendar is the Lugano Yacht Club Cup, in Switzerland, between June 20-23

To see the RC44 Image set click here

Open Match Race Cup Hard 2007: Ian Ainslie beaten by Monnin in a dramatic final

2007-05-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

The “Binnenbecken” is a small enclosure of Lake of Constance in Hard, Austria that provides a perfect arena for matchracing. Just big enough to set a course, so the spectators can watch from all around the bay.
The training units on Thursday were hard for the competitors, and the spectators preferred to stay at home. The never ending pouring rain and temperatures that reminded of January prevented all but one of them from taking the offer to test matchracing on one of the six Streamline Yachts themselves.

All that changed on Friday:
Sunshine and constant force 2 westerly winds made a perfect setting for the first 12 flights of Round Robin. Ian Ainslie, who had come directly from Valencia, and Eric Monnin from Switzerland were the leading teams at the end of the day, both with six out of seven races won. Four points out of five races made Tino Ellegast third in the intermediate ranking. Staffan Lindberg, European Champion from Finland and the Italian team Simoncelli were both beaten in three races. The two Austrian teams, Doppelmayer and Wagner had to realize that the competition was too strong. They both couldn’t get a single point.

Same perfect conditions on Saturday:
The remaining ten flights of Round Robin brought some changes: Monnin took the lead from Ainslie with 10 against 9 points. Mads Ebler from Denmark and German Max Gurgel were the other two winners of the day. Tino Ellegast could not repeat his performance of the opening day and ranked sixth, after Simoncelli but before Lindberg. And the Austrians? Their ranks eleven and twelve showed that matchracing in Austria is a long way from the top.

The Finals on Sunday:
Hardly believable, but for the third day the sun wa already there and the western breeze just came at ten so that the first race of the day between Monnin and Max Gurgel could be started. Monnin beat Gurgel twice so he was the first candidate for the final. It took Ainsly three heats to show Mads Ebler that he had more experience than the 23 years old Dane, who could win the third rank over Max Gurgel.
In the Final Monnin won the first race. After the boat change Ainslie could beat him twice. Then boats were changed again and the fourth race went to Monnin, so that the final fifth heat decided everything. Ainslie could clearly win the start. He reacted to Monnin’s tacking attacks and they provided a fascinating duel for the spectators at the beach. In a slight wind change Monnin got in front and he succeeded in defending his lead over the following three legs.
At the price giving ceremony Eric Monnin addressed the audience: “We have been dreaming of winning a Grade Two Event for the last four years. Now we have succeeded”. And a great victory it was, seeing all the famous names behind him.

Final result Open Matchracecup Hard 2007

1 Eric Monnin, Swizzerland
2 Ian Ainslie, South Africa
3 Mads Ebler, Denmark
4 Max Gurgel, Germany
5 Matteo Simoncelli, Italy
6 Tino Ellegast, Germany
7 Staffan Lindberg, Finland
8 Andrew Cornah, United Kingdom
9 Jure Orel, Slovenia
10 Marek Stanczyk, Poland
11 Heinz Doppelmayr, Austria
12 Verena Wagner, Austria

Slovenia Match Race Qualifier concluded successfully, Tomislav Bašič wins and qualifies for the main event in June

2007-04-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

Though important matches were ahead on the last day, the morning briefing went on in an relaxed atmosphere. The crews and the committee had to wait a while for the wind to pick up, and it came in an untypical fashion, announcing tricky and shifty conditions. After the last flight of the round-robin, J. Pasini and T. Bašič joined Tarnacki and Orel for the last stages of the event.
While Orel quickly sent Pasini to Petit Final with a score of 2-0, the other semifinal went to three races. Tarnacki took the first win, but with a declining Westerly wind Bašič and his team with perfect handling of the boat came back to win the next two matches and proceed to the grand Final.
Almost an hour passed before new fresh wind from the North arrived. Wanting to get on a long drive home as soon as possible, Italian and Polish teams agreed to sail the Petit Final to best of one. Pasini won the match and the final third place. In the grand final Orel began with the first win, but again Bašič has managed to come from behind. Wining the next two starts, and later perfectly controlling Orel through the whole course in a very steady wind, Tomislav Bašič deservedly won the Slovenia Match Race Qualifier in grand fashion. Therefore he and his team have earned the wildcard for the main event in June, and were warmly congratulated by the second place crew of the organizer Jure Orel.
Bašič was the lowest ranked skipper of the event, but don't be fooled by this. His current ranking is due to not match racing for a couple of years. In 1999 he was the seventh match race skipper in the world, and will surely give a headache or two to the nine skippers from the top 40, that are on the starting list of Slovenia Match Race Cup 2007 (ISAF grade 2). See you all on 15th of June, (just before AC in Valencia) when serious match racing in Izola picks up again.

Final Results

1. Tomislav Bašič Stjepan Vitaljič, Marin Lovrovič, Antoniao Arapovič.
2. Jure Orel Davor Glavina, Aleš Božnik, Karlo Hmeljak
3. Jacopo Pasini Carlo Mazzini, Enrico Stella, Lorenzo Percic
4. Przemek Tarnacki Marcin Banaszek, Przemek Plociennik, Lukasz Wosinski
5. Victor Lanier Nicolas Dore, Julien Falxa, Jeremie Raymond
6. Sergey Musikhin Kiril Luzin, Maxim Taranov, Iztok Knafelc
7. Orkun Soyer Cagatay Soyer, Ismail Inan, Burcu Algon
8. Gašper Vinčec Gregor Lisjak, Luke Verzel, Julijan Višnjevec
9. Jon Brecelj Uroš Pečaver, Martin Starič, Jure Dolenc
10. Marek Stanczyk Dominik Niskiewicz, Zbigniew Gutkowski, M. Kolosinski

Go to event page

Valencia: Swinging keel looks stronger possibility

2007-04-22T00:38:00.000-07:00

Source: www.nzherald.co.nz

The possibility of an America's Cup syndicate having engineered a breakthrough that would make a swinging keel legal gained momentum yesterday.
The Herald reported on Monday that a syndicate had asked the measurement committee about the legality of such a keel, which would give a huge speed advantage over the rest of the fleet.
Cup technical director Ken McAlpine yesterday held a surprise media briefing where he was questioned on the concept.
The briefing was announced just 30 minutes before taking place but almost all of the 12 teams were represented technically and legally.
The one team not represented was Chris Dickson's BMW Oracle Racing, who did not know about the meeting.
Alinghi sent legal representative New Zealander Hamish Ross and Emirates Team New Zealand were represented by trustee and legal representative Jim Farmer, QC, and designer Nick Holroyd.
Luna Rossa sent the biggest entourage, including syndicate head Patrizio Bertelli and design guru Tom Schnackenberg.
The high level of representation gave the biggest indication yet of the concern surrounding the possibility of such a technological breakthrough.
McAlpine kept his answers to questions involving such a keel to a minimum yesterday, answering either yes or no and offering little explanation. With a long history in the America's Cup, his job involves measuring all the boats to ensure they are within the rules.
He signed off New Zealand Challenge's bowsprit in 1992 and Team NZ's controversial hula at the last cup in Auckland. What could be gleaned from his answers yesterday was that it was legal to link the rigging to the keel but the rig loads could not be used to deflect the keel.
However, natural forces could be utilised to deflect the keel. The rig supports the sails that are powered through the natural force of the wind.
If that power was somehow being stored and used to reduce the keel deflection, then that appears to be legal.
Whether a team have figured out how to do this and whether it is legal is now the question. The suspicion remains that one of the teams - possibly Alinghi or maybe even BMW Oracle Racing - have.
The 19-20-tonne lead bulbs at the bottom of the boats' 4-metre-long keels keep them upright against the pressure on their large sails. The weight of the bulbs means the steel keel fin supporting them deflects under load when the boat heels over. The straighter the keel, the better the performance. Adjusting the keel by one degree could improve upwind stability as much as 3 per cent, a huge gain in this sport.
Yachting commentator Peter Lester said if the issue was a red herring as some had touted, "why did some of the smartest brains in the sport turn up?"

Cayard, Coutts and Lagos announce World Sailing League

2007-02-18T01:55:00.000-08:00

Sailing legends Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard have teamed up with internationally renowned Portuguese sports promoter, João Lagos, to create a new annual global sports series. The World Sailing League (WSL) will be held at premier sailing locations around the world with the series winner receiving a cheque for $2 million.

Twelve teams, representing nations, will compete in identical, state-of-the-art 70ft catamarans. It is anticipated that there will be venues in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North America and South America. Cayard and Coutts are both committed to skipper teams in the league.

João Lagos, whose company, Lagos Sports, runs prestigious international golf, cycling, tennis and motor racing events, commented: “I immediately recognised the potential of the World Sailing League and am excited about the opportunity to raise the profile of sailing here in Portugal through this international sporting event. There is also the possibility of a Portuguese venue and team, but this is yet to be confirmed.

“From the results of our detailed due diligence and conversations with potential venues, skippers and sponsors, I can confirm that the level of support for this new and innovative concept has been remarkable and we are delighted to be involved.”

Russell Coutts outlined why João Lagos is the ideal partner for WSL: “We have been planning this for a long time and were looking for an organisation that would share our vision for the World Sailing League. In João Lagos we have an entrepreneurial figure with the foresight to see the potential of these events, coupled the expertise and credibility to bring the concept to life. Our partnership with Lagos Sports, a leading event promoter allows us to make this announcement today.”

Cayard added, “Russell, João Lagos and I are pooling our experiences from the America’s Cup, the Olympic Games and a multitude of other sporting competitions. We have taken the best ideas from sports events all over the world – and added innovative concepts – to generate an exciting new series that will maximise the appeal to sailors, sponsors and spectators. For a venture like this, it was also important that ISAF support the concept and they have confirmed they are fully behind us.”

The World Sailing League will use a fleet racing format although a number of other innovative concepts such as time trials and slalom racing will be tested using the prototype yacht. It will also have a customised support ship to transport the boats and equipment to each venue. The ship will be akin to a transportable pit lane, with all the technology required to maintain the 70’ catamarans.

The design of the boats will be finalised by early summer of this year with the first prototype being launched in the latter half of 2007 to allow sufficient testing and refinement. The 14 one-design yachts will start being built in 2008, ready for the launch of the series during 2009.

The new boats have been designed by a team including Marc Van Peteghem and Lauriot Prévost and are at the forefront of technology. The 70ft catamarans will combine speed, maneuverability and the ability to sail close to shore for optimum spectator viewing.

There will be a further media announcement towards the end of this year at which further information and details of venues, teams, sponsors and the boats will be revealed.

Lugano Match Cup and IU Seminar

2007-01-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

After the inaugural edition of last year the Circolo Velico Lago di Lugano is organizing also in the second edition of the Lugano match cup.
This year the event will be over two weekends with a Gr. 4 match Race for Swiss match racing Teams and a Grade 3 event open also for teams from other nationalities. During the Gr. 3 event ISAF in collaboration with Swiss Sailing will also organize a IU Seminar open to umpires who intent to participate in an IU seminar.

Program
-10 – 11 March 2007 Act I
8 Team with 4 Streamline, top 4 team will qualify for the Gr. 3

-16 – 18 March 2007 Act II
10 Team with 6 Streamline

-14 – 18 March ISAF International Umpire Seminar

Registration

Act I and Act II, please send an email to: peter.schmidle@matchrace.ch

IU Seminar, please send an email to: juergkaufmann@matchrace.ch

Read more from the 2006 Lugano Match Cup

Download Notice of Race Act I

Download Notice of Race Act II

Download Application for IU Seminar

Koo - new face of Moonson Cup

2006-11-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

source by: Sean McNeill

After a trying day beset by light winds and intermittent downpours, Peter Gilmour took the early lead in defense of his title at the Monsoon Cup, Stage 6 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

Gilmour, skipper of PST, finished the day with a 3-0 record to claim the top spot. Behind him is a group of four skippers – including Jesper Bank, Paolo Cian, Sébastien Col and Ian Williams – at 3-1.

“It was a very hard day. The wind was shifting everywhere,” said Cian, a helmsman for Team Shosholoza. “The starts were important and boatspeed is always important. The difference between crossing and not was a half meter.”

While the names at the top of the leaderboard are familiar, it was a 22-year-old Malaysian woman who stole the show. Tiffany Koo, Malaysia’s rising female match-racer, made a splash in her World Tour debut when she won her first match against Asian rival Wearn Haw Tan from Singapore.

“I can’t really describe how I feel,” Koo said. “We’re very happy. We won our first race in the Monsoon Cup.”

Koo gained entry to the Monsoon Cup by winning the Malaysian nationals in September. A dinghy sailor by training, she won the 2001 Byte World Championship and a Gold medal in the Laser Radial class at the 2001 Southeast Asian Games, Koo has recently abandoned the small boats to take up match racing and do more big boat sailing. She trims headsails on the 75-footer Jelik.

Koo, however, looked like an experienced hand in her first race. She came off the start line in a split-tack start against Tan, taking port onto the racecourse near the committee boat end. Tan, meanwhile, took starboard up the left side of the racecourse.

About two-thirds of the way up the leg Koo, on starboard, easily crossed Tan with about two boatlengths to spare. She rounded the first windward mark more than 30 seconds in the lead, and never looked back.

The second time around the windward mark she was more than a minute and a half in the lead, and easily on her way to victory.

“I was nervous and excited,” Koo said of her emotions heading into the pre-start. “It was a good learning experience. After a few races I pushed to work harder.”

Koo finished the day with a 1-3 record.
The wind conditions made the day difficult for all involved. The Race Committee was on the water for more than nine hours, taking a break only for lunch during a monsoon squall.

The wind this time of year is typically from a northerly quadrant, but today it blew from a southerly quadrant and was light, topping out around 6 knots in puffs. There were other factors that compounded the mental strain on the sailors, such as the ripping current and short racecourses.

The Pulau Duyong Basin sits at the confluence of two rivers. The tide rips through before flowing to the South China Sea. On a racecourse barely 300 meters long, the racing was tight and placed a huge emphasis on starting. Then, the winning move seemed to be heading to the right side of the first beat, where there was current relief.

“It was a right-hand day, which was also the right-of-way tack,” said Gilmour. “It was a nice place to be.”
Gilmour scored wins over Bjorn Hansen, Peter Holmberg and Col for his 3-0 mark.

The vagaries of the conditions caught several experienced hands out on a few occasions. James Spithill, of Luna Rossa Challenge, lost to Tan after leading comfortably around the second windward mark. Spithill jibed to starboard after the rounding, which should’ve put him in better current. Tan held port towards the shoreline. When they converged again two-thirds down the run Tan crossed ahead of Spithill and hung on for his only win of the day in five starts.

Spithill, however, came back against Williams in Flight 6. He led around the first lap, let Williams back in the race at the bottom of the second upwind leg, only to overtake the Briton again at the second windward mark.

Williams also scored a come-from-behind win, versus Bank.
“It was a difficult course to call today,” said Williams. “The left looked better for pressure but the right was better for tide.”

“The wind was all over the compass,” said Bank, who has excelled in light and shifty winds at the Danish Open. “I can’t compare this at all to Copenhagen.”

Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning around 9:45 a.m., weather permitting.
Racing in the semifinal and final rounds, Dec. 2 and 3, is scheduled to be broadcast live on the Internet at www.sail.tv. It will also be broadcast live on ESPN/Star Sports, Eurosport, The Sailing Channel, Fox Australia, Sky New Zealand and Showtime Middle East (check local listings for times).

Monsoon Cup Round Robin Provisional Standings
(After 6 of 17 scheduled flights)
1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 3-0
(Crew: Rick Brent, Christian Scherrer, Graeme Spence, Yasuhiro Yaji)
2. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 3-1
(Crew: Henrik Blaksjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Mike Mottl, Jan Schoepe)
T. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza, 3-1
(Crew: Ian Ainslie, Fernando Colaninno, Pierluigi Fornelli, David Rae)
T. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 3-1
(Crew: Thierry Briend, Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon)
T. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar, 3-1
(Crew: Bill Hardesty, Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Mark Williams)
6. Sébastien Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 2-2
(Crew: Christophe Andre, Benoit Briand, Gilles Favennec, Thierry Peponnet)
T. James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge, 2-2
(Crew: Magnus Augustson, Torben Grael, Michele Ivaldi, Joe Newton)
8. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 1-2
(Crew: Rodney Ardern, Lorenzo Mazza, Dean Phipps, Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen)
9. Tiffany Koo (MAL) Team Selango Gapurna, 1-3
(Crew: Rolf Heemskerk, Jeremy Koo, Ong Khong Sing, Looi Sing Yew)
T. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 1-3
(Crew: Martin Berntsson, Kalle Kjerstadius, Staffan Lindberg, Magnus Woxen)
11. Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) China Team, 1-4
(Crew: Thierry Barot, Xavier Husson, Yurii Siegel, Zhang Wenpei)
12. Adam Minoprio (NZL) Black Match Racing, 0-3
(Crew: Nick Blackman, Tom Powrie, Josh Puckey, Dave Swete)

Moonson Cup lineup confirmed

2006-11-21T01:40:00.000-08:00

source by: Sean McNeill

The 12 skippers and crews will be chasing a prize purse of MYR 1 million, approximately $275,000. It is the largest prize purse offered in sailing. The winner will earn MYR 250,000, or nearly $70,000. Racing is scheduled Nov. 29-Dec. 3.

Heading the lineup is the event reigning champion and match racing world champion Peter Gilmour of the PST team from Australia. Another entrant is current world championship leader Ian Williams of Team Pindar from Great Britain.

America’s Cup syndicates are represented by Jesper Bank of United Internet Team Germany, Paolo Cian of Team Shosholoza, Sébastian Col of Areva Challenge, Peter Holmberg of Alinghi, James Spithill of Luna Rossa Challenge and Wearn Haw Tan of China Team.

The 2nd annual Monsoon Cup features the first ever appearance by a Malaysian woman in professional match racing. Tiffany Koo won the Malaysian Match Racing Championship in September to gain the berth. Koo turns 22 years old on Nov. 29.

The crews are scheduled to sail a single round robin with the top eight advancing to the quarterfinals. The four winners from the quarterfinal knock out round advance to the semifinals, while the vanquished advance to racing for 5th through 8th places.

The semifinal and final rounds are first to 3 points. Racing will be held in the Foundation 36, designed by New Zealander Brett Bakewell-White, and will be conducted on Pulau Duyong Basin, in front of the Terenggan Heritage Bay Club.

Racing in the semifinal and final rounds, Dec. 2 and 3, is scheduled to be broadcast live on the Internet at www.sail.tv. It will also be broadcast live on Eurosport, The Sailing Channel, Fox Australia and Showtime Middle East (check local listings for times).

Percy wins round one of the JPMorgan Asset Management Winter Challenge Series

2006-11-15T04:55:00.000-08:00

See pictures of the JP Morgan Winter Challenge

RYA Press Release

13 November 2006

The JPMorgan Asset Management Winter Challenge Match racing Series kicked off this weekend (11-12 November) at Queen Mary Sailing Club, Staines. Some of Britain’s top match racers were showing off their match racing skills, including +39 Americas Cup helmsman and Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy.
The series run by the Royal Yachting Association also tempted veteran match racer and commentator Andy Green back to the match racing circuit, alongside British National Match Racing Champions both past and present in the form of Mark Campbell-James and Nick Cherry. Also competing from overseas was Orkun Soyer from Turkey and Jelle Roos from Holland.
It was Campbell James who came out on top in the round robin with Percy and Green finishing second and third. Cherry, Christian Hamilton (GBR) and Jelle Roos (NED) were all in with chance of securing the final slots in the semi-finals. A particularly fierce battle was fought between Cherry and Hamilton that saw Cherry the eventual victor and claim the last spot in the semi finals. Hamilton and Roos went to the 5^th/6^th place sail off.
The semis and finals were best of three, first to two. Campbell-James won his first match against Cherry but the second one was a virtual dead heat with Cherry given the victory by Race Officer Alistair Shaw. However, Campbell-James proved too strong and won the third match to gain his place in the final.
In the battle of the Americas Cup sailors Percy and Green brought a new dimension to the scene. Their semi final matches were close, hard fought and enthralling but it was current Americas Cup helmsman Percy who won two straight matches to reach the final.
The final was a real dog fight. Campbell-James was sailing with Dave Mason, Andy Clark and Andy Yates. Percy’s +39 Americas Cup team comprised of Britain’s Andrew (Bart) Simpson, Ganga Bruni (ITA) and Michele Bella (ITA). Both teams were determined to win.
After an active pre-start, the teams reached the windward mark neck and neck. Smart match racing was taking place, they sailed above the mark and past it the wrong side, with both were given penalties during the action. Percy just took the advantage round the first windward mark and managed to hold off Campbell-James, to take the first race.
Percy again took the lead in the second match, but a problem with the last spinnaker hoist saw Campbell-James take full advantage to force the final into a third and deciding match. Percy was not to be beaten and he went on to win the final battle to take the overall victory for the weekend and a place in the grand final on 9-11 March 2007.
Andy Green won the sail off against Nick Cherry for third place and was full of praise for the event saying “The JPMorgan Asset Management Challenge has gained in reputation since its conception and having competed this weekend I fully appreciate why it continues to attract some of the best match racers in the world”.
The RYA fleet of J80’s in which the competition is sailed are all equally matched and really help to raise the calibre of the event. The location of the event at Queen Mary Sailing Club, with its close proximity to London’s airports, has allowed foreign competitors from all over the world to compete. Anyone interested, with a world match race ranking in the top 60, should contact event organiser David Campbell-James at campbelljames@btinternet.com for a entry.

The next stage of the Challenge is in two weeks time on 25 and 26 November.

Overall results
1. Iain Percy (GBR), Gabrielle Bruni, Andrew Simpson, Michelle Bella
2. Mark Campbell-James (GBR), Dave Mason, Andrew Yates, Andy Clark
3. Andy Green (GBR), Graham Sunderland, Tris Nelson, Andy Oliver
4. Nick Cherry (GBR), Connor Myant, Nick Houchin, Oscar Helmstrom
5. Christian Hamilton (GBR), Sam Carter, Steph Dawson, Mark Capps, Ed Hill
6. Jelle Roos (NED), Frans Hin, Maarte Innemee, Kelly Clarjs, Maricke Poulis
7. Dave Tabb (GBR), Ben, Scroggie, Jason Foster, Stewart Bowen
8. Orkun Soyer (TUR), Gagatay Soyer, Onursal Soyer, Ismail Inan
9. Rob Grieg-Gran (GBR), Ed Walker, Tudor Owen, Gareth Owen

Deb Capozzi Leads Team to U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship Title

2006-11-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Newport Beach, CA (November 12) - By the time the teams for the finals of the U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship were lined up on Saturday, spectators were in for a treat and the finalists didn't disappoint. The finals put the team led by Deb Capozzi up against another very strong team led by Katie Pilley-Lovell.

