Royal Lymington Cup Overall

Royal Lymington Cup - Overall

Report: Sheila Jolly

HENRIKSEN TAKES THE ROYAL LYMINGTON CUP

On the final day of the Royal Lymington Cup, Morten Henriksen the Danish Match Race Champion saw off Luc Pillot his French counterpart to take the trophy in three straight wins. Murray Jones finished in third place, ahead of Andy Beadsworth in fourth position.

The final morning winds were very light and strong tides made sailing difficult.

After winning his first race in Flight One of the semi-finals yesterday, Andy lost his second and third match against Luc Pillot this morning, but after winning the fourth match, was knocked out of the final by 12 seconds in the final flight.

Murray Jones won his first match of the day against Henriksen after the Dane took a penalty for hitting the Kiwi's boat at the start and never caught up. In the third flight, Jones was first around the windward mark but Henriksen took the race in a very close finish. Flight Four was closer still and Henriksen won by just two seconds to go through to the final against Pillot.

The wind picked up and Pillot started the finals with aggressive manoeuvring resulting in a protest which was disallowed. Henriksen won the start and got a favourable wind shift taking him first around the windward mark. He kept the lead all the way and won the first match.

Pillot took the start in the second match but by the first mark, Henriksen was ahead again and had a comfortable win. In the third flight, Henriksen luffed at the line, Pillot failed to respond and received a penalty and Henriksen didn't look back. Pillot trailed around the course, taking Henriksen at the line but with a penalty to complete, Henriksen took the match and the Royal Lymington Cup goes to Denmark. 'Last year we made it to the finals and were badly beaten by Chris Law but this year we were very lucky but we also sailed well. This is very special for us, not only is it our first Grade One event win but last year we were sailing with Glyn Charles and what Glyn helped us to do last time, helped us to win the trophy', said a very happy Morten Henriksen.

In the play off for third and fourth position, Beadsworth had a good start and won the first match with ease but in the second race, he hit the pin end of the line and took a penalty. He overtook Jones at the leeward mark but got another flag at the windward buoy and after doing his 360, stood no chance of winning. In the third flight, Beadsworth was over the line and Jones never looked back. ' It is very frustrating for us, we made a few mistakes but it was very difficult with strong tides and little wind in the early races'.

Final results:

Morten Henriksen 3 - 0 Luc Pillot 

3rd & 4th position playoff:

Murray Jones 2 - 1 Andy Beadsworth

Semi-final results:

Morten Henriksen 3 - 1 Murray Jones
Luc Pillot       3 - 2 Andy Beadsworth

FINAL PLACINGS:
 
 1st  Morten Henricksen  DEN
 2nd  Luc Pillot         FRA
 3rd  Murray Jones       NZL
 4th  Andy Beadsworth    GBR
 5th  Tomislav Basic     FRA
 6th  Ian Williams       GBR
 7th  Francois Brenac    FRA
 8th  Markus Wieser      GER
 9th= Gavin Brady        NZL
 9th= Sebastien Col      FRA
11th  Jes Gram-Hansen    DEN
12th  John Cutler        USA

For more information, daily results and reports contact:
Sheila Jolly - Royal Lymington Cup Office
Email: sail@rlymyc.org.uk
Website: www.rlymyc.org.uk