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| SWEDISH MATCH TOUR PORTUGAL ROLLS ON |
| Wednesday, 28 July 2004 |
Staffan Lindberg leads Chris Law during the run of their repechage round match off Cascais, Portugal. (Guido Cantini/Sea&See)
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Russell Coutts looks to windward to spot the breeze while easing the mainsheet and turning downwind around the windward mark. (Guido Cantini/Sea&See)
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Bertrand Pace`s spinnaker gets tangled around the headstay during a frantic douse while performing a 270-degree penalty turn. (Guido Cantini/Sea&See)
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A flock of seagulls takes aim for Michael Dunstan at the Swedish Match Tour stage in Cascais, Portugal. (Guido Cantini/Sea&See)
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CASCAIS, Portugal (July 28, 2004) — With northerly winds blowing up to 20 knots, the quarterfinalists are nearly set at Stage 1 of the Swedish Match Tour 2004-’05.
Group B completed its five flight round robin this morning, with crews led by skippers Russell Coutts (NZL), Bertrand Pacé (FRA) and Peter Holmberg (USVI) advancing to the quarters by placing 1-2-3.
Coutts won the group with a 5-0 mark, followed by Pacé at 4-1 and Holmberg at 3-2.
They joined Ed Baird (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS) and Jesper Radich (DEN) in the quarterfinals of the inaugural Portugal Match Cup. The Group A skippers advanced after yesterday’s racing.
All that’s left to decide is the two remaining quarterfinalists, which will be determined from the five flight repechage round that was suspended this evening after two and two-thirds flights.
“It was a fantastic day of sailing,” said Chris Law of Great Britain. “We got eight races in today. You couldn’t ask for better sailing.”
Law is in a dog fight with Staffan Lindberg (FIN) and Philippe Presti (FRA) for the final two quarterfinal spots. At the end of today, Lindberg held the inside track with a 2-0 record, including wins over Law and Presti.
Law and Presti were both 2-1, and are scheduled to sail each other in the final match of the final flight.
Despite his exuberance, Law had a tough day. First, headsail trimmer Oscar Angervall took ill this morning with a case of food poisoning or heat stroke, according to Law. Temperatures have been in the mid-90s, but with low humidity.
Law picked up Holmberg’s headsail trimmer Lorenzo Mazza of Team Alinghi to fill in for his stricken crewman.
In his match against Lindberg in the repechage round, Law was penalized twice. He still had a chance to win at the finish, but his spinnaker touched the committee boat, negating any chance of pulling out a close one.
Still, Law praised the new Swedish Match 40s that are in use at this first stage of the sixth Swedish Match Tour season. “They’re fantastic boats. The teething problems they’re having are mostly gear related. They’re a great concept.”
The narrow 40-footers designed by Pelle Petterson of Sweden were on fire in today’s stronger winds. Upwind, they leaned over on their ear, dug in and powered up. Downwind, the steamed along at a good clip.
“I like the boats a lot. They’re a good match-racing boat,” said Coutts, who has a strong knowledge of yacht design. “They’ve got a nice open layout and handle like a bigger boat. I think they’re pretty nice. They’re physical boats. They’re quite hard to tack well. Anything that adds skill to it is good.”
Coutts, who was fired from Team Alinghi this week in what he believes is his first firing in his professional life, found satisfaction in winning the Group B round robin with a 5-0 record.
“It’s nice to be permitted to race in this regatta,” cracked Coutts, the three-time winner of the America’s Cup. “We had a reasonable day, good in terms of the results. We made fewer mistakes than the opposition, and that’s what it was all about. They were very shifty conditions.”
Coutts and his Danish crewmen (Michael Arnhild, Jes Gram-Hansen, Christian Kamp and Rasmus Kostner) finished with a perfect record after defeating BMW Oracle Racing back-up helmsman Bertrand Pacé (FRA) and his French crew (Benoit Briand, Thierry Fouchier, Fabrice Levet, Romain Troublé) in the final flight of the morning.
In a tight match at the windward mark, Pacé got a double penalty when he went past head-to-wind in a luffing incident and then hit the windward mark while trying to squeeze around.
“We had the right to luff, but not to tack,” said Pacé’s tactician Levet. “Then we had to do one of the penalties after hitting the mark.”
The repechage round is scheduled to be completed tomorrow.
For more information on the Swedish Match Tour including flight results, skippers biographies and event summaries, please visit www.SwedishMatchTour.com.
# # #
RELATED COVERAGE
PMC Standings, Results, Flight Schedule and Crew List
Photo Gallery
Portugal Match Cup summary
Sixth Swedish Match Tour Underway (July 27, 2004)
Sixth Tour Season Champing at the Bit (July 27, 2004)
Swedish Match 40 Christened (July 24, 2004)
Sixth Swedish Match Tour Season Finalized (July 20, 2004)
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Sean McNeill
Swedish Match Tour Director of Public Relations
Phone: +1 401/846-8812
Mobile: +1 401/662-1501
E-mail: smcneill@f10marketing.com
Joakim Hermansson
Swedish Match Tour Director of Public Relations, Nordic countries
Mobile: +46/70/604 25 04
E-mail: Joakim.hermansson@home.se
PORTUGAL MATCH CUP STANDINGS
GROUP B (after 5/5 flights)
1. Russell Coutts (NZL), 5-0
Crew Michael Arnhild, Jes Gram-Hansen, Christian Kamp, Rasmus Kostner
2. Bertrand Pacé (FRA) BMW Oracle Racing, 4-1
Crew Benoit Briand, Thierry Fouchier, Fabrice Levet, Romain Troublé
3. Peter Holmberg (USVI) Team Alinghi, 3-2
Crew Rodney Ardern, Murray Jones, Lorenzo Mazza, Piete Van Nieuwenhuyzen
4. Chris Law (GBR) The Outlaws, 1-4
Crew Oscar Angervall, Daniel Bjorndal, Anders Dahlsjo, Henrik Walderyd
5. Staffan Lindberg (FIN), 1-4
Crew Johan Karlsson, Martin Krite, Daniel Mattsson, Daniel Wallberg
6. Francisco Neto (POR) Team Henri Lloyd, 1-4
Crew Tiago Marcelino, Joaquim Moreira, Bruno Santos, Miguel Veludo
REPECHAGE ROUND (after 2.2/5 flights)
1. Lindberg, 2-0
2. Law, 2-1
= Philippe Presti (FRA) le Défi Français, 2-1
Crew Jean-Marie Dauris, Fred Guilmin, Maurier Husson, Christian Scherrer
4. Michael Dunstan (AUS) OzBoyz Challenge, 1-2
Crew Jeremy Elliot, Wade Morgan, Ben Morrison-Jack, Nick Partridge
5. Geoff Meek (RSA) Shosholoza Challenge, 1-2
Crew Ian Ainslie, Marc Lagesse, David Rae, Mark Sadler
6. Neto, 0-2
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Newsletter - September 2008
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