Capozzi won the first race, but Lovell dug back in the second race to tie the series. Race 3 saw a great battle between the two, with Capozzi barely taking the win. After changing boats, the two teams went back at it. After a very exciting pre-start, Capozzi was able to control off the line, then used great boat speed to stay out in front, even with Lovell and her team finding some great pressure and advantageous lifts. Capozzi cruised across the line to take the fourth match and win the title. Capozzi, who was on the winning boat last year and this year sailed with Kelly Hand, Chantal Ledger, and Lindsay Bartel, took home US SAILING's Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy as the 2006 U.S. Women's Match Racing Champions. For the second year in a row, Pilley-Lovell won the Mrs. Charles Adams Trophy.

Ben Ainslie wins Allianz Cup

2006-10-31T07:07:00.000-08:00

Photo (c) Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo

Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand became the fifth first-time winner on the World Tour this season when he defeated Ed Baird of Alinghi in the final of the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle. Ainslie won the five-race series 3-1, winning three straight after dropping the first.
Facing a 2-1 deficit, Baird got a late hook on Ainslie in the pre-start of Flight 4, but then let Ainslie off the hook. Ainslie tacked to port and Baird tried to follow but lost his boatspeed and nearly got stuck in irons. That allowed Ainslie to separate towards the race committee boat, tack to starboard and take a one and a half boatlength lead onto the racecourse. Ainslie covered relentlessly throughout the match for the series win.
Despite the loss, Baird moved into second place on the world championship leaderboard. His second place finish added 20 points to his scoreline and gives him 40 points total, 7 behind leader Ian Williams who placed 4th at the Allianz Cup. Paolo Cian and Jesper Bank are tied for third with 35 points. Ainslie slots in as 9th on the leaderboard with 25 points.

Baird up at Allianz Cup

2006-10-29T01:54:00.000-08:00

source by: Sean McNeill

America’s veteran match racer is up 2-0 and England’s wunderkinds are tied 1-1 in the Semifinal Round of the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour.
Ed Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) leads Denmark’s Jesper Bank 2-0 in one semifinal match. Baird staged a come from behind victory in their first race and then dominated the second race for the lead.
“We got an opportunity at the first windward mark,” Baird said of his first race. “He dialed us down hard on starboard. It was close whether we could cross behind him but were able to.”
Once around the windward mark, Baird’s crew snapped off a maneuver quicker than Bank’s.
“We had a much better jibe and that was the race,” said Baird.
In the other half of the semifinal bracket 29-year-old Ian Williams, the match racing world championship points leader, is tied with triple Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie, also 29.
Williams won the first race after unloading a penalty. Ainslie won the second when he nipped Williams at the finish of a 5-minute run that saw the lead change hands three times.
“We were sailing nicely and fast,” said Williams. “But we made a mistake and gave him a get out of jail card. We had two opportunities to jump on him, but didn’t take advantage.”
The semifinals were suspended late this evening with the setting sun. The wind shifted to the west for the semifinal races and blew around 10 knots. The conditions were much more suitable for racing than the light northerlies that the quarterfinals were sailed in and have dominated the regatta, but there were still pratfalls on the racecourse.
“The breeze was more solid at the end,” said Williams. “We were sailing up and down with the current but it brings new challenges, like time and distance in the pre-start.”
Baird noticed differences in the ebb current from the shoreside to the middle of the bay.
“It was a little softer on the shore, we were surprised by that,” said Baird. “The beats were short so you had to start to the right.”
The quarterfinals were held earlier in the day. Baird defeated Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing, 3-1. Bank needed five races to defeat Peter Holmberg, Baird’s teammate at Alinghi.
Williams beat old nemesis Peter Gilmour, 3-1, to knock a chip off his shoulder. Williams has beaten Gilmour plenty in round robin racing on the tour, but has lost to him in three knockout rounds.
“It felt good to get that one,” said Williams. “He seems to be our nemesis in final rounds. For the tour standings it’s a big deal.”
Ainslie defeated Paolo Cian in the last quarterfinal match, also by 3-1. Ainslie won the first two, dropped the third and then won the fourth. Cian aided Ainslie by getting a penalty and being over the start line early. Despite all that Cian led towards the finish line, but saddled with the penalty Ainslie was able to steam past for the win.
In racing for 5th through 8th places this evening, Cian defeated Dickson and then Gilmour to place 5th and Gilmour 6th. Dickson placed 7th when he passed Holmberg on the final run to the finish, relegating Holmberg to 8th.
Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. and will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.Sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting.

BAIRD WINS GROUP B AT ALLIANZ CUP

2006-10-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

Ed Baird, a helmsman for America’s Cup defense syndicate Alinghi, won the Group B round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.
Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won all three of his matches today and finished with a 6-1 record. Baird tied for the win with Italian Paolo Cian of Team Viano Mercedes Benz – Shosholoza. Cian led yesterday at 4-0, but his lone loss was to Baird in Flight 5 which gave Baird the win.
“It was pretty light,” said Baird, the only skipper to finish in the Championship 8 every Tour season. “There was some current. The current was changing, and each race was different. That was part of the difficulty, to be comfortable with that. Especially in the starting area, it seemed to be quite different than on the racecourse. My guys did a great job of reading that and timing to the line. It gave me a lot of confidence to be in right place in the starts. We got ahead and stayed there today.”
Baird’s timing was the difference in the pre-start against Cian in Flight 5.
“They did an incredible job of time and distance to the line and were able to push us up and out of the line,” said Cian. “So the race was probably over at the beginning. I think we were pretty happy with six wins out of seven races. It’s just the way you read it.”
Denmark’s Jesper Bank, skipper of United Internet Team Germany, finished third at 5-2 and Australian Peter Gilmour, the reigning match racing world champion, was fourth at 4-3.
They advance to tomorrow’s Quarterfinal Round, which features some very intriguing matches. Baird will face Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Cian races Ben Ainslie, a helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand. Bank takes on Peter Holmberg, another helmsman for Alinghi, and Gilmour goes against Ian Williams, the current leader of the world championship standings.
The winner of each match is the first to 3 points. The quarterfinals will be broadcast live on the Internet tomorrow at www.Sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting.
The light winds from the north today inhibited the completion of more racing. The wind blew mostly between 6 and 8 knots, but died away in the afternoon which forced racing to be abandoned after Group B finished its round robin.
The event moves on to the quarterfinals without arguably its biggest attraction, Larry Ellison. The CEO of Oracle and founder of the BMW ORACLE Racing Team fell to 0-5 before closing out with two wins. He finished with a 2-5 record and in 6th place in the group.
“Actually, we’re kind of pleased with sixth place,” Ellison said to a packed press conference at the St. Francis Yacht Club. “Let’s here it for sixth place!”
Ellison said he hadn’t raced in J/105s before but enjoyed the regatta. He said that yesterday was a very humbling experience sailing in a cross current.
“It is very difficult and tricky sailing in a cross current,” Ellison said. “And sailing against this caliber of skipper and these quality teams, it’s quite astonishing how good they are at what they do. It was just an honor for me to be out amongst them.”
The Allianz Cup may not be Ellison’s last World Tour event. He received an impromptu invitation to Stage 6, the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, from Gilmour, the event’s technical director.
“Just yesterday I got word that Russell Coutts is unavailable to come because he doesn’t have a crew,” said Gilmour. “So Larry, there’s an opening for you. It’s known as the world’s richest event in sailing with a 1 million ringet ($275,000) prize money.”
“Are you serious?” replied Ellison.
“I guess that’s a yes,” Gilmour conclude.

BAIRD WINS GROUP B AT ALLIANZ CUP

2006-10-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

Ian Williams wins Group A at Allianz Cup

2006-10-26T02:18:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

The leader of the match racing world championship standings won today the Group A round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the World Match Racing Tour.

Ian Williams, the 29-year-old skipper of Team Pindar, won the group with a 5-2 record. He topped a three-way tiebreaker with Peter Holmberg of Alinghi and Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand, two syndicates for the America’s Cup, for the win.

Williams defeated both in head-to-head matches for the tiebreaker. Holmberg defeated Ainslie in their Flight 2 match to place second and Ainslie third. Those three advance to Friday’s Quarterfinal Round, a knockout series with the first to 3 points advancing.

Williams came into the event having won his previous start at the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Bermuda last week, a win that moved him into the lead for the world championship and garnered sponsorship from Pindar, the British print and electronic media company. He kept that momentum going today.

“We come in confident as Team Pindar, with the same tactician and trimmers we had in Bermuda,” said Williams, from Hamble, England. “But it’s a different field, different boats and different venue. It’s a new challenge and we’re really pleased to have got through this round and into the quarterfinals.”

Racing on Day 1 of the Allianz Cup was tricky with the wind on San Francisco Bay blowing between the northeast and northwest. That direction afforded great spectator viewing at the St. Francis Yacht Club, with the starting line just 50 yards off the club, it was perpendicular to the strong currents.

The current played a role in racing, especially in the ebb tide in the afternoon when the northerly died to 4 to 8 knots. On some runs the spinnakers on the boats were hanging limp, but they were swept down the course by the tide.

“It was a constant decision of what you thought was more important, current or wind,” said Holmberg. “I think we made the mistake early on that current was most important. In the conditions we had today – pretty variable with wind, direction and strength – you had to be smart to know when wind was more important than tide. I think wind was most important.”

Ainslie is competing in his first World Tour event since March. He felt his timing was off slightly in the pre-start.

“We were a bit rusty today,” said Ainslie. “Our starts were probably our weak point. I think through the whole thing our boathandling was good and teamwork in general was fantastic. So we need to work on [that] for the future and getting used to these boats as well.”

Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing, placed fourth in the round at 4-3, followed by Johnie Berntsson, 4-3, Staffan Lindberg, 2-5, Chris Perkins, 2-5, and Bjorn Hansen, 1-6. Hansen, however, was penalized 1 point for causing damage in a collision and finished with 0 points.

Dickson, Berntsson and Lindberg advance to the repechage round, where they’ll join the 4th thought 6th place finishers from Group B in a round robin. The two top crews in that round advance to the quarterfinals.

Group B is scheduled to begin its round robin tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

Allianz Cup welcomes World Champions

2006-10-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

Past match racing world champions Chris Dickson and Peter Gilmour, along with BMW ORACLE Racing team founder and owner Larry Ellison, are among the entrants for the first Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

Sixteen teams are entered in the $100,000 Allianz Cup, scheduled Oct. 25-29 at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. The winner earns $25,000. The teams represent a mix of America’s Cup syndicates and the next generation of match-race sailors.

“We think we’ve assembled an outstanding field for our first event in the USA,” said World Tour President Scott MacLeod. “There are eight teams representing Cup syndicates and it’ll be fun to see whether the younger sailors can upset the Cup veterans.”

The Cup sailors include Ellison and Dickson. Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software company, is a member of the BMW ORACLE Racing afterguard and is competing in his first World Tour event as a skipper. In the past three years he’s won the Owner/Driver series at the Moët Cup and UBS Trophy, both America’s Cup Class regattas. He’s also a five-time maxi yacht world champion.

Dickson is the skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Dickson won the season-opening Portugal Match Cup in July for his first career Tour victory. He’s a three-time winner of the Match Racing World Championship (1988, ’89 and ’91) and is in his fifth America’s Cup syndicate.

“The World Match Racing Tour events provide a superb tuning ground for the hand-to-hand combat we face in the America’s Cup boats,” said Dickson. “Sailed in smaller boats, the often aggressive sailing at these events fine-tunes not only our starts, crew maneuvers and boat-handling, but we also learn more about rules and on-the-water umpire calls.”

The defense syndicate for the America’s Cup, Alinghi, also has two teams entered, represented by Ed Baird and Peter Holmberg. Baird, a three-time match racing world champion, is the only skipper who has finished in the Championship 8 of every World Tour season, and Holmberg is a past champion (2001-’02).

Gilmour is the reigning ISAF Match Racing World Champion. He won his fourth world title this year when he won his third consecutive World Match Racing Tour championship. Gilmour holds the record for most Tour victories with 11.

Other America’s Cup skippers include Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand, Jesper Bank of United Internet Team Germany, Cameron Dunn of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, and Paolo Cian, of Team Shosholoza and Team Viano Mercedes Benz.

The young guns are represented by Ian Williams and Mathieu Richard, finalists in last week’s Stage 4, the Bermuda Gold Cup. Williams, 29, defeated Richard, 30, 3-1 to win his first World Tour event. The win thrust Williams into the lead for the World Championship with the high score of 35 points, 5 points ahead of Richard.
“The Allianz Cup’s going to be a fantastic event,” said Williams. “It’s a great lineup that’s been put together. It’ll be pretty tough for sure, but we go in as Tour leader and hopefully we can come out as Tour leader.”

The World Match Racing Tour is the world’s leading professional sailing series. The events of the World Tour determine the ISAF Match Racing World Champion, who will be crowned in December 2007. A total of 15 events comprise the 2006-’07 World Tour schedule.

The event Web site was launched this week and can be viewed at www.AllianzCup.com.
During Thursday and Friday of the regatta catch aerobatic champion and Team Oracle pilot Sean D. Tucker as he fly’s the Oracle Challenger over San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Tucker was named as one of the 25 “Living Legends of Flight” by the Smithsonian Institute.
The Allianz Cup is sponsored by Allianz. The Presenting Sponsor is Oracle and the Main Partners are BMW, Fireman’s Fund, Allianz Global Corporate and Speciality, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, NetApp, Pindar Graphics and Alphagraphics.

King Edward VII Gold Cup facing quarterfinals

2006-10-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

Tomorrow’s quarterfinal matches pit Spithill versus Monnin, Hansen against Williams, Lindberg against Walker and Law versus Richard. The winner of each match will be the first to 3 points.

After a wild start to the event yesterday, when three boats were hit with lightning and a few competitors were taken to a doctor for check ups, today was relatively sedate.

The wind blew mostly from the southwest between 8 and 15 knots. A 20-minute squall with winds up to 30 knots blew through Hamilton Harbour during afternoon racing, but the crews were sent shoreside and no one was injured.
Spithill won Group A at 6-1 by winning all five of his matches today, but professed a lack of knowledge for the secret to his success.

“I don’t know our secret,” he said. “I felt we sailed well in the first three races and then I made some mistakes in the next two. But I’m feeling good because I know we can improve a lot.”

Spithill’s biggest problem on the day was when he had to switch boats because the key lock for the tiller and rudder assembly came loose on the boat he had been sailing.
Richard won Group B with an identical 6-1 mark.

“I’m happy with the result,” said Richard. “We have to improve some things, like handling the boat. They’re very particular, like the main traveler. The bowman does it which is different than other boats. I was not happy with the starts. But we’ve improved the speed of the boat upwind and were good on tactics.”

Monnin had finished second in Group B, but was later penalized a half point for damage in a collision with Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen, who was eliminated from the competition, in his final round robin race. The penalty dropped him to fourth from second, and put him in a match with Spithill.

“We had a very special match against Jes,” said Monnin. “The tiller broke in my hand. The wood was rotted and it just broke off in my hands. I couldn’t tell if we were overlapped with him. I hoped we’d clear but a wave lifted the bow up and we crashed down on his transom. I’m not sure we would’ve cleared anyway.”

Monnin took the penalty and his impending match versus Spithill in stride. “It’s good to sail him,” Monnin said. “We like to sail the hard competition.”

Williams jumped out to a 4-1 record after yesterday’s racing, but today lost both his matches.

“We had a couple of wrong decisions at the wrong time,” said Williams. “We missed a layline versus Monnin and had a bad set in another match. But it’s all immaterial. The regatta starts again tomorrow.”

Another quarterfinalist is Law, who has a long and colorful history on Bermuda. He’s been a competitor and commentator in the past, but today he could’ve been mistaken for a flasher. Law and crew came shoreside during the squall and used the laundry room to dry their sailing clothes.

“What we failed to realize is that it’s right next to the ladies room,” said Law, “so there we were standing in our undershorts when the women sailors walked by.”
Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Commodore Andrew Cox noted, “You should know were the ladies’ room is by now, Chris.”
The quarterfinals are scheduled to begin tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

King Edward VII Gold Cup - lightning "visit"

2006-10-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

The King Edward VII Gold Cup commenced today in varying conditions on Hamilton Harbour, but it’s safe to say that never in the previous 57 editions has it experienced a morning quite like today.

The event is in its preliminary round robin stages. In Group A Sweden’s Björn Hansen and Brian Angel of the U.S. dashed out to 2-0 records before racing for the group was prematurely halted around 11:30 a.m.

Group B took to the water at 1:30 p.m. and completed five flights. Frenchman Mathieu Richard and Ian Williams of Great Britain seem assured of advancing to Friday’s Quarterfinal Round. Both skippers went 4-1 in racing with just two flights remaining to complete the group.

“Four-and-one is a good result,” said Richard, who placed sixth last year. “I think we might be into the quarterfinals, but we have two matches tomorrow.”

Group A’s racing was suspended when a squall pushed through that raised the hairs on the back of necks and sent three sailors and an umpire to a doctor for check ups. The squall produced heavy rains and a bolt of lightning that struck three race boats.

One boat, Peppercorn, saw its masthead windex blown off and a hole put in the bow when the lightning presumably traveled down the forestay and into the water through the hull. It was as if someone took a marlinspike and punched through the hull from the inside out.

“We had quite a surprise today when we were struck by lightning,” said reigning event champion James Spithill (Group A, 1-1) of Australia, who had just switched into Peppercorn. “It blew up the mast step. It smelled a bit like a sauna. I’ve never had that happen.”

The sailors who went to the doctor are Karl Anderson and Mark Ivey (both crew for Chris Law) and Eric Boothe (bowman for Brian Angel), all three Americans. The umpire was David Pelling of Canada. According to attending physician Dr. Stephen Sherwin, none was seriously injured.

“They were treated for diffuse electrical shock,” said Sherwin. “All had a thorough cardiovascular and neurological exam. They suffered from mild superficial burn and muscle spasms. Thankfully, nobody had entry or exit wounds, which could have indicated deep tissue burn injury.”

Ivey described what happened: “We had just changed boats after the (James) Spithill race and it began to downpour. We went below and were holding out. Then we heard a huge bang and sparks came out of the mast step. I was sitting on the partners and it shot through me and out my feet. I felt real weak and crawled out of the cabin and laid on the cockpit sole for awhile as it was pouring rain.”

Boothe is living proof that lightning can strike twice. He was competing in a collegiate regatta in 1999 when lightning blew out the mast step of the FJ dinghy he was sailing. He wasn’t hurt in that incident, but he was a bit woozy today. His ear was next to the mast when the bolt hit.

“I kind of had to sit down,” Boothe said. “I was standing on the bow looking aft at the wind and had to take a seat.”

Pelling was holding onto a metal steering wheel when the lightning struck. “I felt a tingling up through my arms,” he said. “It made me jump off the wheel.”

Tomorrow’s schedule calls for Group B to complete its two flights in the morning and then Group A to finish its round robin afterwards. The quarterfinals are slated for Friday, the semifinals on Saturday and the Final on Sunday.

Group A Standings
(After 2 of 7 scheduled flights)

1. Brian Angel (USA) King Harbor Match Race, 2-0
(Crew: Eric Boothe, Payson Infelise, David Levy)

T. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 2-0
(Crew: Martin Angsell, Pontus Meijer, Johan Tempelman)

3. Scott Dickson (NZL) Dickson Racing Team, 1-1
(Crew: Whitlock Batchelor, John Hayes, Mark Strube)

T. Chris Law (GBR) The Outlaws, 1-1
(Crew: Karl Anderson, Mark Ivey, Scott Norris)

T. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 1-1
(Crew: Nils Bjerkas, Robert Skarp, Carl-Johan Uckelstam)

T. James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge, 1-1
(Crew: Magnus Augustson, Torben Grael, Christian Kamp)

7. Sandy Hayes (USA), 0-2
(Crew: Peter Bromby, Kim Hapgood, Cindy Olsen)

T. Jon Singsen (USA), 0-2
(Crew: Ben Bardwell, Kevin Horsfield, Nik Smale)

Group B Standings
(After 5 of 7 scheduled flights)

1. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 4-1
(Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon)

T. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 4-1
(Crew: Bill Hardesty, Gerry Mitchell, Mark Nichols)

3. Alvaro Marinho (POR), 3-2
(Crew: Diogo Barros, Antonio Fontes, Miguel Nunes)

4. Eric Monnin (SUI) Team Monnin, 3-2
(Crew: Simon Brugger, Fabien Froesch, Alain Marchand, Marc Monnin)

5. Torvar Mirsky (AUS), 2-3
(Crew: Nick Davis, Per Fyrkholm-Arr, Graeme Spence)

T. Blythe Walker (BER), 2-3
(Crew: Adam Barboza, Carola Cooper, Somers Kempe)

7. Paula Lewin (BER), 1-4
(Crew: Diana Mitchell, Lisa Neasham, Leatrice Roman, Peta White)

8. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 1-4
(Crew: Pierluigi de Felice, Rasmus Kostner, Chresten Plinius)

Kind Edward VII Gold Cup

2006-10-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

source by: Sean McNeill

WORLD TOUR REGATTA ANNOUNCEMENT
Bermuda Gold Cup
King Edward VII Gold Cup, Stage 4 of the 2006-’07 World Tour
Hamilton, Bermuda, Oct. 11-15, 2006, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club
Prize Purse - $50,000 (first place, $25,000)
Boat - IOD (33 feet length overall)
Racing Area - Hamilton Harbour
16 teams including the event reigning champion entered the event, two of the top eight in the World Championship standings, five of the top 16 in the ISAF Open Match Race Rankings, two skippers representing America’s Cup syndicates.

