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| RECAPPING A THRILLING START |
| Thursday, 21 October 2004 |
Anatomy of a collision, Part 1: James Spithill is on starboard, but no one on Russell Coutts` port-tack boat seems to notice during the pro-am at the King Edward VII Gold Cup. (Bob Grieser/Outside Images)
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James Spithill heads up to try and avoid serious damage during a port-starboard collision with Russell Coutts during the pro-am regatta at the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Bermuda. (Bob Grieser/Outside Images)
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Russell Coutts, Nick Faldo, Douglas King and Sir John Vereker are relieved that no one was injured in a port-starboard collision at the pro-am regatta during the King Edward VII Gold Cup. The starboard shroud was lost, but the mast saved. (Bob Grieser/Outside Images)
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Brian Angel of Redondo Beach, Calif., rounds the windward mark inside Staffan Lindberg of Finland, only to lose the match on the run to the finish. (Bob Grieser/Outside Images)
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HAMILTON, Bermuda (Oct. 21, 2004) — Thursday is the traditional pro-am day at the King Edward VII Gold Cup. So while there’s a lack of racing in the Championship Round, we take a look back at Day 1.
“We had shifts up to 30 degrees,” Ed Baird, the co-leader of the Swedish Match Tour and the No. 1 seed in Bermuda, said of Day 1. “We’d be aiming for puffs on the sides of the course that we thought we saw, and then weren’t there. It makes the first day so much more anxiety filled.”
Despite light winds, mostly in the 4- to 7-knot range, there was abundant excitement on the first day. The format of the event, where eight qualifying teams advance to meet eight seeded teams, is the recipe for upsets.
“Especially when (Monday) is compressed and the conditions are tricky,” said reigning Swedish Match Tour and event defending champion Peter Gilmour, the Australian skipper if the Pizza-La Sailing Team.
Gilmour, wide-eyed from narrowly avoiding defeat to 29-year-old qualifier Anthony Kotoun, referred to the lack of practice time the seeds got on Monday afternoon. Their time was cut short due to a longer-than-expected final in the Cicada Women’s International Match Racing Championship.
“You don’t get quality time on the helm, and the short courses don’t help either,” Gilmour said. Yesterday’s windward/leeward course was sailed twice around and lasted 15 to 20 minutes, leaving no time for comebacks.
Brian Angel, of Redondo Beach, Calif., was a refreshing entry in the qualifying round. A student at California State University, Dominguez Hills, his crewmembers – Geoff Byrne, David Hochart and Payson Infelise – also are college students. All took time out of school to compete in Bermuda, and leaned on family and friends for assistance to travel from California.
They advanced to the championship round by winning their qualifying group with a 5-2 mark. Although they lost to Staffan Lindberg of Finland 3-0, Angel’s appetite has been sufficiently whetted.
“Although we lost 3-0, we feel we did well this week,” said Angel, 23. “This is where I want to be. This is what I want to do.”
Angel led Lindberg at the windward mark in two races, but got rolled both times. In one instance they approached the windward mark inside on the starboard layline with Lindberg to leeward, but blew the tack to the mark.
Another time they had a penalty to do, but failed to pull off a clean maneuver due to another match that was in the area.
“Those were lessons learned,” Angel said. “The first time I got a bit antsy and tacked the boat too quick. He carried a bit more momentum through the tack and rolled over us. The second time I wanted to do our penalty turn and come out on the port layline, but there was another match that I didn’t want to interfere with.”
Klaartje Zuiderbaan is on a roll. The Dutch woman who won the women’s regatta by defeating Sweden’s Jenny Axhede followed it up with an upset of Dennis Conner, the four-time winner of the America’s Cup.
After advancing to the semifinals of the women’s event with a xx-x record, Zuiderbaan followed it up with 3-0 sweeps of local ace Paula Lewin in the semis and Axhede in the final. After yesterday’s victory she has won nine of her last 10 races.
Zuiderbaan’s crew includes Carrie Howe, Nanda Nengerman, Jetske Roodvoets, Tryntje Zuiderbaan. Howe, the President of the women’s match-racing association, crewed for Sally Barkow last June when she won the women’s match-racing world championship. Their coach was Baird. Now, the student will square off against the world No. 1.
“I hope I didn’t teach them too much,” Baird said.
The master better watch out given Zuiderbaan’s stellar run.
Racing in the Championship Round resumes on Friday, and the winds are forecast to be southwest 15 to 25 knots. A front is expected to pass over Bermuda on Friday night that would veer the winds to northwest for the weekend.
The quarterfinal matches feature Baird racing Zuiderbaan, Lindberg facing James Spithill, Gilmour squaring off against Scott Dickson and Russell Coutts racing Mathieu Richard.
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RELATED INFORMATION
Event Summary
Results, Pairings and Crew List
Photo Gallery
Swedish Match Tour 2004-’05 Standings
Newsletter No. 11- A Bermuda Ball
Tour Skippers Top Seeds in Bermuda (Oct. 11, 2004)
Championship Round Set to Begin in Bermuda (Oct. 19, 2004)
Action Aplenty for Swedish Match Tour (Oct. 20, 2004)
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Sean McNeill
Swedish Match Tour
Director of Public Relations
Mobile: +1 401 662 1501
E-mail: smcneill@f10marketing.com
ABOUT THE SWEDISH MATCH TOUR
• The Swedish Match Tour is the leading professional sailing series in the world.
• The Tour offers more than $1 million in overall prize money, with $200,000 divided among the top eight teams in the overall Tour Championship points race.
• The winner of the Tour Championship wins a $60,000 bonus, a BMW 545i Touring and the official Swedish Match Tour Championship Trophy, produced by Wedgwood.
• Swedish Match Tour events take place in venues with virtual on-the-water stadiums, which allow general public spectators to follow the races shoreside.
• Swedish Match Tour television programs reach a potential of 436 million households in 190 countries around the world.
• Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, BMW and the Match Race Association. Swedish Match Tour Official Sponsors include Colorcraft, Wedgwood, Musto and Trident Studios.
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Newsletter - November 2008
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