Swedish Match Cup at Marstrand - Day 5

SEMIFINALS UNDERWAY AT SWEDISH MATCH CUP

A record crowd turns out on a glorious day and is treated to outstanding match-racing

Peter Gilmour (AUS) and the Pizza-La Sailing Team repeating as champions of the Swedish Match Tour may have been the biggest story on Day 5 of the Swedish Match Cup, but it was far from the only action on the Western Approach to Marstrand Harbor.

The Quarterfinal Round was completed with each match going a full three races before the winner was determined. Late this afternoon the Semifinal Round commenced with crews led by skippers Dean Barker (NZL), Emirates Team New Zealand, and Peter Holmberg (ISV), Alinghi, opening leads of 1-0.

A glorious summer day in Sweden brought out a record number of people to watch the action. They lined the rocky shoreline of the approach, alternately swimming, sunbathing and watching outstanding match-racing. In doing so they broke last year’s single day attendance record.

“Our previous record is 35,000 people,” said event director Peter Klok. “I spoke with the police who said that they’ve never seen so many people on the island before. They’re estimating the crowd between 35,000 and 40,000 people.”

In the quarterfinals Gilmour beat Ed Baird (USA), of Alinghi, 2-1 to win the Tour championship (see Gilmour, Pizza-La Team Win Money Match). But in a peculiar twist each quarterfinal match went the full three races before the winner was determined. Typically at least one match is a walkover.

The winners were Barker, Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Victory Challenge, and Peter Holmberg. They defeated Bertrand Pacé (FRA), BMW Oracle Racing, Russell Coutts (NZL), Coutts Racing, and Kelvin Harrap (NZL), Emirates Team New Zealand, respectively.

Peter Holmberg had a tough go advancing. He won the first flight after completing a 270-degree penalty turn at the top of the second beat, and the third after doing one on the finish line.

Sweden’s match-racing hero Magnus Holmberg received a rousing applause from the huge crowd lasting almost 30 seconds as he led Coutts to the finish line of their third match. He also exacted a measure of revenge on the event’s defending champion. Coutts ousted Holmberg in last year’s Semifinal Round.

“That felt really good,” said Victory Challenge headsail trimmer Lars Linger. “We were better.”

The key moment in the third race came about two-thirds of the way up the first windward leg. Coutts had been using leebow tacks to push Magnus Holmberg to the right side of the course. But after the last one Holmberg moved into the lead.

“We got a humongous righty,” said Linger. “If he tacked he couldn’t get to us, so he set himself up to attack downwind. We had good starts from Magnus.”

Their luck turned against them in the first semifinal match against Peter Holmberg. The Swedes were protecting the right side of the first beat when Peter Holmberg’s crew found stronger breeze to the left. The Alinghi crew rounded the windward mark just ahead, and held on for the win.

“We had the option of which side to protect, but our choice didn’t pay,” said Linger. “He snuck by us about 70 percent of the way up the beat. But we feel confident we can give him a good match and beat him.”

Barker, the Team New Zealand helmsman, has also been starting well. The winner of the Group B round robin with a perfect 7-0 record stumbled in his first quarterfinal race, losing to Pacé when the Frenchman went hard left on the first leg.

“That’s the hard thing about going so well in the round robin,” said Terry Hutchinson, Barker’s tactician, of the day layoff after winning the group. “One loss can set you back.”

For the Team New Zealand crew, it was a temporary setback. They easily won the next two races, although Hutchinson said it was harder than it looked.

“Today was harder than the round robin,” said Hutchinson. “You couldn’t always see the breeze on the water, and there were hints of left in it.”

The Kiwi crew won their first semifinal match against Gilmour when the repeat Swedish Match Tour champion earned two penalties after coming from behind on the first lap to get the lead. Barker led at the windward mark, but Gilmour rode a puff to leeward and passed on the run and led around the leeward mark.

Gilmour earned his first penalty at the top of the second beat when he was penalized for tacking too close. The second penalty came on the run to the finish as he tried to get a penalty on Barker to erase his own.

“We broke the overlap clear ahead and then he luffed us again,” said Hutchinson. “He didn’t have any luffing rights.”

The first to 3 points semifinals resume tomorrow morning with the final of the 12th annual Swedish Match Cup slated for the afternoon.

Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, BMW and the Match Race Association. Swedish Match Tour Official Sponsors include Musto, Sebago, Travel Places, Trident Studio and Wedgwood.

For more information on the Swedish Match Tour, its competitors and events, please visit the official Tour Web site, www.swedishmatchtour.com. Swedish Match Tour television programs may be viewed by clicking on the Tour television button on the home page of the Web site.

Swedish Match Cup Semifinal Round: (first to 3 points wins)

Peter Holmberg (ISV) 1, Magnus Holmberg (SWE) 0
Dean Barker (NZL) 1, Peter Gilmour (AUS) 0

Swedish Match Cup Quarterfinal Results: (first to 2 points wins)

Peter Holmberg (ISV) d. Kelvin Harrap (NZL), 2-1
Magnus Holmberg (SWE) d. Russell Coutts (NZL), 2-1
Dean Barker (NZL) d. Bertrand Pacé (FRA), 2-1
Peter Gilmour (AUS) d. Ed Baird (USA), 2-1