ENTRY LIST
Brian Angel (USA) King Harbor Match Racing Team — Competing in 4th Gold Cup
Scott Dickson (USA) — Competing in sixth Gold Cup
Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino — Capitalia – Placed 2nd in World Championship Standings
Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net — Ranked 8th in ISAF Open Match Race Rankings
Sandy Hayes (USA) — Ranked 19th in ISAF Women’s Match Race Rankings
Chris Law (GBR) The Outlaws — Winner of 11 Grade 1 match-race regattas
Paula Lewin (BER) — 5th place in 2002 is best finish by woman sailor in Gold Cup history
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team — Placed 8th in World Championship standings
Alvaro Marinho (POR) — Placed 11th at World Tour season-opening Portugal Match Cup
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) — Winner 2006 Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron International Youth Match Racing Championship
Eric Monnin (SUI) Team Monnin — Competing in 3rd Gold Cup
Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team — Placed 6th at 2005 Gold Cup
Jon Singsen (USA) — Competing in 2nd Gold Cup
James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge — Reigning Gold Cup champion
Blythe Walker (BER) — Winner 2006 Bermuda National Match Racing Championship
Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing — Placed 8th at 2005 Gold Cup

ABOUT STAGE 4
The 58th annual Bermuda Gold Cup returns to the World Tour schedule after a one year absence. The event has a new format, where 16 skippers are split into two groups of eight. The top four from each group advances to the quarterfinals, with the semifinals and final on tap afterwards. The featured boat is the pre-World War II IOD, a 33-foot sloop from Norwegian designer Bjarne Aas. James Spithill will attempt to win his second consecutive championship.

AT STAGE 3
Frenchman Sébastian Col took the lead in the World Championship Standings when he finished 8th at St. Moritz Match Race in August. Coupled with his win a week earlier at the Danish Open, Col has 29 points and leads Jes Gram-Hansen by 2 points.

ABOUT THE WORLD TOUR
Skippers earn points towards the world championship at the nine events of the World Tour and the highest scoring skipper at the end of the season is the ISAF Match Racing World Champion. The World Champion wins a BMW partner and official car BMW and a cash bonus from the World Tour.

The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Wedgwood (Stoke-on-Trent, England), the Official Trophy Sponso

New Match Race European Champion: Staffan Lindberg from Finland

2006-10-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

It was a thriller on the water. The best twelve European Match Race sailors
competed from the 30th September until the 3rd of October on Hamburg’s river
Alster against each other. Finally the Nordic sailors decided the victory
among each other. Staffan Lindberg from Finland and his crew could beat
Swedish Björn Hansen in an exciting final. Eric Monnin from Switzerland
gained the third place in the petit final against the Italian Skipper Matteo
Simoncelli. The home team of helmsman Andreas Willim missed out on the
semi-final round robin and finished second last.

Hamburg, 3rd of October – It was exciting until the end! The wind blew
moderately from the south and hundreds of spectators, standing on the
pontoon of the organising Hamburger Segel-Club (HSC), watched Staffan
Lindberg from Finland competing against Swedish Björn Hansen in the Final.
“We strained ourselves and this was our day!” said Staffan Lindberg
delighted. “The Alster is tricky, but we played the shifts and gusts well
and saved the victory”, stated the 34 years old Finn, who will start an
Olympic Starboat campaign in November.
Lindberg lead after two final matches with 2:0 points already. Then he
obtained a penalty in the prestart of the third match. The Finn was in the
lead but Hansen got a good gust and sailed past when Lindberg took his
penalty – and Hansen won the match. The final was open again. The forth
match finally crowned the new European Champion from Finland. Hundreds of
spectators followed the grand final and congratulated with applause.
Björn Hansen, Skipper of the Swedish team, who ranks eighth in the world,
was a bit disappointed: “We came to Hamburg to win, but Staffan did a great
job. However we will get another chance to beat him next week during the
Bermuda Gold Cup”, said Hansen (38).
Lindberg and Hansen live just one kilometre apart from each other. They are
at home in the north of Europe between Finland and Sweden. They are good
friends ashore and have known each other since their childhood.

Altogether about 2000 spectators watched the event from the pontoon of the
HSC, not counting the peoples promenading around the River Alster, who could
follow the sailing as well. Rüdiger Schach, president if the organising
Hamburger Segel-Club was satisfied with the event: “We would have wished for
a few more spectators, but the thrilling matches where easy to watch from
the near shore”, said Schach.

Final results, 3. Oktober 2006

Final (Best of 5):
1. FIN Staffan Lindberg 3:1
2. SWE Björn Hansen 1:3

Petit Final (Best of 3):
3. SUI Eric Monnin 2:0
4. ITA Matteo Simoncelli 0:2

5. CRO Dario Kliba
6. POL Marek Stanczyk
7. DEN Peter Wibroe
8. GBR Nick Cherry
9. RUS Maxim Tarnov
10. FRA Pierre-Antoine Morvan
11. GER Andreas Willim
12. SLO Jure Orel

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Match Race Europeans: Favourites for the final day: Team Monnin from Switzerland

2006-10-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday a strong south-westerly wind challenged the twelve teams taking part in the European Match Racing Championship on Hamburg’s river Alster.
Only the best six teams qualified for the next round. The Polish crew broke their mast.

Monday, 2nd October - Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Sweden and Finland made their way into the next Round Robin easily. But the final run for the last empty space in the top six was highly competitive: The skipper of the Danish team, Peter Wibroe needed a victory against the Germans in their last race to be ranked before the Croatians. But Andreas Willim, who only won two out of ten matches so far, accelerated in his last race and gained the crown against the 21 years old Dane. And Team Croatia moved on to the next stage instead. The German crew was pretty disappointed about their leaving the competition as well. They sailed a good season and rank 17th in the world, which means they started as one of the favourites in the European Championship. “We did not have a good run, nothing worked out. It is a pity because we wanted to sail especially well here, where we are at home”, stated the 39 years old Willim.

Eric Monnin (31) from Switzerland did not have to sail one single race on Monday. On Sunday he proceeded already to the next Round Robin with nine wins in eleven races. „We like to be in the favourites position”, he said.
“We sailed a lot in the last days and feel very comfortable with the boat now. But we hope, that on Tuesday the wind will not be that strong, because we are a little light weight”, said Monnin, who sails with his brothers Jean-Claude and Marc.
Although they scored nine victories in the first Round Robin, the counting starts from zero on the final day.

Autumn showed its true face on Monday, when strong gusts blew over the Alster. Half of the races had to be sailed without spinnakers. The Italians bended one pole and two sails had to be sewn – but the bad luck stroke the polish team:
Marek Stanczyk from Danzig and his crew had to be towed into the harbour after the mast of their Streamline broke. “After tacking, a gust struck us and the windward shroud broke”, he explained. The mast collapsed immediately and bowman Dominik Niskiewisz went into the water. “It was a strange situation, but it does not get us down”, Stanczyk said. The boat will be equipped with a new mast until tomorrow and six of the Streamline Keelboats are at hand for the final day. But after the mast came down, the race committee decided to postpone racing until the next day due to the strong winds.
Thrilling races could be watched from the shore and brought the spirit of match race sailing to the spectators in Hamburg. As tomorrow is a holiday in Germany, a lot of visitors are expected on the final day.

On Tuesday, the top six teams will sail a second Round Robin, before the petit final and the grand final takes place in the afternoon. The new European Champion will be honoured at the prize giving around five p.m.

Results from October 2nd – after Round Robin 1

Moving on:
SUI Eric Monnin 9
SWE Björn Hansen 8
POL Marek Stanczyk 8
ITA Matteo Simoncelli 7
FIN Staffan Lindberg 7
CRO Dario Kliba 5
Droped out:
DEN Peter Wibroe 4
GBR Nick Cherry 4
RUS Maxim Tarnov 4
FRA Pierre-Antoine Morvan 3,5
GER Andreas Willim 3
SLO Jure Orel 2,5

Match Racing European Championship- Switzerland in the lead

2006-10-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Team Switzerland and Team Poland surprised as best performers in the first two days of the European Match Racing Championship held in Hamburg, Germany.
They dominated the second day of racing (Sunday, 1st October) on the river Alster leading the score board with 9:2 and 8:2 points. The German competitor Andreas Willim continued with bad luck. The helmsman and his crew Carsten Happel and Helge Homann from Hamburg could only win against the Slovenians to grab two points out of eight races so far. So they finished the day in last position of the twelve teams.

The Swiss team had an outstanding Sunday: Eric Monnin and his brothers Jean-Claude and Marc won nine out of eleven matches and finished the round robin successfully. “It was our day today”, stated the 31 years old helmsman, “everything went well and we are very happy to reach the semi-final and especially that we bet the Swedish favourite Björn Hansen.”

Skipper Marek Stanczyk on board the Polish team was not bored today. The student of navel-architecture from Gdansk, who is ranked tenth in the ranking list of the competing crews, surprised with eight wins. He saw his great races based on felicitous tacks and perfect manoeuvres. “It is possible to compensate a bad start here”, stated Stanczyk, “because the wind shifts often and is gusty on the course. So it is possible to gain and fight
back on the race track.”

There was a spectacular overtaking manoeuvre in the match Russia against Poland: The Russian team in the lead passed the windward mark - closely followed by Team Stanczyk. Both set their spinnakers but had to point high to avoid a collision with a tourist sight-seeing vessel. The Russian skipper lost control for a few seconds and the Polish boat overtook him.

German Andreas Willim just won two out of eight matches. “We are certainly disappointed that we failed in boats we are used to at a sailing venue we should know better than others to crews we already bet several times this year“, said the 39 years old. “It is just not our event”, added the German helmsman dejected, “we sailed more aggressive today but it didn’t work out!”

The beautiful weather on the first day of October attracted numerous spectators to visit the river Alster. The wind shifted in the afternoon and the windward mark was close to the footbridge of the organising Hamburger Segel-Club.

The manoeuvres at the buoy are interesting for Nina Grunow as well. The European Women Champion in Match Racing from 2001 enjoyed to be able to watch the crews working on the boats with the flat stern of the Streamline class. “The mark rounding is interesting and exciting for the crowd during the spinnaker hoist“, stated Grunow who lives in Copenhagen and sails in a
Danish women’s crew. She certainly keeps her fingers cross for their training partner Peter Wibroe and his crew.

The young competitors from Germany’s Northern neighbour suffered on problems to find their fiddle in the morning: “Only five to ten knots of wind are a big tactical adventure”, stated the 21 years old sailor from Copenhagen, “and constantly shifting winds on top. We are not used to such conditions.”
Dane Wibroe has time to earn doomed points till Monday noon.

Consul General Žarko Plevnik from Croatia visited the Alster to support his team. He hoped, that “my guys would reach the final because they had a long journey to Hamburg.” But Dario Kliba and his crew made only four wins out of ten races and missed their chance for the semi final. The diplomatist dame to the footbridge of the Hamburger Segel-Club early when the air was foggy
and the wind not strong enough to displace the duns. The sun started shining and the wind increased to make the matches more and more exciting at lunch time.

Zarife, Tuģba and Abdullah Ekinci did not count points on Sunday. The three Turkish siblings enjoyed themselves in the “Camp of Nations” and especially liked to “build a tent and to climb trees”. The kids aged 13, 12 and 10 years were looking forward to their first sailing experience in the afternoon. Camp manager Berit Breindl of the Hamburg based company Globetrotter is pleased with the good response on the camp. “Many parents and spectators are inquiring and watch us. The combination with the sailing
is perfect otherwise it could be boring”, she stated.

Swiss National Championship latest news

2006-09-17T04:51:00.000-07:00

Since yesterday are running the Swiss National Match Race Championships herein Geneva.
After a full round robin the organizers planned to start the semifinals this morning with the following teams:

-Walser – Monnin
-Renker – Calafat

At 12.00h today the organizers decide to skip the semifinals as the weather conditions where not suitable.
This afternoon therefore will be sailed directly the final with the 1^st and second place of the round robin.

1^st place: Jodri – Renker
3^rd place: Monnin – Walser

Right now its raining here in Geneva and the teams are back in the club waithing for better weather.

Stay tuned for more news…

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UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour Geneva

2006-09-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today started the last leg of the UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour, the winner of this event will be invited to compete in the final for the Swiss National Championship title this weekend in Geneva. With light wind 1-2 Bft. where sailed 4 flight on the Streamline boats. It seems that the races are tight and the umpires have plenty of work, Bastien Clemont already got a black flag.

The results of today after 4 flights are:

jordi Calafat     3/3
Georg Waldvogel 2/3
Loic Forrestier 2/3
Pierre Yves Pfirter 2/3
Nathalie Keller   1/3
Lucien Cujean   1/3
Hans Martin Amrein 0/3
Bastien Clemont 0/3

See Photogallery of the UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour

Bluboat 30 will this be a new matchrace boat

2006-09-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

The sailing yacht blu30 has been created on the “drawing board” of the design office NAVAL DESIGN in Lucerne in collaboration with america’s cup sailor Christian Scherrer. The design brief described a modern daysailor optimized for short crew and single handed lake sailing. blu30 has been constructed at the yard of Dominik Schenk in Ermatingen (Switzerland).

The aim is to have several types of semi-custom and one-design sailing yachts all optimized for inland water sailing. blu30 as semi-custom is the first such yacht, being followed by blu26 which shall be launched as fist one-design by the end of 2006.

See more pictures of the Bluboat30

III Open de Espana - full story

2006-09-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

source by: Miguel Allen

III Open de Espana as always welcomed us in a very warm way. There are 12 teams here. 6 Spanish – Santiago Lopez Vasquez (Desafio Español 2007), Juan Luiz Paez (Desafio Español 2007), Manuel Weiller, José Maria Ponce, Daniel Maestre and Gustavo Benavent.
And 6 teams from other countries – Bertrand Pacé (BMW Oracle Racing – FRA), Philippe Presti (Luna Rossa Challenge – FRA), Jesper Radich (Desafio Español 2007 – DEN), Cameron Dunn (Mascazone Latino Team Capitalia – NZL), Adam Minoprio (NZL) and Rasmus Viltoft (DEN).
It’s a very strong list of competitors for a Grade 2 event with 6 teams from America’s Cup Syndicates.
We are using 8 TOM 28’s.

The first day was a difficult day as the wind was weak. We managed to make only 5 flights, what means 12 to finish the Round Robin! After that, the schedule contains a Quarter Final, Semi Final and Final!

The results of this first day were interesting as no one (except 2 teams that only made one race each) have won all their races.
So the score was (in no particular order):
Bertrand Pacé – 2 / 4
Philippe Presti – 2 / 4
Rasmus Viltoft - 0 / 1
Adam Minoprio – 0 / 1
Jesper Radich – 4 / 5
Cameron Dunn – 4 / 5
Santiago Lopez Vazquez – 2 / 3
Manuel Weiller – 3 / 4
José Maria Ponce – 1 / 1
Juan Luiz Páez – 1 / 1
Daniel Maestre – 0 / 3
Gustavo Benavent – 0 / 4

During last day in Calpe the 4 semi finalists were tied at the top of the Round Robin with 8 points, what means that any of them lost 3 races! It was, for sure, a very close Round Robin!
They were, in order, Cameron Dunn (Mascalzone Latino), Philippe Presti (Luna Rossa), Bertrand Pacé (BMW Oracle Racing) and Jesper Radich (Desafio Español 2007).
Cameron Dunn chooses as his opponent in the Semi-Final the second in the Round Robin (Philippe Presti).
So the Semi Finals (first to win 2 points) was Dunn – Presti and Pacé – Radich. If the wind helps, seems that we will have a great day…

Classification after Round Robin was:
1 – Cameron Dunn – 8
2 – Phillipe Presti – 8
3 – Bertrand Pacé – 8
4 – Jesper Radich – 8
5 – Manuel Weiller – 7
6 – Santiago Lopez-Vasquez – 6
7 – Adam Minoprio – 6
8 – José Maria Ponce – 5
9 – Daniel Maestre – 5
10 – Rasmus Viltoft – 3
11 – Juan Luiz Páez – 3
12 – Gustavo Benavent – 1

Semi Finals and Finals were indeed very exciting!
Cameron Dunn lost 2 – 1 to Philippe Presti. Bertrand Pacé won 2 – 0 over Jesper Radich.
Finals
Petit-Final – Cameron Dunn won 2-0 over Jesper Radich.
Final – Great matches! Pacé won the first. Presti won the second with a nice wind shift. 3rd Match… Presti won. Pacé got 2 penalties and at the leeward mark, one of the crew members fell overboard! 4th Match, Pacé won. 5th Match, Presti got a penalty at pre-start and another one at top mark, what putted him out of the race!
Final results Pacé 1st, Presti 2nd, Dunn 3rd and Radich 4th.

Photo from Qindao

2006-08-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

View more pictures from Quindao

CIAN CROWNED “KING OF THE MOUNTAIN” IN ST. MORITZ Italian slays three Alinghi helmsmen consecutively to win first World Tour championship

2006-08-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

He shall be called, “Alinghi slayer.” Paolo Cian won his first World Match Racing Tour championship when he defeated Ed Baird in the final of the 4th annual St. Moritz Match Race. Cian won the series 2-1, which was halted when the 4:00 pm time limit passed.
Cian and his Team Viano Mercedes Benz crew Pierluigi Fornelli and Nello Pavoni finished with a 13-6 record and won SFr 32,000 (approximately $25,000) of the SFr 150,000 (approx. $121,000) prize purse.

He also won the new “King of the Mountain” trophy, a 45-pound piece of granite from Maloja Valley south of St. Moritz. A weighty trophy, Cian nearly toppled when he picked it up. They earned this championship, advancing out of the Repechage Round and then defeating the three Alinghi helmsmen – Peter Holmberg, 2-1, in the quarterfinals, Jochen Schuemann, 2-0, in the semifinals and Baird – in successive rounds.

“It was just our week,” said Cian, 39, from Naples, Italy. “I’d like to congratulate Alinghi. They had three very strong teams here. My crew did an amazing job calling tactics on a weird lake. We struggled to understand what you could achieve at the beginning, but improved all week.”

Baird and his Alinghi crewmembers Mike Drummond and Nils Frei, last year’s champions, finished with a 10-5 record and won SFr 22,000 (approx. $17,800).

Facing a 2-0 deficit they won the third race to keep the series alive, but then the weather, from thunderstorms and shifty winds to sunny skies and light winds, worked against them and the time limit expired.

“Paolo is a great competitor. He and his crew worked hard this week,” said Baird. “It’s tough to win the last race of an event and not the event. That is tough for us.”

With three stages now complete in the eighth Tour season, Cian became the third consecutive skipper to win his first World Tour championship. Chris Dickson began the season by winning in Portugal and Sébastian Col won last week in Denmark.

Col, the 29-year-old French helmsman of Areva Challenge, placed eighth in St. Moritz, which was good enough to take the lead in the World Championship standings. Col has 29 points and leads Jes Gram-Hansen of Denmark by 2 points.

“The Tour is a long championship,” said Col. “We made a good start in Denmark, but had difficulty here with the tactics and boats. That’s what’s interesting about the Tour. The different venues and different boats are a test of ability.”

Cian and Baird advanced to the Final by beating Schuemann and Mark Mendelblatt, respectively, in the semifinals. Cian took down Schuemann, his Soling idol, and Baird beat Mendelblatt, 2-1, in a rematch of last year’s championship.

In the Petite Final, Mendelblatt beat Schuemann, 2-1.

The pre-starts in the Final were lively, with the crews circling furiously and often. The action was just 10 feet from the grandstand and the crowd showed its appreciation with enthusiastic applause.

There wasn’t a clear winner in the first two starts, but Baird got the early advantage on the first leg. Cian, however, found a favorable shift at the top of the course that allowed him to round the windward mark inside of Baird both times and he went on for two wins.

“The first two races we crossed comfortably ahead each time,” said Baird. “We did what we saw on the water and seemed right, sailing to the puffs. Both times we ran out of air and he just got a little puff from the right that gave him an angle to the mark.”

“We ducked at the last cross each time because we wanted to come in on the starboard layline,” said Cian.

After Baird got the series to 2-1, the winds started shifting wildly. The race committee tried three times to get a start going but had to postpone each one when the wind shifted an inordinate amount as a thunderstorm passed. When the storm was over the wind shifted 180 degrees, from the south to the north, and went light as the skies cleared. The time was 3:30 pm and the race committee worked quickly to reset the course and get another start, but the wind was too light to attempt anything.

St. Moritz Match Race Final Standings

Prize Purse: SFr 150,000 (approx. $121,000)

Skipper (Country) Team, Record, Prize Money*

1. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz, 13-6, SFr32,000 (approx. $25,000)

2. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 10-5, SFr22,000 (approx. $17,800)

3. Mark Mendelblatt (USA) Team Kaenon, 9-5, SFr18,000 (approx. $14,500)

4. Jochen Schuemann (GER) Alinghi, 8-5, SFr15,000 (approx. $12,100)

5. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 8-8, SFr13,000 (approx. $10,500)

6. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 8-3, SFr11,000 (approx. $8,900)

7. Eric Monnin (SUI) Team SailCom.ch, 6-4, SFr9,500 (approx. $7,600)

8. Sébastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 3-7, SFr8,500 (approx. $6,800)

9. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 3-8, SFr6,000 (approx. $4,800)

10. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 6-5, SFr5,000 (approx. $4,000)

11. Philippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa Challenge, 6-7, SFr4,000 (approx. $3,200)

12. Flavio Favini (ITA) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 3-8, SFr3,000 (approx. $2,400)

13. Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) China Team, 2-6, SFr2,000 (approx. $1,600)

14. Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) Team Psaro, 0-8, SFr1,000 (approx. $800)

(1SFr = 0.811425USD on 8/20/06)

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MENDELBLATT, CIAN ON MATCH POINT IN SEMIS

2006-08-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

Alinghi helmsmen Baird, Schuemann facing 1-0 deficits in St. Moritz
Mark Mendelblatt and Paolo Cian have a mission: to eliminate Alinghi helmsmen at the 4th annual St. Moritz Match Race, Stage 3 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

They’re one win away from mission accomplished.
Mendelblatt leads current nemesis and former coach Ed Baird 1-0 in their semifinal match, and Cian leads former idol Jochen Schuemann by the same score in the other. The winner of each match will be the first to 2 points.
The two series are scheduled to resume tomorrow morning at 11:00 am and can be viewed online in a live Web cast at www.sporttv.ch.

