Steinglager Line 7 Cup, Kiwi's & psuedo Kiwi's lead after second day.

by John Roberson on 14 Mar 2001 At the end of the second day, Team New Zealand skippers are dominating the
Steinlager Line 7 Cup regatta on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour.

Cameron Appleton and Bertrand Pace are at the top of the leader-board with
8 wins apiece in the round-robin competition. Teammate Dean Barker is in
third place with 7 wins.

After a long, tough day on the water, Cameron Appleton commented, 'I'm
frizzled, it's been an extremely testing day, we just had to take each race
as a step, not as a jump.'

The best of the non-Kiwis is Rod Davis, representing Italy's Prada
America's Cup Challenge, with 6 wins and 4 losses.

Also on 6 wins, but with 5 losses is Chris Dickson of the United States
Oracle America's Cup Challenge.

With the round-robin elimination series getting close to the half-way stage
the battle to grab the four semi-final places looks likely to get meaner
and tougher in the second half.

Other skippers still in with a realistic chance of making the semi-finals
include Gavin Brady, also representing Italy's Prada Challenge, who has
sailed three fewer races than his rivals, and Magnus Holmberg of the
Swedish Victory Challenge for the America's Cup.

The best of the non-America's Cup skippers is Denmark's Jesper Radich, who
is level on 5 wins with Holmberg and Brady. Radich was the giant-killer of
the day chalking up victories over Cameron Appleton, Chris Dickson and Dean
Barker.

Clinging to an outside chance is Andy Green, representing the fledgling
British Challenge for the America's Cup. Green is sailing with a new crew
made up entirely of members of Team GBR.

Event Director, Harold Bennett, said, 'It's been an interesting day's
racing. A good wind started in the North, North-East and then shifted to
the North-West, which meant the bulk of the activity occured directly in
front of Hobson Wharf. It was great viewing for the spectators.'

The Steinlager Line 7 Cup is the fourth event in year two of the Swedish
Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour. The event consists of a double round-robin
in which each skipper sails against all of the others twice. With the top
four then going to the semi-finals, followed by the finals, which will be
sailed on Saturday 17 March.

Scores after day 2:

Cameron Appleton (NZL) 8 - 3

Bertrand Pace (NZL) 8 - 3

Dean Barker (NZL) 7 - 4

Rod Davis (ITA) 6 - 4

Chris Dickson (USA) 6 - 5

Gavin Brady (ITA) 5 - 3

Magnus Holmberg (SWE) 5 - 5

Jesper Radich (DEN) 5 - 5

Andy Green (GBR) 4 - 7

Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) 3 - 7

Nicola Celon (ITA) 3 - 7

Bjorn Hansen (SWE) 1 - 8