Baird and Schuemann, two of the three helmsmen for America’s Cup defender Alinghi, were self-critical in their assessments.
“We didn’t sail our best race today,” said Baird, who’s attempting to repeat as event champion.
“We beat ourselves today,” said Schuemann, who’s attempting to win his first St. Mortiz Match Race.

Schuemann beat himself early in the match when he was over the start line early. By the time he re-rounded the pin end Cian, who looked up to the legendary Schuemann when he start sailing Solings, was gone. The Italian led by nearly 20 seconds at the first windward mark and was never threatened.
Cian won the match despite trimmer Nello Pavoni sailing with a bad knee that he injured yesterday. “Apparently he’s much, much faster with a bad knee, so we’re thinking of breaking the other one,” Cian said.
Cian advanced to the semis after taking down the third Alinghi helmsman in the event, Peter Holmberg. Cian won the quarterfinal match 2-1, getting a penalty on Holmberg in the decider to help turn it in his favor.

While Cian won easily, the Mendelblatt-Baird race, a rematch of last year’s final, was much closer.
A fairly even start saw both come off the line on starboard. Mendelblatt wrested control nearly halfway up the first leg when he rode Baird out to the right side of the racecourse on port tack. When they tacked to starboard Mendelblatt was on Baird’s leebow and leading to the windward mark.
Mendelblatt led by about two boatlengths around the first lap and a half of the three-lap race. Baird, however, got a piece of him on the second run. Baird initiated a jibing duel and closed up to Mendelblatt’s transom rounding the second leeward mark.
Up the third beat Mendelblatt covered Baird tack-for-tack, never letting him get to one side or the other. Competitors observing the race thought that could be a costly move because he wasn’t sailing to the pressure and Lake St. Moritz is completely unpredictable.
But it worked out in Mendelblatt’s favor and he rounded the windward mark for the last time with a nearly three-boatlength lead, which he extended on the run to the finish.
“A lot of times I’ll split and go for the bigger gain,” Mendelblatt said of his tactics on the third upwind leg. “Today was odd because the direction was steady but the pressure was up and down and we couldn’t figure out which side was favored, so we just kept covering.”
Other racing today included battles for fifth through eighth and 13th and 14th.
Ian Ainslie placed fifth, Holmberg sixth, Eric Monnin seventh and Sébastian Col eighth. Wearn Haw Tan of Singapore placed 13th when he defeated 17-year-old Arnaud Psarofaghis of Switzerland 2-0.

St. Moritz Match Race Semifinal Standings
Match A
(A3) Mark Mendelblatt (USA) Team Kaenon, 1
(A1) Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 0
)

Match B
(R1) Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz, 1
(A2) Jochen Schuemann (GER) Alinghi, 0

St. Moritz Match Race Places 5th-8th
Round 1
(R2) Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 1
(Crew: Gian Matta, Alex Runciman)
(B2) Eric Monnin (SUI) Team SailCom.ch, 0
(B1) Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 1
(B3) Sébastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 0

Round 2
Ainslie d. Holmberg
Monnin d. Col

St. Moritz Match Race Places 13th-14th
Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) China Team, 2
Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) Team Psaro, 0

More informations and printable pictures on www.stmoritz-matchrace.ch

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THREE ADVANCE TO SEMIFINALS IN ST. MORITZ

2006-08-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

Reigning champion Ed Baird, past champion Mark Mendelblatt and three-time Olympic gold medalist Jochen Schuemann advanced to the penultimate round in the battle for the title “King of the Mountain” after winning their matches.

Baird defeated Ian Ainslie 2-1, Mendelblatt downed Eric Monnin 2-0 and Schuemann, sailing with perhaps the oldest crew, ousted the hottest skipper in the event, Sébastian Col, 2-0.

One quarterfinal match remains to be completed tomorrow morning, between Peter Holmberg, winner of Group B round robin, and Paolo Cian, winner of the Repechage Round.

Tomorrow’s racing will be broadcast live on the Internet at Switzerland’s Sport TV Web site.

While Baird, Mendelblatt, Monnin, Schuemann, Col and Holmberg advanced to the quarterfinals from the preliminary round robins, Cian and Ainslie advanced after this morning’s Repechage Round. Cian won the five-flight round with a 4-1 record and Ainslie was second at 3-2.

Cian’s win came at a price. Crewman Nello Pavoni, the headsail trimmer, wrenched his right knee coming off the trapeze during the first flight. He received medical treatment and a wrap in between races and sailed the rest of the round. Afterwards he was taken to the local hospital and the knee was wrapped for support.

“He may have damaged cartilage or torn a ligament,” said Cian. “We’re going to try tomorrow. I think we’ve gotten better so hopefully he can sail tomorrow.”

This regatta on a lake surrounded by tall mountains and sailed in physical demanding boats is taking its toll. Sailors regularly talk of their lungs burning because of the altitude. Pavoni was one of a half dozen crewmen limping around this afternoon. Sore joints aren’t the only malady.

Mike Drummond, tactician for Baird, is suffering a case of food poisoning. He went out for the first flight of the quarterfinals against Ainslie, but couldn’t complete the race and Baird had to withdraw.

“We assume it’s food poisoning, but don’t know,” said Baird. “We were all out at dinner last night and a number of the women and (crewman) Nils (Frei) and I felt a bit off today. Mike’s a tough guy.”

Baird used Holmberg’s crewman Yves Detrey for the next two races and won the match. He was able to complete a penalty turn in Flight 2 to even the series, and then got a penalty on Ainslie in the third race.

“We try to think race when it’s race time,” said Baird. “I’m sad for Mike to not to be able to do what he loves to do.”

Mendelblatt had a closer series with Monnin than the 2-0 score indicates.

“He kept coming into us downwind,” said Mendelblatt, who won the first two championships in St. Moritz. “The only time he didn’t gain on us was when he jibe set and we did a bear away. [On the last run] we waited until he was overlapped and then luffed. At the rate he was going he was going to roll us.”

Monnin’s crew is considerably lighter than Mendelblatt’s, which helped his downwind speed, but Mendelblatt got a nice advantage in both pre-starts. Monnin was over early in the first start and late to the line in the second.

Monnin, sailing with brothers Jean-Claude and Marc, didn’t feel the crew weight was a disadvantage. He felt his brothers were more nimble than other crews.

“I’m happy with what we did around the course, our maneuvers were quite good,” he said. “If we could have the same maneuvers and maximum crew weight, that would be best. We had a problem with the starts. I don’t know what would’ve happened if we’d done the starts correctly.”

Schuemann downed Col 2-0. Col entered St. Moritz having won back-to-back Grade 1 regattas, but couldn’t pull off the triple. He was penalized twice in the pre-start of the first race and then couldn’t overcome Schuemann’s tactics in the second.

“It was shifty as usual,” said Peter Evans, tactician for Schuemann. “The two penalties in the first race helped us because it was so shifty and we didn’t extend. In the second start we wanted the left. The wind was shifted right and we thought it would go back left, which it did.”

Evans noted that Schuemann, Claudio Celon and he are the oldest crew competing at the highest-elevated regatta on the World Tour.

“We have 142 years on the boat,” said Evans. “We deserve some prize for that.”

Perhaps a case of pain killers would be appropriate.

ST. MORITZ MATCH RACE QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
Match A
(A1) Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 2
(R2) Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 1

Match B
(A3) Mark Mendelblatt (USA) Team Kaenon, 2
(B2) Eric Monnin (SUI) Team SailCom.ch, 0

Match C
(A2) Jochen Schuemann (GER) Alinghi, 2
(B3) Sébastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 0

Match D (Scheduled Aug. 19)
(B1) Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi
(R1) Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz

ST. MORITZ MATCH RACE REPECHAGE ROUND
(After 5 of 5 scheduled flights)
1. Paolo Cian, 4-1
2. Ian Ainslie, 3-2
3. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 2-3
4. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 2-3
5. Philippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa Challenge, 2-3
6. Flavio Favini (ITA) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 1-4

Photo (c) Match Race St. Moritz

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Alinghi dominate St. Moritz folowed by Eric Monnin and Mendelblatt

2006-08-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

Another day of varying conditions on Lake St. Moritz propelled six crews into the Quarterfinal Round of the 4th annual St. Moritz Match Race, Stage 3 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.
Groups A and B today completed their preliminary round robins and two Alinghi helmsmen, Ed Baird (USA) and Peter Holmberg (ISV), were the respective winners. Baird won Group A with a 5-1 record and Holmberg took Group B at 6-0. Behind Baird in Group A was teammate Jochen Schuemann (GER), 4-2, and compatriot Mark Mendelblatt, also 4-2. In Group B Holmberg finished ahead of Eric Monnin (SUI), 5-1, and Sébastian Col (FRA), 3-3.

The Maloja wind blew again from the southwest around 12 knots for most of the day, with gusts up to 18 knots on some occasions. As with the every day on Lake St. Moritz there were three windward marks in play. At times the wind was shifted left on the left side, right on the right side and there was nothing in the middle. No lead was safe until the finish.
“I enjoy racing on a small lake surrounded by tall mountains,” said Mike Drummond, crewing for Baird. “There’s lots of pressure in your decisions. It’s a challenge mentally to figure out what’s causing the shifts and then predict them. I’m not saying I figured it out, but it’s a fun challenge.”
The day began with Group B finishing up its two flights. Holmberg, at 5-0 after yesterday’s racing, won his last match against Flavio Favini (ITA), Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, to complete a 6-0 record.
Monnin, sailing with brothers Marc and Jean-Claude, had the best cheering section. Family members in the grandstand had giant cow bells that they rang every time Monnin rounded the leeward mark in the lead or won.
Group A began its round robin shortly after 1:00 pm and Mendelblatt, the two-time event champion, showed good form. Sailing with Cameron Dunn of Mascalzone Latino and Ed Smyth of BMW ORACLE Racing, they won their first four matches. But they fell off their stride in the last two matches against Baird and Schuemann, the helmsmen for Alinghi.

“I wish there weren’t so many Alinghi people here,” Mendelblatt said.
Mendelblatt appeared in good shape versus Baird. The reigning champion was penalized in the pre-start when he ran into Mendelblatt’s transom. But Mendelblatt misjudged his layline to the pin end and Baird drove down on him. The pair came off the start line with Baird to windward, and Mendelblatt’s options were mostly eliminated.

In his last match against Schuemann, Mendelblatt led around the first lap and a half of the three-lap race, but his indecision cost him at the beginning of the second run.
“I tensed up when the race got close,” said Mendelblatt, who lost last year’s final to Baird. “It’s the same thing with Ed last year. We got around the top in the lead and wait too long to make our move.”
Schuemann took the lead and then never gave Mendelblatt a chance to recover, which gave Schuemann second in the group and placed Mendelblatt third.
In the quarterfinals Baird will race the second-place finisher from the Repechage Round, Mendelblatt will face Monnin, Schuemann races Col and Holmberg takes on the winner of the repechage.
Tomorrow’s repechage round includes Ian Williams (4th Group A, 4-2), Philippe Presti (5th Group A, 2-4), Peter Gilmour (6th Group A, 1-5), Paolo Cian (4th Group B, 3-3), Ian Ainslie (5th Group B, 2-4) and Favini (6th Group B, 1-5). The top two finishers advance to the quarterfinals.
“I thought we had a good day today,” said Williams, who lost a three-way tiebreaker in Group A. “We won a bunch of races, unfortunately we didn’t qualify. We’ll just have to go back out tomorrow and win a bunch more races.”

Also tomorrow will be a sail off for 13th and 14th between Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) and Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI).

St. Moritz Match Race Group A Standings
(After 7 of 7 scheduled flights)
1. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 5-1
2. Jochen Schuemann (GER) Alinghi, 4-2
3. Mark Mendelblatt (USA) Team Kaenon, 4-2
4. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 4-2
5. Philippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa Challenge, 2-4
6. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 1-5
7. Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) Team Psaro, 0-6

St. Moritz Match Race Group B Standings
(After 7 of 7 scheduled flights)
1. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 6-0
2. Eric Monnin (SUI) Team SailCom.ch, 5-1
3. Sebastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 3-3
4. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz, 3-3
5. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 2-4
6. Flavio Favini (ITA) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 1-5
7. Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) China Team, 0

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St. Moritz Match Race Infos

2006-08-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

What —, Stage 3 of the 2006-’07 World Tour

Where — St. Moritz, Switzerland

When — Aug. 15-20, 2006

Organizing Authority — Sailing Club St. Moritz

Prize Purse — SFr150,000 (approximately $121,000)

Boat — Streamline 7.15

Racing Area — Lake St. Moritz

EVENT SUMMARY
St. Moritz is one of the most prestigious ski resorts in the world, so much so that it hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and ’48. Now it hosts an event of the World Match Racing Tour. It features the battle for the title “King of the Mountain.”
The event is raced on Lake St. Moritz, in the Engadin region of the southeastern Swiss Alps. The lake is at an elevation of 5,624 feet (1,856 meters) above sea level, making it possibly the highest-elevated match race regatta in the world. The lake is surrounded by peaks surpassing 10,000 feet.
The event is unique to the World Tour for more than just its location. Most of the boats used on the tour are 35- to 40-foot keelboats. St. Moritz features the Streamline 7.15 – a 24-foot, three-person, trapeze keelboat – which challenges skippers to stay on their feet.

The 4th annual St. Moritz Match Race features the battle for the title “King of the Mountain.” American Ed Baird, a helmsman for the Alinghi syndicate, is the reigning champion. Raced on Lake St. Moritz, the event is unique to the World Tour. Most of the boats used are 35- to 40-foot keelboats. St. Moritz features the Streamline 7.15 – a 24-foot, three-person, trapeze keelboat – which challenges skippers to stay on their feet. The lake is at an elevation of 5,624 feet (1,856 meters), making it possibly the highest-elevated match race regatta in the world.

ENTRY LIST
Who's entered — 14 teams including the reigning World match-race champion, event defending champion, three of the top eight in the World Championship standings, five of the top 10 in the World rankings, and eight teams representing syndicates for the America’s Cup.

Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza — Afterguard member and coach for South African America’s Cup syndicate
Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi — Reigning event champion (left)
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Vianno Mercedes Benz – Placed 4th at ACI Cup in March
Sébastien Col (FRA) Areva Challenge — Placed 7th at St. Moritz Match Race ’05
Flavio Favini (ITA) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team — Helmsman for Italian America’s Cup syndicate
Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST — Reigning World champion, placed 6th at St. Moritz Match Race ’05
Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi — Placed 8th at St. Moritz Match Race ’05
Mark Mendelblatt (USA) — Two-time event champion, finished runner-up in ’05
Eric Monnin (SUI) Team Monnin — Placed 9th at St. Moritz Match Race ’05
Phillippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa Challenge — Afterguard member of Italian America’s Cup syndicate
Arnaud Psarophagis (SUI) Team Psarophagis — Winner 2005 UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour, Swiss national match-racing championship
Jochen Schuemann (GER) Alinghi — Member of Alinghi afterguard
Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) China Team — Navigator for Chinese America’s Cup challenge
Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing — Placed 4th at 2005 St. Moritz Match Race

2005 PRIZE PURSE DISTRIBUTION
The total prize money will be SFr. 150,000 (approx. $122,000), distributed as follows:
1st – SFr. 36’000 (approx. $29,494)
2nd – SFr. 22’500 (approx. $18,433)
3rd – SFr. 18’000 (approx. $14,747)
4th – SFr. 15’000 (approx. $12,288)
5th – SFr. 13’500 (approx. $11,059)
6th – SFr. 12’000 (approx. $9,830)
7th – SFr. 10’500 (approx. $8,602)
8th – SFr. 7’500 (approx. $6,144)
9th – SFr. 6’000 (approx. $4,915)
10th – SFr. 4’500 (approx. $3,686)
11th – SFr. 3’000 (approx. $2,457)
12th – SFr. 1’500 (approx. $1,228)
(1SFr. = 0.819110 USD on Feb. 8, 2005)

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A Different Match Race

2006-08-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

source by: Nelson Ilha (IJ, IRO, IU)

The Commodore Cup of Match Race happened at July 30 and 31 at Veleiros Do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The competition had an experimental format. The use of seedding at the matches, who were chosen by the skipper’s position at the ISAF ranking, matches properly scheduled and the presence of one member of each team as umpires, were some of the new rules used at the Match Race.
The champion of the Commodore Cup was the skipper Rodrigo Duarte, who won against Francisco Freitas team with a score of 2-0 at the final round in a best of three. Rodrigo’s team members were Jonathan Câmara, Roberto Paradeda and Henrique de Lorenzi. They had a very good performance at the competition, as they won against the seed nº1 Nelson Ilha at the quarter-finals and against Paulo Ribeiro, seed nº3, at the semi-finals.
The victory was hard to reach at the finals. At the two races, Rodrigo made better maneuvers at the pre-start and started the race on the first position. The champion skipper is from the Brazilian Olympic Team of the class 470 and has some experience in match race. He participated at the Match Race Brazil along with his ex-partner of the class 49er, André Fonseca, but as a skipper, this was his first time.
Rodrigo liked the new rules, mainly the crew members acting as umpires, although he doesn’t think he can be one. However, Rodrigo thinks that the elimination system should be remade. “People who came from far places to the championship lose one match and are eliminated, I think this is bad” he says. Many of the participants suggested the creation of a key to the eliminated, as repechage.
The races happened with cold winds of west direction. The speed was around 27 km/h and the temperature was 8ºC. The public could watch the races because the race area was made next to the club’s courtyard. 14 crews from the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Rio de Janeiro participated. The boats that they used were from the Ranger Class 22.

Final Classification
1º - Rodrigo Duarte, crew: Jonathan Câmara, Roberto Paradeda e Henrique de Lorenzi
2º - Francisco Freitas, crew: Damien Bercht, Pedro Mota, e Marcelo Hofmeister
3° - César Gomes Neto, crew: Filipe Linhares, Guilherme Barbosa e Rodrigo Barbosa Lima
4° - Paulo R. Ribeiro, crew: Paulo Lemos Ribeiro, Carlo De Leo e Ana Luiza Barbachan

Jesper Bank reaches the final

2006-08-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus/Gordon Smith

Col drew the longest straw in the semi final by being matched against Jes Gram Hansen when Bank selected Lindberg as his opponent. It was a particularly well won place in the final as Col had to fight back from a defeat in the first match of three.
The duel between Jesper and Staffan was a little more involved. The first match went as expected with Jesper Bank taking the win, however the competitive Finn was not going to give up without a fight.
In the second match Lindberg proved himself to be far more deadly, clearly controlling the match from the start. “Yes but I also made stupid mistakes” said Jesper who, in the third and decisive match did not make the best of starts. He managed to reach Staffan by the first mark and there was close duelling all the way to the finish line where Bank demonstrated his experience and finally overpowered his determined opponent.

Come and meet two Danish America’s Cup Skippers and a Danish World Champion

2006-08-08T03:51:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus/Gordon Smith

For the second time this year the Royal Danish Yacht Club’s Royal Matchrace Center is the host of a major international regatta. At the end of May the Royal Matchrace Centre successfully hosted the Dexia Private Banking ISAF 2006 Women's Match Racing World Championship, resulting in the Dane, Dorte “O” Jensen and her committed crew standing on the top step of the podium as the newly crowned World Champions.

From this Thursday until Sunday’s final sail-off, Dorte ”O” Jensen will be the only female represented in a highly rated, international fleet taking part in the Danish Open 2006, being sailed on the waters off Skovshoved Harbour (north of Copenhagen, Denmark). The is no doubt that with the talented and aggressive nature of the crews taking part this years Danish Open, the scene is set for some explosive dueling. Last year the America’s Cup skipper Jesper Bank won the Danish Open 2005, and in a sport where the only result that counts is the win, he will be determined to retain his crown. Everything is in place for a Danish Open 2006 to provide entertainment and excitement for everyone!

For a great start to the event we would like to extend an invitation to the press conference on Thursday the 10th August at 10:00 am in the large VIP tent at Skovshoved Harbour. Here there will be the opportunity of meeting the America’s Cup’s Jesper Bank and Jes Gram-Hansen as well as Dorte O. Jensen. Additionally there will be opportunity to follow the day’s first rounds of matches at close hand from the event’s VIP spectator boat.

If you would like to join us on one of our press boats please contact our Press Officer Flemming Vitus.
We look forward to seeing you at the Danish Open 2006.
Further Information can be obtained from:

Press Officer
Flemming Vitus
Telephone: 00 45 20 85 11 41
Mail vit@vitusbureau.dk
www.danishopen.dk ,www.worldmatchracingtour.com

Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen wins Lysekil Women’s Match

2006-08-07T02:00:00.000-07:00

source by: Josefine As

After a 2-0 disadvantage in the finals, Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen broke French Claire Leroy’s convincing lead and won three matches in a row to take victory. Leroy has more or less sailed without fault during the week and it was only in the finals she started to show any signs of weakness when Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen took an impressive advantage and won three out of five really close races. Meldgaard Pedersen and her crew Mia Nielsen, Christina Refu, Sille Christensen, Inge Merete Ebbengaard, and Anne Morup-Petersen showed that this team belongs to the very top of women’s match racing.

- The opposition has been really tough and this is a great victory for us, said Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen after her success today. Meldgaard Pedersen is ranked eighth on the world ranking list and had her revenge in Lysekil after finishing fourth in the World Championships in Denmark in May.

The huge high pressure over Sweden did not help the wind to build today and racing could not start before 2 pm local time. The semi final races had to be cancelled and therefore only one semi final race was completed since yesterday and the two Swedes Linda Rahm and Malin Millbourn had to change focus and fight for third. Linda Rahm has sailed strongly all week and took a well deserved third place.

Besides the honour to win, a lot of money has been at stake. The prize purse was not less than 43 500 Euro or 29 300 GBP, with 10 900 Euro/7 300 GBP to the winner. This is the biggest prize money in women’s match racing, giving a lot of status to Lysekil Women’s Match in match racing circuits around the world. Project manager Anna Holmdahl is happy with the week’s racing:

- We had really good conditions all week with exciting racing on a high level in variable winds. The changing wind has been very demanding for the teams and given us fun racing. Lysekil is a fantastic arena for match racing with the race course as close to land as the audience can hear the commando calls onboard. This is match racing at its best, both for sailors and audience and we are really happy to see the big audience we had during the event, said Holmdahl.

Claire Leroy leads Lysekil Women's Match into the quarter finals

2006-08-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

source by: Josefine As

Closer to the end of the day's 30 sailed matches in close to perfect conditions, we reached the peak of the day. The two giants in the race, both undefeated in their nine previous matches; French Claire Leroy, number one on the world ranking, and the reigning champion and silver medallist in the World Championships, Swedish Marie Björling, were defeated by Swedes Malin Millbourn respectively Linda Rahm.

The last match of the day was the match everyone had been looking forward to: Leroy versus Björling, which determined the winner of the Round Robin. In a thrilling conclusion of the race Leroy defeated Björling just a couple of metres over the finish line.

- We had a great day with very close racing and we are lucky to be at our position. All six teams that will continue racing really have a chance to reach the semi finals so there is a lot of pressure, said Claire Leroy after her great contribution so far.

A team that impressed today, was Camille Ulrikkeholm from Denmark. She is ranked number 20 on the world ranking list and not one of the top teams in Lysekil Women's match. Today she took victory after victory and beat both top ten ranked Linda Rahm from Sweden and her fellow country member Lotte Meldgaard-Pedersen. Ulrikkeholm snatched the sixth and last place to the quarter finals in front of Dutch Klaartje Zuiderbaan, second on the world ranking, as Zuiderbaan lost her last match to Swedish Linda Rahm.

Marie Björling undefeated on the second day of Lysekil Women’s Match

2006-08-04T00:36:00.000-07:00

source by: Josefine As

Swedish Marie Björling won the silver medal in the World Championships in May and is third on the updated world ranking. She won Lysekil Women’s Match 2004 and is keen to keep her champion title. Quite smoothly she beat all her rivals today and has secured her spot to the quarter finals.

The shifty wind conditions from four to at least 22 knots, gusty northeasterly winds, demanded great concentration of the teams.

- You have to keep your concentration on two things a day like today, the tactics on the course and also all the unexpected wind changes. Our crew work has been brilliant and we have trained a lot for the starts, said Marie Björling, who really showed how good they are in the starts when they took a reassuring lead against her Swedish rival Malin Millbourn, last year’s winner of Swedish Match, in one of the big matches of the day.

Klaartje Zuiderbaan from Holland, second on the world ranking, could not keep up with her Swedish rivals and lost against Björling and Millbourn and Italian Giulia Conti.

French Claire Leroy, ranked number one on the world ranking list, has not sailed any matches today and is therefore like Björling undefeated but has only sailed five matches.

America’s Cup backers seek wider followin

2006-08-03T05:22:00.000-07:00

Sourced from msnbc.msn.com

VALENCIA, Spain - For 150 years America’s Cup has existed on the fringe of athletics. A sport for the rich. But, corporations have come to the game, dumping in hundreds of millions of sponsorship dollars, and they want their investment to pay off.
Tell a cup athlete that his beloved sport is often perceived as an elitist activity for billionaires and you’ll likely get this:
“You know I take issue with that from a sporting standpoint. Everybody can get a used sailboat and out to the beach and enjoy themselves,” said Alinghi helmsman, Ed Baird.
Thus, the marketing dilemma for this sport. How to take sailing from the fringe to the mainstream.
“That is an interesting question because there’s quite a lot of debate in the sailing world as to what is the right level,” said Seahorse magazine editor, Andrew Hurst.. And what I would say is this corporate arena, with all the money that comes in. To me, this is not really living on the back of mainstream marketingIn other words, billionaire sailors love to entertain at their Spanish regattas, but there isn’t an international broadcast deal and even the most rabid sports fans would have great difficulty distinguishing between a keep and a spinnaker, a grinder and a downwind trimmer.
There are loyal fans. When the BMW Oracle guys showed up at a Valencia autograph session, they were received like rock stars. There are two business icons leading the charge for more fans and a wider acceptance.
“In terms of billionaire personalities, you’d have to say Ernesto and Larry,” said Hurst. “They’re mega-stars on the Forbes scale and they’ve become mega-stars in the sailing scale.”
Ernesto Bertarelli and Larry Ellison have dramatically increased exposure and corporate sponsorship dollars. Allinaz, BMW and Oracle back the Ellison boat. UBS and BT Infonet back Bertarelli’s Alinghi.
The message sponsors try to exploit: The power of teamwork. Messages appearing in external and internal campaigns, a mantra for sales and marketing managers.
“In investments, you have short-term tactical moves so it’s not so much the association with a premium sport, but an association with a sport that’s about team work. That’s about long-term goals and it’s about making adjustments to get to that goal”, said Phil Neugebauer, director of marketing for Allianz.
One of the youngest billionaires on the planet, Victory Challenge owner, Hugo Steinbeck, is attempting to skew the fan base younger. He negotiated to bring the hip Red Bull brand into the sport.
Take a look around the harbor and you’ll see UBS, Oracle – huge corporate enterprises under the boats. But, Steinbeck is a young man and it’s a whole different culture around his team.
“We’re going for the pop culture,” said Steinbeck. “To bring the people to sailing. Not everybody wants to expose their brands to the people and, if I can be brutally honest, nobody cares about it. Everybody thinks it’s a rich mans sport, but it is not.”
With a $60 million buy in, rich may be in the eye of the beholder.
“My father told me before he died when I got into sailing, he said ‘you must be crazy. A sailboat is a hole in the water where you throw money at it,’” said Bertarelli. “And you know, it’s my second America’s Cup and I’m spending a lot of money on it. There’s not money in it, it’s all about the fun.”
If you look at the names, whether it’s the names that are on the shirts or the names on the sails, for those that decide to put a sponsorship on it, their relationship is different.
“For them, I think it’s a very good investment,” said Bertarelli. “Sailing is a very clean sport. Its outdoors and it’s an intelligent sport. From a sponsor’s point of view, I think it’s a sport which has a great future.”
There are members of the old guard. Traditionalists, who resent any changes.
“They’re looking at it purely as commercialism over a once Corinthian sport, and I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it,” said Hurst.
The reality is that this is one of the most capital-intensive sports around. Despite vast riches, the Ellison’s and Bertarelli’s of the world need corporate backing.
“This is the Wimbledon, this is the Olympics, and this is the World Cup of our sport,” said BMW Oracle navigator, Peter Isler. “Maybe even beyond because of its idiosyncrasies and being the America’s Cup. But, the sport of sailing is there for anybody. The water’s right out there, it’s a great, great way to go.”

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Lysekil Women's Match with Leroy on the lead

2006-08-03T04:17:00.000-07:00

source by: Josefine As

- We’ve had very close matches, good opponents and a lot of fun, commented Claire Leroy after the day’s success and added,
- It has been tough conditions with very shifty wind and variable wind speed. The boat is big with big sails so it is physically very tough and a lot of hard work. My team did a really good job and we are happy with our contribution.

Claire Leroy is ranked number one on the world ranking of women’s match racing but was eighth in the World Championships in May. She is very keen on revenge, which she proved today, the first day of racing in Lysekil Women’s Match.
The variable wind conditions, around 12-24 knots Easterly, demanded tough boat handling for the crews. Six of the 12 teams managed to sail their five matches of the day before the really tough conditions kicked in. The second group had to postpone their three races of the day, because of several fronts of heavy wind and weather in the afternoon, and could only fulfil one flight (one race each).

One of the day’s most exciting matches was of course the one that determined today’s leader: Swedish Linda Rahm, Team Daros, versus Claire Leroy, Team Ideactor, both undefeated before their match. Already before the start the drama begun with a penalty on Leroy. Further on, by the first mark, the umpires judged that leading Rahm did not give enough room to Leroy, who missed the mark and had to turn around. Rahm got two penalties and had to make her penalty turn immediately. She lost her lead and the French team took victory. Swedish Linda Rahm, is seven months pregnant, won the bronze medal during the World Championships in May and is ranked 10 on the world ranking list.

The boat type DS 37 was also used during the World Championships in Denmark in May. Of the total weight of 3.900 kg, as much as 2.100 kg is put in the bulb, placed right under the middle of the boat. This together with a big rudder means quick boat handling, which is very important in this kind of racing. The boat is originally a Danish design and is frequently sailed in Scandinavia, an advantage for the Scandinavian sailors. Italian Giulia Conti is one of the teams who have never sailed these boats before Lysekil Women’s Match.

Preem Lysekil Women's Match for the Stena Bulk Trophy has the biggest prize money in the world in women’s match racing - 400 000 SEK or 43 000 Euro. The racing will take place during August 2 – 6.
12 of the world’s best female match racing skippers are attending. The event is organised by Sailnet Lysekil AB and Live Göteborg in cooperation with the yacht club Lysekils SS Gullmar (LSSG). Official host of Lysekil Women’s Match is the oil company Preem with main partner Stena Bulk AB and Carpe Diem Beds of Sweden, Midroc Scandinavia and Lysekil Local Authority as partners.

Danish Open face another replacement

2006-08-01T02:01:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus/Gordon Smith

In his notice to the Organising Committee Peter Gilmour says "….Please accept my apologies for this, as the timing is bad for both of us... . I hope that you can find a suitable replacement and that the regatta is as good as ever! Was really looking forward to racing as the field is really hot this year:"

"We have of course talked to Peter and we fully understand his situation and we only hope that he will return quickly to the Tour and hopefully we will see him next year in Copenhagen" says Peter Falck - Chairman of the event.

Instead we are pleased to announce that the young and up coming Kiwi Simon Minoprio will replace Peter Gilmour. Simon is currently ranked 16th on the ISAF Match Race Open Ranking and recently participated in the Matchrace Trofeo Trombini and winning the Grade two event Match Race Lugano.

Peter Falck continues “We are delighted that Simon Minoprio has accepted our invitation. The international nature of Match Racing is a great part of the excitement and to see this successful young team compete will be a delight to experienced sailors and newcomers to the sport alike.”

Danish Open 2006 begins next week in Skovshoved outside Copenhagen. The Opening Ceromony is on Wednesday August 9 and the racing starts Thursday August 10th with finals on Sunday August 13th. Danish Open is the second event in the 2006/2007 World Match Racing Tour.

The participants are (ranking place):

Sebastian Col (4) - Areva Challenge - FRA
Ian Williams (5)- Williams Sail Racing - Runner up WMRT 2005/2006 - GBR
Mathieu Richard (7)- Saba Sailing Team - FRA
Björn Hansen (10)- Team Apport.net - SWE
Staffan Lindberg (12)- Alandia Sailing Team - 3rd WMRT 2005/2006 - FIN
Simon Minoprio (15)- Vision Yachting - NZL
Peter Wibroe (19)- Team Wibroe - Highest ranked Danish Crew - DEN
Philippe Presti (29)- Luna Rossa Prada - FRA
Dorte O. Jensen (51)- Wild card qualifier - DEN
Jesper Bank (54) - United Team Germany - GER
Jes Gram Hansen (67)- Mascalzone Latino - ITA
Sten Mohr (73)- BMW Oracle Racing - USA

Lysekil Women's Match - Grade 1 event in Sweden

2006-07-27T04:54:00.000-07:00

source by: Josefine As

The inauguration of Preem Lysekil Women’s Match for the Stena Bulk Trophy will be on August 1 and the races will take place during August 2 – 6. Till then we are very glad to present you the images of skippers coming next week to Sweden:

Claire Leroy FRA (1). Team Ideactor
This 25 year old talent from France has since 2005 snatched the desirable top position on the world ranking of women’s match racing. She had her true breakthrough 2003 when she won both the prestigious Rolex Osprey Match Cup in Florida and the Italian Ledro Cup. During 2004 her career rocketed and she won the bronze medal in the World Championships, the European Championships and Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand. She also won the silver medal in Lysekil Women’s Match. During 2005 she kept on achieving good results as she once again won the Ledro Cup, took bronze at the World Championships and at Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand. During the World Championships in May she did not finish better than eighth and is now ready for revenge!

Marie Björling SWE (2). Team Schenker
This mother of two won Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand 2002, 2003, 2004. She has several World Champion gold medals from dinghy sailing in her CV and can boast with four silver medals in World Championships of match racing! Her team won the last edition of Lysekil Women’s Match 2004 and the great prize money of 10 800 Euro (100 000 SEK). She has earlier been ranked number one in women’s match racing, but has been knocked off the top position during different occasions because of giving birth to her two children. Her last child is not even one years old but Marie is back on track and is once again placed second on the world ranking. She impressed us all by winning the silver medal in the World Championships in May.

Klaartje Zuiderbaan NED (3). Team Klaartje Zuiderbaan
Back in the Netherlands she is the big star of match racing. She is in great shape and this year she repeated last year’s performance and won the first Grade 1 race in Calpe in Spain (the highest ranked match races). Last spring she was fifth in the World Championships. She was European Champion 2000 and the same year she was very close to top three in the World Championships. In 2002, she took third at the prestigious Bermuda Gold Cup. Klaartje has also made some side steps from her match racing career – for example she has sailed as watch captain in the ocean race Fastnet Race and as trimmer on the all female boat Amer Sports Too in the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02. She has Master of Science in Civil Engineering, specialised in hydraulical and geotechnical engineering.

Linda Rahm SWE (7) Team Daros
Linda and her Team Daros are ready to take revenge at their favourite spot Lysekil. During the last edition 2004 Linda won the first Round Robin and this year she is well prepared to go all the way! She grew up in the sailing metropolis Kullavik on the west coast of Sweden, and Linda, as many other successful match racing sailors, started her career in dinghies. She has represented Sweden in a number of World Championships in Europe Dinghy. With a few years’ experience she is now established on the top-ten ranking of match racing. A bronze medal at the World Championships in May indicates what direction she is heading and Team Daros can be dangerous in Lysekil!

Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen DEN (10). Team HSH Nordbank
This team is quite new – they started sailing together in 2005 but all team members have long experience of match racing and racing other boat classes. Lotte has been match racing for 12 years. She started her career in an Optimist and then Yngling with great performances internationally. Even her match racing career has been very successful. In 2003 she won gold in the European Championships and silver in the World Championships. She took bronze in the World’s 2001 and she has a gold medal from the Nordic Championships. In 2004 she took silver at Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand and 2005 she won a bronze medal in Lago de Ledro in Italy. At the World Championships in home waters in Denmark last May, Lotte was fourth and for this team a top three in Lysekil is very much desired.

Malin Millbourn SWE (13). Team Santa Maria
Her sailing career started early with Europe Dinghy, she was soon champion in Sweden, and later she took gold in the World Championships. In 1994 she was elected best female sailor in Sweden and in 1996 she was ninth in the Olympics. She started match racing 1998 and already the first year she was third in the Swedish Championships, second the year after and then first. Malin’s best year was 2003 when she was ranked second on the world ranking and won the gold medal in the World Championships. Her team was also nominated World Sailor Award. During the season of 2004 Malin had a break and made her come back last year as stand in helmsman in the team of Malin Källström. The result was very successful, she won Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand, was fourth in Osprey Cup in Florida and second in the Nordic Championships. Malin and Malin share the helmsman duty and in Lysekil Malin M will represent the team.

Jessica Smyth NYZ (15) Team Jessica Smyth
The young talent from New Zealand wins most races down under, in both New Zealand and Australia. In 2005 she won the National Championships in match racing in New Zealand and this year she took silver. In both 2006 and 2005 she won the bronze medal at the Harken International Women’s Match Racing Championships in Sydney and she won the National Championships in fleet racing in New Zealand 2005. This summer her focus is on Europe. It will be exciting to see what she can accomplish on our latitudes during Lysekil Women’s Match!

Josie Gibson GBR (16) Team Josie Gibson
As many of her competitors Josie started her career with dinghy sailing. She started sailing at nine years of age and competing at 13. Optimist, 420 and 470 are Josie’s specialties. For several years she represented Britain in the World Championships of the 470 class. She is quite new in the match racing circuit and her first results date only from 2004. Last year she won the silver medal of the Ladies Only in Hamburg, Germany. She has almost entirely raced in home waters in England before. This year she concentrated on JP Morgan Flemming Women’s Challenge in London, where she ended up on a sixth place. In our Swedish waters she is a newcomer!

Giulia Conti ITA (19) Team Giulia Conti
This 20 year old talent started sailing Optimist and won her first gold medal in the 1999 European Championship. Later on she changed to the Europe Class at the same time as she started match racing. Only fourteen years old, she helmed a J22 at a grade 1 match race and reached the semi-final. From that moment on she has never missed the most important match race events in the world, and in May 2003 she hit the 4th place on the world ranking list. The Italian Sailing Federation proposed her to sail the Yngling Olympic campaign for Athens. After Athens Giulia decided to abandon the "slow" Yngling for the brilliant 470, the boat she loves, and faces the new adventure leading to Bejing 2008. She has never stopped match racing and at the end of 2005 she won the prestigious Rolex Osprey Cup in Florida.

Camilla Ulrikkeholm DEN (22) Team CU
The 24-year-old architecture student started her sailing career in the Optimist, where she participated in National, Nordic and European championships. In 1997 she was elected the best young female sailor of the year. After the optimist she started sailing the Europe dinghy, but found herself too light for the class. Due to back injuries she held a 2-year pause from sailing until the spring of 2004 when she gathered a female team of experienced sailors which since became “Team CU”. The team is now a little more than 2 years old and has its base at the Royal Match Race Centre in Skovshoved, Denmark.

Martina Karlemo FI (25)
Peppi as most people call her, started sailing Optimist at the age of 7 and later changed to Europe dinghy. She did well and in 1991 she won a bronze medal in the junior Nordic Championships. 1993 she started an Olympic project in 470 that lasted until 1999. Shortly after she started her match racing career. Already the year after (2000) she was Finnish Champion in match racing, an achievement she repeated last year. She has also done well in the Nordic Championships; silver 2002, bronze 2001 and 2005. This 32-year-old mother of three is a physiotherapist and finds time to do both downhill and cross country skiing

Ulrike Firk GER (30) Team Ulrike Firk
Ulrike is relatively new in the match racing circuit. She started match racing two years ago but is already ranked second in her home country Germany. Before match racing she sailed IMS1 and Mumm 30 in the men’s class. Her team took gold in the European Championships and was several times number 1 in the German Championships. Ulrike may need some more time to achieve the same results in match racing but she has already reached the podium; with a silver medal in the International German Championship in Hamburg last year and she took bronze in Harpen Bergkamen Cup the same year. Since 2004 she has competed in quite a few races in Germany, and even in Denmark, France, and Poland but never in Sweden. Ulrike and her team are looking forward to sailing on the Swedish west coast and defend the German flag as the only German team in Lysekil Women’s Match.

For high resolution photos from racing 2004, please visit our official web site:
www.lysekilwomensmatch.se:
http://www.lysekilwomensmatch.se/page/50/bilder.htm

Chris DICKSON (NZL) pipped Magnus HOLMBERG (SWE) in Portugal

2006-07-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

Chris DICKSON (NZL) pipped Magnus HOLMBERG (SWE) within yards of the finish line to win the $100,000 ISAF Grade 1 Portugal Match Cup, stage one of the 2006-2007 World Match Racing Tour.
Shifty conditions with gusty ten to 15 knot winds were challenging for the finalists. DICKSON streaked to a 2-0 lead before HOLMBERG battled back to even the score 2-2, setting up a one race, winner take all finale.

DICKSON Makes Early Championship Running
In a race with two lead changes, a penalty and slick boat handling, DICKSON won by less than half a boat length. He won $35,000 in prize money and is the early leader in the World Championship standings. The 2006-2007 World Championship will be a series championship among the World Tour events.

A Word From The Winner
'The conditions are very difficult and we knew we were going to lose some,' DICKSON said after the dramatic 3-2 win. 'We took one race at a time. I lost one start which made it difficult, it was close racing. Magnus and his crew sailed very well.'

Magnus HOLMBERG’s (SWE) Victory Challenge team won $20,000 in prize money for second place. HOLMBERG’s crew included Anders DAHLSJÒ, Lars LINGER, Mal PARKER and Stefan RAHM.
Reigning Tour Champion Peter GILMOUR (AUS), PST, won the petite-final by 2-1 over Jes GRAM-HANSEN (DEN), Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team, which placed fourth.
'Every now and again you do well, third I can’t complain about,' said GILMOUR.
'I’m very impressed with the win that the BMW ORACLE guys had. I’ve got a couple of close friends and my bowman [SOFUKU] was sailing with them and they won well, I was very impressed.'
GILMOUR and GRAM-HANSEN, who also finished third and fourth last year, stand third and fourth in the World Championship with 15 and twelve points, respectively.

Focus On The Final
The final race between DICKSON and HOLMBERG was close throughout. HOLMBERG was hit in the pre-start with a penalty, and then DICKSON nailed the start for a nice early advantage. HOLMBERG used the shifty winds to his advantage. He was able to do his 270 degree penalty turn on the first beat and lead around the windward mark and the leeward mark.
But where the shifty winds were an aide to HOLMBERG early in the race, they quickly turned against him. HOLMBERG estimated he picked the wrong side of the leeward gate. That gave DICKSON the lead at the second windward mark and beginning the run to the finish, but HOLMBERG was not done. He rallied back to overlapped approaching the finish, when nifty spinnaker work helped DICKSON cross the line first.
'A key moment was both boats did two jibes just before the finish, and our spinnaker was always set through the two jibes,' said DICKSON. 'On the other boat the spinnaker collapsed, it’s not always easy to keep it full, but ours stayed full and that was the deciding factor at the finish.'

DICKSON could be heard urging on his crew after rounding the last mark in the lead.
'That was an aggressive match from both boats,' said DICKSON. 'We went hard in the pre-start and got a penalty on him and won the start. Then, halfway up the first beat, he wiped his penalty off. We [went from] going round the top mark [after] having started the race ahead and with a penalty on him, [to] behind with no penalty. After that point both boats got down to match-racing and it was close race, no more flags.'

Bottom Gate Crucial
'It was a tough finish, it was so close,' said HOLMBERG. 'We were down 2-0 and came back to 2-2 and the last race was really intense because the leader was changing all the time. The bottom gate was probably where we lost the race, mostly we were in the lead but I picked the wrong mark, it’s really difficult in these wind conditions when the wind is swinging back and forward and the pressure is up and down. I think we’ve sailed really well this week, so we should be happy with that.'

The win was DICKSON’s second at an ISAF Grade 1 match racing regatta this year.
'It feels really good,' said NEERGAARD of DICKSON’s crew. 'I guess we just saved a little bit of excitement until the end. Magnus came back really well after we had an easy two races. He beat us quite fair and square in the next two races, so it was all down to the last one. I think we just managed to pull the long straw and just peeped ahead of him by not even ten metres, so it’s pretty good.'

PortugalMatch Cup Results
Final
Chris DICKSON (NZL) d. Magnus HOLMBERG (SWE), 3-2

Petit-Final
Peter GILMOUR (AUS) d. Jes GRAM-HANSEN (DEN), 2-1

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Portugal Match Cup is under way

2006-07-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

Mathieu Richard (foreground) and Lotte Meldgaard at the start of their match in Flight 3, won by Meldgaard. (Imagepress photo)

Stage 1 of the 2006-‘07 World Match Racing Tour season, the Portugal Match Cup, today kicked off in the Bay of Cascais with the only women’s team scoring a win against Mathieu Richard in Group A.
The 3rd annual Portugal Match Cup features 12 teams competing for a $100,000 prize purse, with $30,000 earmarked for the champion. Racing off the Cascais city front, the event is being held in SM40s, the Pelle Petterson-designed match-racer for the World Tour.
The 12 teams have been split into two groups of six.

Chris Dickson (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing
Peter Gilmour (AUS) PSTg
Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge
Chris Law (GBR) The Outlaws
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team
Alvaro Marinho (POR)
Lotte Meldgaard (DEN) Team HSH Nordbank
Thierry Peponnet (FRA) Areva Challenge
Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team
Przemek Tarnacki (POL) Tarnacki Racing Team
Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racingp

A highlight of Dickson’s three-win day was his match against Law. A lively pre-start saw Dickson win the right side of the racecourse. He played it to win the match for a 3-0 record. Peponnet, tied with Dickson, rolled Law on the run to the finish in the previous flight.
In Group B, long-time Tour competitors Gram-Hansen, Holmberg and Lindberg each went 2-1. Lindberg, however, holds the upper hand among the three with victories against each. The final flight of the round robin will be a teller with Gram-Hansen racing Holmberg and Lindberg against Ian Williams (GBR), Williams Sail Racing. The two placed third and second, respectively, in the 2006 World Championship, an order decided on the last day of the season.
“We won in the first one, we were not very far ahead, but we were ahead all the time, I’d say,” said Lindberg. “Then we lost to the local hero (Alvaro Marinho). He did a good job, he picked the right side of the course and he won. In the third, we were trailing Magnus for a quite a long time but in the end on the last beat we managed to pass him which was very nice and extend slightly on the last run to the finish so we were very happy.”

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Gilmour wins in Elba

2006-07-16T23:39:00.000-07:00

Peter Gilmour and the PST crew could make a nice living from season concluding match-race regattas.
Gilmour (Perth, Western Australia) today won the fifth annual Locman Cup – Elba Island. He and crewmembers Rod Dawson, Christian Scherrer, Kazuhiko Sofuku and Yasuhiro Yaji added the event title to their previously won World Match Racing Tour championship and ISAF World Championship of Match Race Sailing.
They earned nearly $120,000 in prize money between the event and the World Tour, including a new BMW X3, and gold medals from ISAF. Last season the team won nearly $180,000 at the final event.
“I felt on the money today,” said the 46-year-old Gilmour.
Gilmour clinched his third consecutive Tour championship and fourth ISAF championship last month at Match Race Germany. The World Tour and ISAF joined forces earlier this year to award the two championships in conjunction. Besides winning the past two Tour championships, Gilmour previously won the ISAF Worlds in 1990, ’97 and ’98.
“The decision was taken unanimously that the world championship should be a tour championship,” said Nucci Novi Ceppellini, ISAF Executive Committee member from Italy. “A Tour can define a champion better.”
On Elba Island, Gilmour said he’d been struggling all week with a sore back, which left him out of sorts yesterday when he was nearly upended in the semifinal round. But a night of rest and trademark superb boathandling from his longtime crew helped right his ship.
The PST crew defeated upstart Ian Williams (GBR), Williams Sail Racing, 2-1 in the final. It was Gilmour’s 11th career victory on the World Tour, and he said it didn’t come easily.
“Beating Ian was as tough as beating Russell [Coutts] or Ed [Baird],” Gilmour said, referring to his seasoned rivals. “He’s an outstanding sailor. He’s going to beat us one day.”
Williams (Hamble, England) was disconsolate upon hitting the dock. As the crew put the boat away, Williams sat alone in the back of the cockpit holding his head in his hands.
Williams, 29, had been the star of the week, putting forth his best effort in his first year on the Tour. He won the round robin with a 12-2 record, including two victories over Gilmour, breezed through the semis and believed he could beat Gilmour. In the end, he learned the value of experience.
“The way he approaches the final, you have to be significantly better to finish him off,” said Williams. “His experience allows him to get the best of what he’s got.”
Williams had little to be ashamed of. His second-place finish, coupled with Staffan Lindberg placing fourth, meant that Williams Sail Racing finished second in the world championship for the year. He entered the regatta in fifth place, 6 points behind Lindberg, but wound up 2 points ahead of his Finnish rival.
“That was our goal coming in, to get the silver medal,” Williams said. “Second’s not bad in your first full year on the Tour.”
Lindberg and his Alandia Sailing Team dropped to third overall in the world championship, but won $12,500 from the Tour and bronze medals from ISAF. The Finn has been having troubles with crew consistency, which he intends to sort out for next year. He finished fourth in the regatta and won 9,000€ (approx. $11,000).
Cameron Dunn (NZL), Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team, placed third in the event after winning the Petite Final 2-0 over Lindberg. Dunn, sailing in just his 10th match-race regatta as a skipper, finished with a 16-7 record and won 10,000€ (approx. $12,600) of the event prize purse.

1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 17-5, 35,000€ ($44,000) (Crew: Christian Scherrer, Rod Dawson, Kazuhiko Sofuku, Yasuhiro Yaji)

2. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 16-5, 20,000€ ($25,000) (Crew: Bill Hardesty, Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Mark Williams)

3. Cameron Dunn (NZL) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 16-7, 10,000€ ($12,500) (Crew: Matteo Auguadro, Maciel Chicchetti, Rasmus Kostner, Chresten Plinius)

4. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 8-12, 9,000€ ($11,000) (Crew: Johan Backman, Robert Skarp, Carl-Johan Uckelstam, Emil Wiberg)

5. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 5-9, 8,000€ ($10,000) (Crew: Mike Giles, Charles Nankin, David Rae, Mark Sadler)

6. Thierry Peponnet (FRA) Areva Challenge, 5-9, 7,000€ ($8,800) (Crew: Benoit Briand, Tanguy Cariou, Herve Cunningham, Thierry Douillard)

7. Pierre Mas (FRA) China Team, 3-11, 6,000€ ($7,500) (Crew: Xavier Husson, Jeremy Koo, Charles Lim, Wearn Haw Tan)

8. Giovanni Segnini (ITA) Locman Sailing Team, 2-12, 5,000€ ($6,300) (Crew: Leonardo Chiarugi, Giuseppe Lallai, Cesare Landi, Enrico Menno)

Locman Cup - Round Robin completed

2006-07-13T04:34:00.000-07:00

source: www.elbacup.org

Yesterday, at the north wind of 14/16 knots, first Round Robin of Locman Cup has been completed. Peter Gilmour got the first defeat from GBR skipper Ian Williams.
That was actually considered to be the most exciting match in the first part of the day. Williams won on the finish line and fatigued in keeping the number one of the specialty international ranking behind. According to this vistory, Williams is to be considered by now the leader of the temporary ranking.

Temporary Standings
1. Williams - 7 points
2. Gilmour - 7 points
3. Dunn - 5 points
4. Lindberg - 4.5 points
5. Ainslie - 4 points
6. Peponnet - 2 points
7. Mas - 1 points
8. Segnini - 0 points

World Match Racing Tour - Locman Cup – Isola d’Elba

2006-07-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Photo (c) Elba Cup

The important elban regatta, final stage of the World Match Racing Tour, changes its name. For the 2006 edition the event will be named Locman Cup – Isola d’Elba.
“This year Locman – declared Marco Mantovani, President and CEO of Locman Italy, famous watch-maker enterprise located on Elba Island, wanted to have an even closer link to this fabulous regatta, in which top teams and world match race champions have been competing for five years in the beautiful waters of Elba." Locman, important italian high quality watch-maker, has been partner of this event since the first edition and supports many other events in order to promote the local territory.
About two weeks before the beginning of the Locman Cup - Elba Island 2006, the confirmed teams are already nine.
The fifth edition of the Locman Cup – Elba Island, scheduled July 11-16, is the only italian event and final stage of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour, international professional match race circuit. The 100,000€ event, is one of the most important international sailing events of the year.
The Locman Cup - Elba Island will host some of the strongest skippers of the international sailing world. Peter Gilmour (PST) will surely be present, who is going to win his third in a row circuit title. He will face competitors like Ian Ainsle (Team Shosholoza), Cameron Dunn (Mascalzone Latino - Team Capitalia), Thierry Peponnet (Areva Challenge), Staffan Lindberg (Alandia Sailing Team) second in the circuit ranking, Pierre Mas (China Team), Ian Williams (Williams Racing Team) and two italians at their debut during the Locman Cup – Elba Island, Matteo Savelli and Giovanni Segnini (Locman Team).
Peter Gilmour, 39 points ahead of second-placed Lindberg and therefore sure of the World Match Racing Tour title, will come to Porto Azzurro to win the Locman Cup - Isola d’Elba after he arrived second twice in 2004 and 2005, beated in finale by Russell Coutts, who won't be present this year.
Waiting for the last confirmation coming from America's Cup top teams sailing in Valencia at the Louis Vuitton Act 12, in Elba are foreseen 12 teams to compete.
The Locman Cup – Isola d’Elba is an ISAF event - 1st Degree and the teams will use Solaris 36 as boats. The programme, with favourable weather conditions, is made of five days of regatta. On 11th July: trainings and boat tests. From 12th to 14th July: Round Robin regattas. Always on 14th: quarter finals; saturday 15th end of quarter finals and semi finals; sunday 16th final and prize giving.
The winner of the event will be awarded the Locman Cup and the top team will be awarded the Elba Cup. Moreover, at the end of the event in Porto Azzurro, finalfinal stage of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour, Peter Gilmour will be awarded his third consecutive World Tour championship, fourth World Match-Racing Championship, and will receive $30.000 and a BMW X3 3.0i.
This event is realized with the contribution of BMW, Moby Lines, Gruppo Nocentini – Conad, Comune di Porto Azzurro, Associazione Albergatori Elbani and the sponsorship of Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago Toscano who always demonstrated high sensibility towards this regatta.
The organisation is followed by a commitee which includes the Touristic Promotion Agency and various associations. As in the past, the Comitato dei Circoli Velici Elbani will guarantee technical and logistic support at sea.
The television coverage of the Locman Cup – Elba Island will be tough: videos on the regatta will be transmitted all over the world by many tv networks, and Eurosport among them. Moreover Rai will have live programms on 13, 15 and 16th July.

Partecipating Teams to the Locman Cup – Elba Island*

Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, Challenger America’s Cup 2007
Cameron Dunn (NZL) Mascalzone Latino - Team Capitalia, Challenger America’s Cup 2007
Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, winner of the last WMRT,
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, secont of the WMRT 2005/06
Pierre Mas (FRA) China Team, Challenger America’s Cup 2007
Thierry Peponnet (FRA) Areva Challenge, Challenger America’s Cup 2007
Matteo Savelli (ITA), first participation at the Locman Cup – Isola d’Elba
Giovanni Segnini (ITA) first participation at the Locman Cup – Isola d’Elba
Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 5º WMRT 2005/06

Dorte O. Jensen, the Womens' 2006 World Champion, at the Danish Open

2006-07-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

source by: Flemming Vitus and Gordon Smith

Dorte "O" has been called on at the 11th hour to act as reserve skipper for Jesper Feldt from Team Feldt; Jesper and the crew had secured their place at the Danish Open by winning a qualifying event. Unfortunately it has been confirmed that it is necessary for Jesper to pull out.

"This is fantastic. I am just so happy to sail against such talented sailors. I have not previously had the opportunity to come up against so many of the best men's crews, but I really have a great opportunity here. I have previously never taken part in an event with such strength in depth, so this is going to be quite something," says the busy Dorte O. Jensen, who has skippered Team Feldt's crew previously.

As Dorte "O" puts it,"Now it is a question of the amount of time we have to train before the event. I had not counted on all this, so it is all going to be rather hectic. Dorte however is no novice and certainly not new to racing against male competition, she is a four times Women's World Champion in Match Race and mainly trains against men's crews. She was also recently placed fifth in a Match Race event in Berlin beating both Sebastian Col and Jochen Schuman.

The remaining members of the crew of Team Feldt are Thomas Hartvig, Niels Gramkov, Henning Lambertsen and Jeppe Blak-Nielsen.

Lots of confidence

Dorte O. Jensen is placed number 51 on the open ranking list and is therefore actually better placed than, amongst others, Jesper Bank and Jes Gram Hansen, who will also be competing at the Danish Open in August.

"I am coming with bags of confidence even though I will not be competing with my normal crew. Right now I am sailing about three times a week, but unfortunately that is traveling with the ferry to work in Marstal (a town on the Danish island of Aeroe) and that certainly doesn't give one much training!" laughs Dorte "O" Jensen, who wants to do much more in the world of Match Racing.

"Absolutely. But it is again a question of finding the time."

For the organizers of the Danish Open - the Royal Matchrace Center (part of the Royal Danish Yacht Club) - it is of course exciting that Dorte "O" will be a part of the event.

"We decided to accept the change of skipper largely on the basis of the crew's convincing win at the qualification event. Also Dorte is an extremely talented sailor and she has previously shown that she is more than a match for the men's crews. Her crew are also very experienced and have been together for a number of years so there is no reason not to expect some excitement and perhaps an upset or two," says the event organizer Peter Falck from the Royal Matchrace center.

Additionally it was announced that the current World Champion Peter Gilmour will also be taking part at the Danish Open 2006, competing for a total prize purse of at least 375.000 Danish kroner.

Nations Cup Slovenia - Semis are over

2006-07-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Source: Matija Gorjan / www.cleanport.si

After finishing the two leftover flights of the double round-robin Dario Kliba came out on top of the result board in Open division, and Claire Leroy in Women division (see the results page). Then came the time for serious business, the semifinals. A light North-Westerly wind kept cooling the heated Izola venue throughout the whole day only with minor shifts.

Semifinal pairs were decided by a draw, and the format was to sail "best of three" matches, changing the boats after every odd match. CRO-POL and ITA-POR were the pairs in Open, and FRA-POL and ITA-GER in Women division.

Surprisingly enough, all fights ended with a 2-0 result (probably because of the football matches on TV in the afternoon??). Kliba(CRO) and Marinho(POR) in the Open, and Leroy(FRA) and Conti(ITA) in Women will go on tomorrow to fight for the first places in their divisions and the Grand Finals, while the rest will fight for the two third places in Petit Finals.

Storms are passing the venue at the moment, but let's hope for a couple of hours of nice conditions tomorrow, to round up this event, that has gone by the plan so far.

Regardless the results of sailing, everybody has a chance to become a winner in the table-football tournament among the crews scheduled for tonight in honor of the Football World Cup in Germany.

LVC ACT 12 - Emirates Team New Zealand selects BMW Oracle Racing for its semi-final opponent

2006-06-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

The three division winning skippers have chosen their opponents for the semi-finals of Louis Vuitton Act 12, allowing a complete provisional pairing list to be drafted.

At a press conference in the Port America’s Cup Media Centre following racing, round robin winning skipper Dean Barker, of Emirates Team New Zealand, announced his team would choose to race BMW ORACLE Racing in its semi-final. That leaves Alinghi and Luna Rossa to race in the other pair in the top division.

“Choosing your opponent is not easy,” Barker admitted. “It’s a bit like choosing your own poison. But we see this as an opportunity to race against a boat that has a lot of innovative features.”

Desafío Español skipper Karol Jablonski elected to race against Shosholoza, leaving Victory Challenge to face Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team.

“We chose Shosholoza because in our opinion this boat is very fast and competitive,” Jablonski said. “We would like to match it against our boat.”

Finally, Areva Challenge skipper Thierry Peponnet selected China Team for its opponent, with United Internet Team Germany and +39 Challenge making up the final pair.

The results and pairings remain provisional on Wednesday evening. The +39 Challenge has lodged a Request for Redress with the Jury, claiming that the tie-breaking mechanism the Race Committee employed to break the three way tie between Shosholoza, Areva Challenge and +39 Challenge was incorrect. The Request for Redress will be heard by the Jury at 10:00 on Thursday morning.

Racing in the semi-finals is scheduled to begin on Friday afternoon. Each series will be won by the first team to earn two points.

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AC Act12 results after 2 days

2006-06-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

The final competition of the 2006 America’s Cup season began with two full flights of racing in Valencia. Louis Vuitton Act 12 is a match racing regatta, complete with round robin, semi finals and final. In this sense, it mimics the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection series, which will identify the ultimate challenger to face Alinghi in the 32nd America’s Cup Match.

It was a tense day on the water for the Spanish team who are alone among the 12 competitors in racing a new boat, ESP 88. Desafío Español earned two wins from two starts, but was behind in the second race until the Umpires assessed three penalties to Areva Challenge for a flagrant foul. The jury is still out on the speed potential of the new boat.

Making his 2006 racing debut for Luna Rossa Challenge was Torben Grael, aboard as tactician. The ‘Brazilian magician’ lived up to his moniker early as Luna Rossa was able to throw two penalties onto Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia during the first pre-start; Grael showing no signs of fatigue after completing a round-the-world race just this past weekend.

Conditions were perfect for racing on Thursday with sunny skies generating a good sea breeze. By race time there was a 10 knot Easterly on the two race areas and this held for the two flights of racing.

Current standing after 2 days/ 2 fligts:

1 SUI 75 4
1 USA 87 4
1 NZL 84 4
1 ITA 86 4
5 ESP 88 2
5 ITA 77 2
7 ITA 59 1
7 RSA 83 1
7 FRA 60 1
7 SWE 63 1
11 GER 72 0
11 CHN 79 0

Flight 1 RESULT

Match 1 Emirates Team New Zealand 1-0 China Team

Match 2 +39 Challenge 0-1 Victory Challenge

Match 3 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 0-1 Luna Rossa Challenge

Match 4 Alinghi 1-0 Areva Challenge

Match 5 United Internet Team Germany 0-1 BMW ORACLE Racing

Match 6 Team Shosholoza 0-1 Desafío Español 2007

Flight 2 RESULT

Match 1 +39 Challenge 0-1 Emirates Team New Zealand

Match 2 Luna Rossa Challenge 1-0 China Team

Match 3 Victory Challenge 0-1 Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

Match 4 Alinghi 1-0 United Internet Team Germany

Match 5 BMW ORACLE Racing 1-0 Team Shosholoza

Match 6 Areva Challenge 0-1 Desafío Español 2007

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Some moments of the Trofeo Trombini 2006

2006-06-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Italian photographer Stefania Pilan has given us some pictures from the 12th Trofeo Trombini.

Thank you Stefania

(c) Stefania Pilan

See more pictures of the 12th Trofeo Trombini in a slide show

Trofeo Roberto Trombini - Day 2

2006-06-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

source: www.matchracetrombini.com

Second day of the races at Marina di Ravenna for the XII edition of the Roberto Trombini Challenge Trophy ISAF Grade 1 world event.
Due to very light wind (5 knots in the morning which progressively decreased down to 2 knots and then nothing, only 3 flights were possible i.e. three of 4 and 5 matches each for a total of 13 challenges.

Even with little wind there were some spectacular moments especially at the start. New Zealander Chris Dickson (BMW Oracle Racing) won both matches beating the great Bjorn Hansen from Sweden and Frenchman Damien Iehl leaving him still in the lead. At second place Italian Paolo Cian (Team Viano Mercedes) who won twice against Arbuzov (Russian) and the young Dane Wibroe.

Not a good day however for Frenchman Mathieu Richard who was a favourite at the start; he suffered a double defeat against Wibroe and Angsell. Local yachtsman Matteo Simoncelli (Team IT Way) lost the only match contended which was against Lars Nordbjaerg.

Saturday 10th the races will start at 9 in the morning to complete the round robins (3 more flights) and start the quarter and semi-finals, conditions permitting. Finals are scheduled for Sunday 11th followed by prize giving.

Trombini Challenge - latest news from Ravenna

2006-06-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

Latest news from the Ravenna, Bjoern Hansen, Greg from Team Richard and Philippe from Team Wibrowe talking about the event, races and the famous Montefusco Challenge.

Download Interview

See some pictures from the Trombini Match Race

Match Race Germany - Gilmour's third victory

2006-06-06T03:02:00.000-07:00

source: www.worldmatchracingtour.com

The PST crew defeated Jesper Bank’s United Internet Team Germany crew 2-1 in a final shortened by lack of wind.
“It’s a good result,” said Gilmour. “Having Yaji and rod was key. We picked up Christian and Jan late, and they fit in really well. They did a nice job. It was fun sailing with them.”

Bank, skipper of Germany’s first challenge syndicate for the America’s Cup took second place. Bank’s crew included Henrik Blakskjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Mike Mottl and Jan Schoepe.
“I want to congratulate Peter,” said Bank. “He sailed really well. He managed the racecourse very well. He deserved the first choice upwind. It was a fantastic final.”

Gilmour yesterday won his third consecutive World Tour championship and fourth career ISAF Match Racing World Championship.

The World Tour and ISAF recently joined forces to award the match-racing world championship together with the Tour championship. Besides winning the past two Tour championships, Gilmour previously won the ISAF Worlds in 1990, ’97 and ’98.
“I take each race as it comes. Right now I’m just looking forward to Elba,” said Gilmour of the final Tour stage. “They are significant milestones to compare against likes of Russell Coutts and Chris Dickson, outstanding match-race sailors. I guess it’s just setting the benchmark ever higher. Those in the future have a lot more to strive for.”

In the final the breeze was from the southeast around 5 knots. It was compressed against the shoreline, which made it imperative to win the pin end and get to the left side.

Gilmour put on a clinic in the pre-starts, winning the pin end and first cross in all three races. He lost the third flight because Bank had found a patch of pressure on the right side. When they met the second time Gilmour had to dip Bank. Bank was able to sail away and win the race to make the score 2-1.

The final series was scheduled as first to 3 points, but the wind died after the third flight and the 4:30 pm time limit arrived an hour later. And Gilmour had won his third championship.

“I felt very confident that we’d be able to start well,” Gilmour said. “Although Jesper sails very well, we felt we’d be able to keep the heat on enough to win against them.”

Gilmour believes that Bank had added pressure on him. Sailing an older, slower boat Team Germany placed 11th at the two Louis Vuitton regattas last month in Spain, and Gilmour feels that his competitor bore the added burden of a good showing in front of the German public.

“It’s interesting to see the pressure on the Cup teams, especially on the Tour,” Gilmour said. “Teams take great comfort from coming back to check in that they’re on the pace. However, the stress and tension that they’re under is quite visible and obvious. That’s something that for someone like me can sit back and use to my advantage. You push them against the wall and they aren’t ready to respond because the pressure’s already up.

In the Petite Final, Ian Williams of Great Britain defeated Staffan Lindberg of Finland 2-1. With the score tied 1-1 Lindberg led the final match by more than 1 minute at one point, but had a penalty to clear at the finish.

With the winds light Lindberg’s turn was slow and that allowed Williams the chance to get back in the race. He narrowly beat Lindberg.

Although Gilmour has won the Tour championship, Lindberg, Bank and Williams all moved up in the standings. Lindberg went to second from third, Bank into a tie for third from a tie for eighth, and Williams into sole possession of fifth from seventh.

Katie Spithill wins BoatU.S Santa Maria Cup

2006-06-05T04:06:00.000-07:00

source: www.santamariacup.org
photo by: Waletr Cooper

The Chesapeake Bay made up for all it’s lack of wind on Friday, with wind in spades. The semi-finals and finals were run in breezes from 16 -20 steady with gusts up to 25 knots plus.

The semis were shortened to first to two points. The fact that it took only two races for two teams to move forward belied the action that occurred. Both semi-final matches were close affairs, with lots of action, protest flags, and close finishes. In the end, Giulia Conti (ITA) and Katie Spithill (AUS) advance to the finals, with Liz Baylis (USA) and Christelle Philippe (FRA) in the petit-finals.

Baylis and Philippe took the tone of the semi-finals and ratcheted it up a notch. This “first to two points” series went all the way to the wire, taking the full three races to decide a winner. The two teams were never more than a few meters apart, with protest flags, and umpires being tested to their fullest.

Baylis won the first, and Philippe the second, and then in the deciding race, Baylis was behind by a couple of boat lengths at the top mark. With flawless crewwork, and using all her tactical advantage, Baylis slide by Philippe at the finish by less than a meter.

The finals, a first to three points affair, had all the same features. Both teams were out to win, and using the rules to their advantage an their boats as foils, Spithill and Conti went at it hard. After two very close races, Spithill had taken a 2-0 lead that seemed insurmountable, but Conti fought back, and over the next two races drew even with Spithill using superior boat speed to her advantage.

The penultimate race saw it all – at the end of the third leg, Spithill picked up a penalty, but with great tactical acumen, was able to inflict a penalty on her opponent, and leave her struggling. But then, as the two teams attacked each other down the next leg, the umpire boat broke down, causing it to crash hard into the side of Conti as she fought to get away from Spithill and try to head down the course to beat her.

The umpires held a hearing, and decided that their interference was serious enough to warrant redress, which came in the way of a re-sail of that race – so on came race 6 of the series.

Race 6 did not disappoint. The teams worked each other hard, Spithill’s match race skills keeping her in the race against Conti’s blazing speed. Again, Spithill picked up a late penalty, but was able to hold Conti off at the weather mark to the point that she was able to take her turn, and still stay ahead at the last weather mark.

The two teams were so wary of each other, that spinnakers were left in the bag for the first third of the leg, to keep up maneuverability, and stay as flexible as possible.

Spithill managed to stay just in front of Conti, to become just the 4th non-American to win the event.

Hakuna Matata - busy match race weekend in europe

2006-05-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

The coming weekend will be one of the busiest weekends of this season.
In Germany, Langenargen will stop over the World Match Race Tour as a Gr. 1, In Switzerland, Lugano a Gr. 2 and in Italy, Rimini the traditional Blurimini Gr 2.
It seems that all tre organizers where a bit in competition to each other to get the best sailors.
Especially as a few top ranked teams stay in Valencia.
MATCHRACE.CH will be on site in Rimini and in Langenargen and write about the races.

This event overload has a very positive side effect, young teams get invited to join top ranked events and have a chance to show there potential.

Lets see who sails where next weekend:

World Match Race Tour in Langenargen:
1. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza
2. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany
3. Tino Ellegast (GER)
4. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST
5. Björn Hansen (SWE)
6. Michael Hestbaek (DEN) United Internet Team Germany
7. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team
8. Sten Mohr (DEN)
9. Eric Monnin (SUI)
10.Eugeniy Neugodnikov (RUS)
11.Mathieu Richard (FRA)
12. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing

Blurimini
1.Matteo Simoncelli (ITA) Team Shosholoza
2.Michel Cohen (FRA)
3.Carsten Kemmling (GER)
4.Vincent Barnies (FRA)
5.Alpo Kaakinen (FIN)
6.Dario Kliba (CRO)
7.Giovanni Segnini (ITA)
8.Victor Lanier (FRA)
9.Simone Ferrarese (ITA)
10.Jure Orel (SLO)
11.Jesper Feldt (DEN)

Match Race Lugano
1. Russell Coutts – (NZL)
2. Peter Wibroe – (DEN)
3. Arzubov Andrew – (RUS)
4. Minoprio Simon – (NZL)
5. Morvan P. Antoine – (FRA)
6. Takumi Nakamura – (JPN)
7. Jan Eike Andresen – (GER)
8. Laurie Jury – (NZL)
9. Angel Brian – (USA)
10. Tarnacki Przemek – (POL)
11. Sven-Erik Horsch – (GER)
12. t.b.d.

ACI Adris Match Race - Berntsson wins 3-1 against Gilmour

2006-05-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

The sweedish skipper Johnie Berntsson is the winner of the 20th edition of the ACI Adris Match Race Cup. In the grand finale he defeated the Frenchman Mathieu Richard with a score of 3-1. The third place went to the Australian Peter Gilmour. He defeated the Italian Paolo Cian in the little finals, in both flights. Berntsson made it to the finals after two excellent round robins, with 18 victories and just 2 defeats, and a tight score in the semi-finals (3-2) against Paolo Cian. Mathieu Richard defeated the No.1 on the ISAF ranking list, Peter Gilmour, with a score of 3-1. At the end, we can all agree that the 20th ACI Adris Match Race Cup went by in ideal sailing conditions, except for the rainy first day, and that all the contestants did their best to give us all an unforgettable event on the sea. The audience had a chance to witness a series of exciting duels. This was expected, with the world’s best skippers and crews that gathered in Rovinj.

Womem Match Race Worlds - Dorte is the new World Champion

2006-05-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

Source: Flemming Vitus / Gordon Smith

Dorte O. Jensen and her crew of Gitte Bjerregård, Lea Olsen, Tine Kjærgård, Helle Jespersen and Nathalia Nyeland won the World Championship. A classic Swedish-Danish Finals match was fought in front of a huge crowd of spectators in Skovshoved Denmark.

Dorte O. Jensen has, during the Championship week, increasingly piled the pressure on her opponents and today she dispatched the last of them to claim the World Championship title. With Viking horns playing Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark presented the trophy. Dorte O. Jensen and her crew of Gitte Bjerregård, Lea Olsen, Tine Kjærgård, Helle Jespersen and Nathalia Nyeland have demonstrated over the course of the matches that teamwork, skill, determination and cold calm calcultation are what it takes to succeed in this most exciting of sailing events, indeed this was a fine example of a Championship that has indeed been won by Champions.

Not that anyone could describe the process of wining gold as trivial. In fact the final against the second placed crew, skippered by the Swede Marie Bjørling, demonstrated how much this win is worth. It is not easy to say someone deserved second but in this case, Marie, it was very well earned. The score of 3 wins to 0 does not paint a true picture of how close the final was and indeed the end of the last match had each and every spectator silent and holding their collective breaths. This was never a walk over.

”In the last duel, we were behind. Suddenly a small opportunity presented itself to us and there was no way we were not going to try for it. We went for it and won. Our goal in this event was to sail well, to focus on the boat and that, I think, we managed to fulfill. It is just fantastic that we also went on to win.” Says Dorte. She has been firm in not revealing her future plans for Match Racing.

”I have both a daughter and a job to take care of, so it will be difficult to see how to continue at the highest level. But for the time being let us see. Right now we want to enjoy the win. The situation is affected by, as much as anything else, finding a sponsor, after all we have just completed this event without financial assistance.” Emphasizes Dorte “O” Jensen.

In the battle for bronze medal position another Dane, Lotte M. Pedersen found herself beaten 2-1 by another excellent Swedish crew skippered by Linda Rahm.

The fifth place position in the Dexia Private Banking ISAF 2006 Women's Match Racing World Championship went to Dutchman Klaartje Zuiderbaan.

No. 1 Dorte O. Jensen
No. 2 Marie Björling
No. 3 Linda Rahm
No. 4 Lotte Meldgaard
No. 5 Klaarje Zuiderbaan
No. 6 Malin Källström
No. 7 Sally Barkow
No. 8. Claire Leroy
No. 9. Nina Bræstrup
No 10. Betsy Alison
No 11, Christelle Philippe
N0 12. Silke Hahlbrock

Womens Worlds - Claire Leroy top of her game in Skovshoved

2006-05-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Claire Leroy from France had an ideal start at the Ladies Match Race World Championships held at Skovshoved in Denmark.

Both physically and mentally the competitors on the first day of the Dexia Private Banking ISAF 2006 Women's Match Racing World Championship were tested with formidable challenges. This has been a classic example of why Match Race has become one of the most popular forms of racing out on the water The wind has been blowing up to gale force, fortunately without gusting, and the sky has alternated between bright sunshine and heavy rain all of which seems to increase the intensity of the already competitive sailing.

Claire Leroy has been one of the sailors that have had the most to celebrate so far with 4 wins and 1 loss, however she was not happy with her loss to Dutch sailor Klaartje Zuiderbann.

'Yes, there we made some stupid mistakes and we are not going to do the same again. All the same it was very hard to sail with so many windshifts. Tactically it was necessary to take some quick decisions whilst taking safety of the crew into consideration. With so many shifts I really needed to be on top of my game.

'Mentally I am exhausted, but luckily we can also enjoy a good first days work. We are not thinking that we are close to a place amongst the best, we are on the water to do as well as we can.

'My crew performed beautifully and happily we made fewer mistakes than the others so I hope that we can continue like this way during the coming matches. We were not concerned about the weather, it was just another dimension' says Claire Leroy.

For the three Danish crews it was a day of very differing results with skipper Nina Bræstrup having the most to be disappointed about. <:img med_nina_brstrup_2678.jpg left :> With five defeats in five matches she had the worst imaginable start to the Championships.

'If we had only won the match against Dorte (Dorte O. Jensen Ed.), the whole thing would look differently. That defeat really hurt because we really had an opportunity for a win.

'But it was really not our day. The wind shifted about a lot but luckily the morale amongst the crew is fine. Now we need to sit down and have a good discussion about what we can put right for the next matches' says a clearly disappointed Nina Bræstrup.

On the other hand another Dane Dorte O. Jensen had a reasonably good 'day at the office' with three wins and two losses to take into tomorrows races.

'I would actually say that it was a ‘very hard day at the office’, and we have certainly not made it easy on ourselves, after all we could be standing here with 5 and 0. On the other side we could also be standing here with only 2 wins after we were lucky in the match against Nina (Nina Bræstrup). But we naturally continue to fight and' She adds ominously for the other competitors, 'We rarely have two bad days in a row. It took a lot mentally, it was hard to sit and trim constantly as the wind suddenly chose to change over again to another direction' states Dorte O. Jensen.

Sweden’s Marie Björling and Malin Källström both finished the day on two wins in two races.

So today was a story of classic match racing with testing weather conditions, tense tactical duelling on the start line and pure sailing skills being tested to the utmost.

The racing continues on Friday and Saturday with the finals being sailed on Sunday.

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2006 ISAF Women Match Racing World Championship officially opened

2006-05-25T04:49:00.000-07:00

Source: by Flemming Vitus

”We actually feel very well prepared even though the opportunities to do so have not been completely optimal. It would of course been great if we could have taken part in a couple of events before the Championship, but that was clearly not possible in our tight schedule.,” tells one of the Danish skippers Dorte O. Jensen, who, via a wildcard, takes part in the Dexia Private Banking ISAF 2006 Women's Match Racing World Championship.

Dorte Jensen has otherwise been training intensively in recent weeks at Skovshoved (on the Championship course) with the rest of her crew; Gitte Bjerregård, Lea Olsen, Tine Kjærgaard, Helle Jespersen og Nathalia Nyeland. Their last practice taking place yesterday before today's first round pairings.

Last evening the Dexia Private Banking ISAF 2006 Women's Match Racing World Championship was officially opened.

The famous troop of boy soldiers from the Tivoli gardens in the centre of Copenhagen kicked off four exciting days in Skovshoved.

The weather forecast is perfect for some aggressive sailing and it should last the whole way through to Sundays final.

Let's keep our finger crossed!

USA 1 is the new Team Race World Champion

2006-05-24T04:28:00.000-07:00

Since a few days we are all back to at home, the World Sailing Games are over. For me it was the first time involved in a Team Racing World Championship, very attractive way of sailing, we had only 2 boats per team which at the end resulted in a double match race.
Compared to match race with 4 boats there are much more combinations and strategies to apply. Therefore it’s much harder to do all the calls right, on the other side 1 mach is not more then 5-7 minutes therefore you can run many round robin at the beginning which compensate this fact.
The racing was closer to the shore as never been seen before, which I guess is what we should to.
It was so close that the spectators sometimes had to step back when the boats sailed along the jetty. The S course is very spectacular; especially the mark rounding’s with al the traps and the resulting action having 4 boats fighting for the best position. Many matches are decided on the finishing line or just before, consequence show until the last second.

The new World Champion in Team racing is USA 1: Pletsch Danny, Howe Carrie, Silsby Caleb, Hannon Paige sailing against GBR 3 leaded by Steve Tylecote.
The final was intense since the beginning. After a 1:1 came the 2:2 so the last match will decide the title. Match won the team USA 1 but team GBR 1 had a collision with an umpire boat and asked therefore request of redress, result resail the deciding match.
The crowed on shore was cheering up both teams. Very equal race but team GBR got a penalty at the windward mark and on the last leg the two GBR boat had a collision between themselves resulting in a penalty and USA 1 was the new Team Racing World Champion.

I’m looking forward to see more team racing event coming up, the format is very attractive and deserves a stronger presence on the sailing stage

Jürg

Let the ISAF 2006 Women Match Racing World Championship start

2006-05-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

Source: by Flemming Vitus

Former national handball coach (and two times Olympic Gold medal winner) Jan Pytlick & Co. Gave the Match Race World Championships a flying start.

In the waters off Skovshoved Havn two of Denmark’s best women’s handball teams (GOG from the Danish Island of Fynen and FCK from Copenhagen) met in a count down to the Dexia Private Banking ISAF 2006 Women's Match Racing World Championship, where the competition starts in earnest tomorrow. The two handball teams had been invited to try their hand at Match Racing (under the careful guidance of the professional skippers) in a prelude event to the main championship.

On board with Jan Pytlick’s GOG team as skipper was world champion Sally Barkow from the USA, while FCK coach Thomas Hylle had one of the hot danish championship contenders, Nina Bræstrup, to make all the right tactical decisions out on the water.

For GOG, the team from Fynen, it was a really great day out at Skovshoved, Jan Pytlick and the team can travel home triumphant with a 2-1 victory in the bag, therefore having the crowing rights until the two teams meet again on the handball court. For the two teams there is no doubt that it was a lifetime’s experience. For Sally Barkow it was also an unforgettable day.

”Completely fantastic. They sailed beautifully and in the process I learned a whole lot about handball. Until today I had absolutely no knowledge of the sport at all.” smiles Sally Barkow, who is considered to be amongst the favorites for the Championships.

In rough conditions which were blowing up to gale force, the two teams fought it out in a short 3 match series. There was particular drama in the first of the three matches when three of the girls were almost lost over the side in the middle of a particularly quick tack, fortunately they just managed to hold on and from thereon in everyone managed to fall in to the rhythm of the racing.

”That was just great. I had tried it once before, but this time it was just completely wild. I rather think that I am going to try this again. It was really competitive, it was clearly important for us to beat FCK” says GOG and national handball team member Trine Jensen.

Former national coach Jan Pytlick had himself not tried match racing before.
”It is absolutely necessary to work hard all the time, I have a great respect for those who sail match race. A big experience” explains Jan.

For Nina Bræstrup it was also a bit of a special event.
”That was definitely something different in relation to the way we normally practice. I really think that the girls did a really good job of it.” Praises Nina Bræstrup, just after one of her last training sessions before it all starts in earnest tomorrow.

In all there are 12 crews from six countries competing, the dark horse being Dorte Jensen from Denmark who attends after wining the wild card event. However Dorte has no women’s ranking as she sails only against men’s crews, making it difficult at the outset to predict any likely outcomes. The competitors are all very capable, the weather looks like delivering strong breezes and there is a dark horse in the pack; this has the makings of a very exciting World Championship.

On the prestart of ACI Adris Match Race Cup

2006-05-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Source: Gracia Krainer

ROVINJ, Croatia (May 3, 2006) — The seventh season of the World Match Racing Tour resumes later this month with the 20th anniversary ACI Adris Match Race Cup, May 23-28, in Rovinj, Croatia.
In celebration of the anniversary the ACI Cup has relocated to Rovinj, on the Istra peninsula in upper Croatia, from Split, where it had been held for the past 10 years. The ACI Cup moved out of Rovinj during the War in the Balkans of the 1990s, but moved back for the anniversary and for presenting sponsor Adris Group d.d., a conglomerate based in Rovinj with interests in tourism.
Event organizers from the Adriatic Croatia International Club (ACI) and the Yacht Club Croatia (YCC) made the announcement at a press conference today kicking off the event, which is three weeks away.
They have also increased the prize purse. This year the ACI Cup will award a 50,000€ purse (approximately $65,000), with 20,000€ (approx. $25,000) earmarked for the champion. Last year the prize purse was $40,000 and the champion won $15,000. As in the past, the Jeanneau 35 One-Design is the boat of choice.
“I would like to point out the importance the ACI Cup brings to promotion of Croatia in the world,” said Anto Violić, chief executive of ACI. “The ACI Adris Match Race Cup is broadcast worldwide by World Match Racing Tour television, so 600 million households can see the beauty of the Croatian coast through this event.”
Heading the list of entries is Australian Peter Gilmour, who leads the World Tour with the high score of 48 points. He missed competing at the tour event in Brazil last March due to visa problems, but will have a chance to extend that lead in Croatia.
The veteran Gilmour, who competed at the first ACI Cup in 1987, also is the event’s all-time champion, having won five times. He won his fifth last year by defeating Frenchman Philippe Presti in an exciting final. A successful defense of the title would also be his 10th career World Tour victory.
“Croatia is one of the events that you have to admire what the ACI Marina has done over the years,” said Gilmour, the 46-year-old skipper from Perth, Western Australia. “They’ve stuck it out through thick and thin. You get a sense that they love the sport, and the Dalmatian coastline is perfectly suited to sailing. For me it’s satisfying to live through the war years in the 90s and see how the event has developed and flourished from there.”
Gilmour believes that Croatian sailors have benefited from the event.
“I think one of the knock-on effects is the great talent coming up through the ranks,” he said. “Croats have won championships in Optimists, Lasers, 470s and on up to bigger boats. It’s exciting to see how all of that has evolved.”
Other confirmed entries include the World Tour’s third-ranked skipper, Staffan Lindberg of Åland Islands, Finland. The 34-year-old Lindberg trails 11 points behind Gilmour. The complete entry list is still to be confirmed.
After the conclusion of the ACI Cup the World Tour heads to Lake Constance in southwest Germany for the 10th anniversary Match Race Germany, June 1-5, in Langenargen.
After Match Race Germany the World Tour concludes its seventh season at the Toscana Elba Cup – Trofeo Locman, July 11-16, on Elba Island off the Tuscany region of Italy’s west coast.
The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. BMW is a Partner of the World Tour and the Official Car. World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Musto (Essex, England), the Official Clothing Supplier.

World Match Racing Tour Standings
(After 5 of 8 Stages)
1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 48 points
2. Ben Ainsle (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 45 points
3. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 37 points
4. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 32 points
4= Gavin Brady (NZL), 32 points
6. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 29 points
7. James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa, 25 points
7= Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 25 points
7= Dean Barker (NZL) Team NZ, 25 points

List of invited skippers
1 Peter Gilmour
2 Paolo Cian
3 Ian Williams
4 lars nordbjerg
5 Mathieu Richard
6 Eugeny Neugodnikov
7 Björn Hansen
8 Staffan Lindberg
9 Philippe Presti
10 Johnie Berntsson
11 cam. appleton/ wibroe
12 Dario Kliba

Team Racing World Championship 3 Teams move in to the gold fleet

2006-05-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

Three Team Racing Boats Transfer To Gold Fleet
Today was the last day of team racing in Rust, the only venue where racing took place on every day of the qualification series. The second round robin was completed, but the third was cancelled so the teams who will progress to the gold and silver fleets are decided.

USA1 finished first ahead of AUS1 in second and GBR1 in third. These three teams will progress to the gold fleet with the other teams fighting it out to make the quarter final in the silver fleet. USA1, and GBR1 will be joined by three other teams who automatically qualified. They are two teams from the USA and one more from Great Britain.

Both the gold fleet and the silver fleet will complete another round robin and the top two teams from the silver fleet will join the gold fleet to make up the eight teams for the quarter finals. The team who finishes first in the gold fleet will get the first choice for rival in the quarter finals with second placed finishes making the next choice and so on. The winning team from each pair will progress to the semi-final and the battle for the medals.

GBR1 have improved considerably throughout the Games, losing only one race in the second round robin compared to winning five of ten races in the first. Tom HERBERT commented, 'We race a lot in the UK, but we are used to races where each team has three boats...In the second round-robin we took much less risk while racing, we focused on no one finishing in fourth place. It was the most challenging thing out on the water for us. This type of team racing is much quicker, more intense.' HERBERT continued, saying, 'I would say that all teams here are improving. There are also sailors who have sailed on 420s, but have not done much team racing.'

Rust has been a fantastic arena for team racing, with the high speed intense action within inches of the shore providing an exciting thrill for spectators. The team racing moves to Neusiedl ready for racing to get underway again on Tuesday.

UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour Res Bienz in the lead

2006-05-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

After 1 day and almost the entire round robin done, Andreas Bienz is still in the lead followed by Jordi Calfat, Sacha De Micheli and Bruno Stocker.
Tomorrow the race committee plans to complete the round robin and sail the semi-finals and the finals.
Qualified for the semis will be the top 4 teams, where the leader will choose his opponent, Winner will be the skipper scoring first 2 points.
The final will be between the winners of the 2 semi matches.

Stay tuned for the latest news

Jürg

Photo (c) Tifmedia

UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour in Lugano Matches are ongoing

2006-05-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Today is the start of the UBS Alinghi tour in Lugano
5 Flights have been sailed so fare.
Interesting Match Jordi Calafat Reppresenting lost the match against Andreas Bienz
Current leader is Sacha De Micheli from Lugano winning all the matches so fare.
The intersting matche between the top 4 teams are still to be sailed.
The conditions are goos with the breva of 6 - 8 knots (south)

Stay tuned for news

Juerg

Team Racing World Championship 2nd round robin expected to be completed today

2006-05-13T03:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the lake Neusidl was calm expect on the Team Racing Course, 28 matches have been sailed after a relaxed morning
Right after Lunch the wind came in a bit shifty in the beginning but after 14.00 stable with 6 - 7 bft.

With the a bit less wind as in the first 2 days, the race became more intense and interesting.

Current leaders are USA 1 followed AUS 1

Team List

CZE 2
Vaidis Tomas
Soukupova Magdalena
Smetana Radek
Schwarzova Marketa

ITA 1
Gemini Lorenzo
Chessa Orrv Francesco
Togni Gianmarco
Nicastro Simone

AUT 1
Jäger-Stark Angelika
Schimak Eva-Maria
Lang Freddy
Czajka Barbara

AUS 1
Tasker Luc
Rechichi Tim
Thomas Steven
Palmer Darren

FRA 1
Brenac Francois
Moner Robert
Ponthieu Christian
Bossard Claire

GBR 2
Haywood Tom
Corlett Geogie
Findlay Matt
Frazer Johny

USA 1
Pletsch Danny
Howe Carrie
Silsby Caleb
Hannon Paige

USA 4
Law Justin
Chamberlin Jennifer
Andrew Watters
Hawn Megan

CZE 1
Fiala Petr
Mrzilkova Lenka
Kittler Jan
Plhon Eduard

GER 1
Hofmann Jan
Weber Simon
Gramms Denny
Böswetter Daniel

GBR 1
Cournah Andy
Walker Hamish
Hebbert Thomas
Guy Richard

Team Racing World Championship 2nd round robin started

2006-05-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

First round robin is completed, 55 matches in 2 days and we started the second one. Spectacular matches between the 11 teams who are sailing the races on the 420.
Maneuvers are very quick as the boat are very agile.
I’m asking myself how many matches will we need until the team start to run low on battery.
The Team GBR 1 won the first round robin with 9 wins out of 10 matches, followed by USA 1 and CZE 1. After a short break the race committee decided to start with the third round robin, after 7 matches GBR 1, USA 1 are leading the group.

Before closing the day we went to the Surf course where the boards RS X are used to
held two protest hearings.

One of the protests was involved an entire group of 21 surfers who sailed the wrong course despite popper identification by the race committee infringing therefore rule 28.1.
Fact that obliged the jury to DSQ the entire group.

Now it’s time to go to bed and to be ready for another set of busy matches.

Jürg.

ISAF 2006 Women's Match Racing World Championship

2006-05-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Dexia Private Banking ISAF 2006 Womens Match Racing World Championship will be held in Skovshoved, Denmark from 24 to 28 May.
There is a very strong international field with, amongst others, three Danish crews (two with current World Ranking positions of 4 and 6 and a qualifier for the wild card position which was already decided and given to Dorte O. Jensen. Eligible skippers that will join the Championship are:

Skippers World Ranking

Claire Leroy, France 1

Marie Björling, Sweden 2

Sally Barkow, USA 3

Nina Bræstrup, Denmark 4

Klaartje Zuiderbaan, The Netherlands 5

Lotte M. Pedersen, Denmark 6

Malin Källström, Sweden 7

Lina Rahm, Sweden 10

Betsy Alison, USA 11

Christelle Philippe, France 12

Silke Hahlbrock, Germany 14

Dorte O. Jensen No current ranking

It was pure chance that Dexia Private Banking became the main sponsor for ISAF 2006 Women’s Match Racing World Championship (Skovshoved Harbour, Denmark from the 24th to the 28 May), and it is a chance that Esben Laursen, - Area Business Developer for Dexia – is today very happy about.
”I heard about the World Championship via one of my business contacts. He showed me a brochure about the event, which, even at that stage, looked impressive. In the beginning the whole thing was just a good idea that we talked about since it was a bit of a jump for us to be involved with a project of this size. My first thought was actually to sponsor one of the Match Race boats, but that developed to the point where we now stand as the main sponsor.

On the commercial front a very interesting deal has been struck with Kræftens Bekæmpelse (Denmark´s Cancer Foundation) whose logo will decorate the spinnaker and sides of one of the competition boats..
The Royal Danish Yacht Club´s other Championship sponsors have volunteered to pay all the costs of Kræftens Bekæmpelse´s participation.
It goes without saying that the organisation has hit on a target group that are often very exposed to the suns rays.
”Sailors need to take great care, in order that they don’t end up with skin cancer, and coming here to the World Championship we are in the right environment to spread the message.
We have the opportunity of explaining the importance of avoiding the midday sun, keeping oneself in the shade, making use of UV-clothes and finally protecting oneself with sun block (sun cream)” explains Poul Moller.

One of the hot favourites for the World Championships is Danish skipper Nina Bræstrup, who, along with her crew in Audi Team Bræstrup, is aiming hard to come out on top.
For Nina it is almost like the children´s story “Aladin and the Lamp”. According to the story it is possible to contact the Genie by rubbing on an old oil lamp. By doing so, one could have three whole wishes granted.
But Match Race skipper Nina Bræstrup from the Audi Team Bræstrup will be happy if she has just one wish fulfilled at the World Championships in Skovshoved.
Nina simply has the dream of standing on the top of the podium on the 28th May when the medals and Champagne are being handed out to the wining team.
For Nina Bræstrup there is a strong comparison between her job and getting to the top in Match Racing. For the last six years Nina has been working at the world renowned Geog Jensen jewellers in Frederisksberg, where, for the last year and a half, she has been Marketing Manager.
”There is a clear comparison between my job and my sport. It is very exciting to develop new products and ideas, as well as following the development process all the way from conception to reality. Here at Geog Jensen I have, just as I do in my sailing, milestones that are all about progress in the creative process. It is very exciting.” explains Nina, who, in addition to all her other responsibilities, will be five months pregnant during the competition.
So one can simply say that the skipper has her hands full.
Nina began her sailing career on Optimists and Yngling and thereafter, in 1998, she developed an interest in Match Racing.
Will her wish come true? We need to wait few more weeks to find out about it. But the fight for gold seems to be already pretty tempting.

World Championship - Programme
Wednesday 24th May:
10.00 -17.00 Training, official weigh-in and registration
18.00 Opening Ceremony
Thursday 25th May:
10.00 – 17.00 Introductory Rounds – Round Robin
Friday 26th May:
10.00 – 17.00 Introductory Rounds – Round Robin
Saturday 27th May:
10.00 – 17.00 Quarter– and Semi- finals
Sunday 28th May:
10.00 – 16.00 Semi-finals and the Final.
16.00 Prize giving ceremony
Changes to the program are dependent on the weather.

The next press conference will take place on May 23 and more news will come in due course. From my side I would like to thank Flemming Vitus and Jorgen Stock Melchior for providing us with such a detailed press material.

Sofia

First racing day at the Sailing Games

2006-05-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hi all
Since yesterday we are here in Austria at the World Sailing Games 06 on the lake Neusiedln.
The Austrian organizer have build up in cooperation with ISAF a great event by pulling together several clubs around the lake. It’s impressive to see how the entire region is involved in the this regatta. Involving several Olympic classes, catamarans and also team racing.

For me it looks like I will do quite a lot of team racing in the next two weeks.
Yesterday we had time to define the event format and checking all the material.

The plan for the next days is to run 2 round robin of 55 matches each, after this stage we will go in to the final stage with a gold and a silver fleet, quarterfinals, semis and final.
The final stage will be held in front of the yacht club in Neusiedln.

This morning then we finally went to Rust where the Team Race Qualification stage will be sailed and meet the teams.

After a few modifications on the boats we have 14 420 class boats, to equalize them, (shrouds, spreaders, mainsail triangle etc.) we where ready to go on the water.

Is a very beautiful racing are with enough wind and having the windward marks of our “S” course 20 meters away from the club deck making perfect visitors location.

Right now we are running the event with 11 teams; three additional seeded teams will join the group in the final stage of the event.
Mostly we have only 2 teams, 4 boats on the course who last around 5 minutes, due to this short course we could run 22 matches with the following results:

AUS 1: 4 points
FRA 1: 3 points
GBR2: 3 points
USA 1: 3 points
USA 4: 3 points
CZE1: 2 points
GBR 1: 1 point
GER 1: 0 points

The most impressive match was between USA1 and AUS1. As typical match race umpire I’m trained to focus on one boat but being very precise in the interaction with my fellow umpire. On team race you have to watch 4 boats at the same time and still hoping to see everything.

Interestingly the pre-starts are not so intense as in match race, with this small boats and the wind we had today most of the tactics where not feasible anyway as the boats accelerate very fast.

Tomorrow morning we will start again racing around 11h with the intention to complete the first round robin and maybe start the second one.

Stay tuned

Jürg

See more pictures fr om the Teamracing at the World Sailing Games

Results Brazilian Qualifier for ISAF Nations Cup

2006-05-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Source: www.sailing.org

Daniel Glomb and Rossana Ramos won the ISAF Grade 3 Brazilian Qualifier for ISAF Nations Cup in sunny conditions that were accompying the event in Buzios.
The final was full of excitement though the wind drop to 7-9 knt was noted.

The women’s final between Fernanda OLIVEIRA and Rossana RAMOS was very tight. RAMOS won the first match and OLIVEIRA won the second one forcing a decider. After an even start, the boats split, with RAMOS on the right and OLIVEIRA on the left. OLIVEIRA over stood the mark and RAMOS rounded the first mark first. RAMOS’ crew, with their distinctive black and pink uniform, surprised some male teams watching the races with their perfect manoeuvres and powerful jibes. They were covering OLIVEIRA’s boat very closely until the last upwind mark, rounding when their spinnaker halyard unlocked.

In the men’s final the battle was between J/24 World Champion Mauricio SANTA CRUZ and the highest placed Brazilian in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings, Daniel GLOMB. The victory went to Daniel Glomb who won majority of starts and was able to control his oponent during the race.

In the petit final, Marcos SOARES won the two races against Nelson ILHA.

Final results:

Open
1. Daniel GLOMB (BRA)
2. Mauricio SANTA CRUZ (BRA)
3. Marcos SOARES (BRA)
4. Nelson ILHA (BRA)
5. Ricardo LOBATO (BRA)
6. Renato CUNHA (BRA)
7. Marcos MASCARENHAS (BRA)
8. Guilherme RAULINO (BRA)
9. Rafael PARIZ (BRA)
10. Luiz SANTA CRUZ (BRA)
11. Antonio FREITAS (BRA)
12. Rafael FRANÇA (BRA)

Women
1. Rossana RAMOS (BRA)
2. Fernanda OLIVEIRA (BRA)
3. Carolina BEJAR (BRA)

UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour Starts May 13th in Lugano

2006-05-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

The UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour start soon with a series of 5 Events held in Switzerland. The events will be sailed on the Sreamline boats and in 3 events an Alinghi crew will sail against young Swiss Match race talents.
The winners of the 5 Events will be invited to compete in the Swiss National Match Race Championship held in Geneve.

The events are scheduled as follows
UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour
13.05. - 14.05.2006 Lugano: Circolo Velico Lago di Lugano
20.05. - 21.05.2006 Zürich: Zürcher Yacht Club
10.06. - 11.06.2006 Romanshorn Yacht Club Romanshorn
08.07. - 09.07.2006 Thun Thunersee Yacht Club
13.09. - 15.09.2006 Geneva: Société Nautique de Genève

National Match Race Championships
16.09. - 17.09.2006 Geneva: Société Nautique de Genève

Selected Teams for Lugano

Team Alinghi
Société Nautique de Geneve
Helmsman / Crew: Jordi Calafat / Claudio Celon / Peter Evans

Team Bohren
Yachtclub Zug
Helmsman / Crew: Markus Bohren / Roger Fischer / Adrian Bürgler

Team Aloha
Zürcher Yachtclub
Helmsman / Crew: Roger Stocker / Robert Hürlimann / Marc Griesmaier

Team Micheli
Circolo Velico Lago di Lugano
Helmsman / Crew: Sacha De Micheli / Andrea Bolla / Guido De Sigis

Team Gautschi
Yachtclub Ascona
Helmsman / Crew: Stefano Gautschi / Alessandro Fuchs / Roberto Turchet

Team Minetti
Circolo Velico Lago di Lugano
Helmsman / Crew: Matteo Minetti / Andrea Minetti / tcb

Team Bienz
Thunersee Yachtclub
Helmsman / Crew: Andreas Bienz / Alain Stettler / Pascal Alder

Team Kruk
Sailcom Race Group
Helmsman / Crew: Jan van der Kruk / Jan Wild / Marco Waser

Photos (c) Robert Ghidoni

See more pictures from last year

Results Nations Cup Selection in Ireland

2006-05-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

Source: www.sailing.org

Good racing and a lot of adrenaline accompanied the ISA National Match Racing Championship that were held in Kinsale, Ireland over the last weekend. The National Champion title was not however the only prize for winning the event. The highest award was the opportunity to take part in ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final that will be held in Ireland in September this year.
The "trophy" went to Andrew Fowler and Mary O Loughlin in Womens category.
Twelve teams from sailing clubs around the country took part in the event, which is the first major sailing championship of its kind to be held in Ireland.

The winning team beat off stiff competition from Cork Yacht Club team of Nicholas O LEARY, Revelin MINIHANE and Sandy REMINGTON in a nail biting finish and will now represent Ireland at the ISAF Grade 1 Grand Final of the ISAF Nations Cup in September.

Third place went to Kinsale Yacht Club, which consisted of team members George KINGSTON, Henry KINGSTON and Andrew DEAKIN.

The female final was won by Mary O LOUGHLIN, Karena KNAGGS and Gillian BURKE from Howth Yacht Club.

Rhona BRADSHAW, marketing manager of Smart Telecom, said, 'This has been a fantastic weekend for Irish sailing and clearly demonstrates the wealth of talent that exists in the sport. The atmosphere in Kinsale was electric and it was great to see so many people turn out to show their support and cheer on the teams. I would like to extend my congratulations not only to the winners but to all those who were involved in the Smart Telecom ISA National Match Racing Championships both on and off the water.'

Calpe: Klaartje Zuiderbaan wins also this year

2006-04-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

Source: José Manuel Martín Nieto RCN Calpe www.rcnc.es

The last day of regattas at the ISAF Grade 1 International Women Match Race Criterium in Calpe, Spain, ended up with a completely different winner that the forecasted the previous day.

Every thing seemed decided for the World number one Claire Leroy after winning the first match of the semi-finals but the defending champion Klaartje Zuiderbaan of Netherland was able to beat her in the next two matches and moved to the finals. Zuiderbaan was able to get the victory by no more than two meters in the last race of the three that decide the first finalist.

The same result took place in the other semi-final, when the winner of the first match, the Swedish Jenny Axhede, lost twice against Nina Braestrup of Denmark.

The third and fourth position was decided clearly by Leroy that was able to control from the beginning her two matches versus the Swedish team with great pre-starts.

Meanwhile Zuiderbaan lost the second match with Braestrup but was able to win the last two races. The Danish leaded the fourth match of the final but after trying to exonerate a pending penalty was beat by the Dutch right at the finish line.

Zuiderbaan wins again this International Women Match Race Criterium but this time with the new Tom 28 of the Real Club Náutico de Calpe, a boat that ideal for the weather conditions of the Calpe bay.

Final results
1º Klaartje Zuiderbaan HOLANDA
2º Nina Braestrup DINAMARCA
3º Claire Leroy FRANCIA
4º Jenny Axhede SUIZA
5º Christelle Philippe FRANCIA
6º Lotte Melgaared DINAMARCA
7º Silke Hahlbrock ALEMANIA
8º Camila Ulrikkeholm DINAMARCA
9º Sabrina Gurioli ITALIA
10º Sandy Hayes USA
11º Louise Bienvenu USA

Calpe: Leroy chose Zuiderban for the semis

2006-04-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Source: José Manuel Martín Nieto RCN Calpe www.rcnc.es

After the three flights disputed today, the ISAF Grade 1 International Women Match Race Criterium in Calpe, Spain, has started with the first two matches of the semi- finals.

The defending champion and leader on the previous day Klaartje Zuiderbaan of the Netherlands couldn’t hold the first position and was defeated by the World number one Claire Leroy of France.

The fight for the third place was resolved by Nina Braestrup of Denmark after beating Jenny Axhede of Sweden and Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen. The fourth semi-finalist is Jenny Axhede after wining Christelle Philippe of France and the previous leader Zuiderbaan.

Against all predictions, Leroy chose to race Zuiderbaan in the semi-finals and beat the Dutch in the first match of the three that will decide one of the two finalists. In the other semi-final match, Axhede won Braestrup.

Only one more victory separates Leroy and Axhede from the final of the International Women Match Race Criterium.

Pictures of the event

Nations Cup: Mathieu Richard in to the final in Cork

2006-04-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

Source: David CAMPBELL JAMES

France’s Mathieu RICHARD won himself a slot at the ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final, defeating Britain’s Mark CAMPBELL-JAMES at the ISAF Grade 2 Regional Final for Europe 3 at the Queen Mary Sailing Club, Staines, Great Britain this morning.

In similar conditions to the earlier race days, with warm weather and light winds around four to eight knots, the French number eight in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings defeated his rival 3-0. It was a confident display by RICHARD, who becomes the third open skipper to earn himself a place at the ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final this September at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Ireland.

RICHARD said, 'It was a good competition even though there were light and shifty winds. I am very pleased to qualify for the Grand Final in Ireland.' He went on to reveal, 'Winning this one gets us to the final, and it’s one of our aims for the year to win the Nations Cup.'

Experience Pays
In the petit final, the more experienced Andreas WILLIM of Germany overcame Ireland’s George KINGSTON, 3-0. Both the Irish and the fifth place Israeli crew of Zeev KALACH gained valuable experience at the Regional Final, with KINGSTON jetting off straight away to his home waters for the ISAF Grade 3 Smart Telecom Irish Match Racing Championship, where he will be looking to win himself a place at the Grand Final as the host nation Ireland’s representative.

The second Regional Final in Europe, the women’s competition for Europe 1 takes place in Machico, Portugal from 2-7 May.

ISAF Nations Cup Regional Final - Europe 3 Results

Final

Mathieu RICHARD (FRA) d. Mark CAMPBELL-JAMES (GBR), 3-0

Petit Final
Andreas WILLIM (GER) d. Zeev KALACH (ISR), 3-0

Semi-Finals

Mathieu RICHARD (FRA) d. Zeev KALACH (ISR), 3-1
Mark CAMPBELL-JAMES (GBR) d. Andreas WILLIM (GER), 3-2

Round Robin

1. Mathieu RICHARD (FRA), 8-0
2. Andreas WILLIM (GER), 5-3
3. Mark CAMPBELL-JAMES (GBR), 4-4
4. Zeev KALACH (ISR), 2-6
5. George KINGSTON (IRL), 1-7

ISA National Match Racing Championship on prestart

2006-04-28T04:20:00.000-07:00

Tommorow the ISA National Match Racing Championship will begin in Kinsale launched by Russell Coutts. The event will finishing on Sunday 30th April. This Grade 3 event is to be very important for Irish Match Racing Teams that during this weekend will be fighting for the Champion title in both Open and Women's category. The Winner in each category will be eligible to represent Ireland in the ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in September.
The event will be sailed in Squib keelboats using spinnakers with crew of 3 persons, 4 in Women's category.

12 skippers joined the event:
Andrew Fowler - Royal St George Yacht Club
George Kingston - Kinsale Yacht Club
David Crosbie - National Yacht Club
Nicholas O'Leary - Royal Cork Yacht Club
Paul McCarthy - Squib Class
Niall Henry - Sligo Yacht Club
Yannick Lemonier - Galway Bay Sailing Club
Mary OLaughlin - Howth Yacht Club
Caoimhe Burns - Royal Cork Yacht Club
Simon McGibney - Western Yacht Club
Shane Statham - Waterford Harbour Sailing Club
Martin Mahon - Courtown Sailing Club

Web page: www.sailing.ie

Calpe Wommen ISAF Gr. 1 latest news

2006-04-28T02:59:00.000-07:00

The first flights of the ISAF Grade 1 International Women Match Race Criterium took place in great conditions in Calpe, Spain yesterday, with tight competition the order of the day.

At the end of day one, the defending champion Dutch team headed by Klaartje ZUIDERBAAN lead the field ahead of Denmark’s Nina BRAESTRUP (DEN). Tied for third are the teams of Lotte MELDGAARD PEDERSEN (DEN), Christelle PHILIPPE (FRA) and the Italians led by Sabrina GURIOLI.
Behind this trio is number one in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings Claire LEROY (FRA) and Sweden’s Jenny AXHEDE, tied on two points apiece.
The forecast for today is for a drop in wind, meaning different strategies will be called for and there could well be some major changes in the overall standings.
Eight more flights are scheduled for today, with the organizers expecting to finish the round robin this Friday. The final and semi-finals will be raced on Saturday.

Photo (c) RCNC