FIVE FLIGHT THRILLER
TROIA, Portugal (28 July 2007) — Semi-finals day at the Troia Portugal Match Cup pitted a fascinating mix of old and new talent against each other, with Peter Gilmour (AUS) facing up against Areva Challenge’s Sebastien Col (FRA), and BMW Oracle’s Gavin Brady (NZL) against team Pindar’s Ian Williams (GBR).

With a shifty 8 knot wind in the bay off Troia, the first semi-final pairings saw Gilmour and Brady both take wins before the PRO had to halt racing and change the course due to a huge wind-shift, delaying the start of Match two for almost an hour.

Once battle recommenced, the ‘underdogs’ fought back, with Col winning the next ferocious two matches, littered with penalties and with Gilmour venting his frustration at both his opponent and the umpires. Likewise Williams favoured the now stronger wind and came back with some brilliant pre-start manoeuvres pushing Brady hard towards the port end of the starting line in match 3 resulting in Brady being half a second early, so Williams went into match Four with a 2-1 lead, having inflicted the first and second defeats over Brady in the regatta, and was looking extremely strong.

This time however, Brady’s guile trapped Williams with a brilliant counter move to Williams dial down on the first beat resulting in the first penalty to Williams, followed shortly afterwards by a second penalty down the run in a luffing match that saw Williams penalized for being a little over zealous. With Williams having to make an immediate turn and having a penalty outstanding the match was handed to Brady, who has quickly gotten ‘back in the saddle’ after calling the shots aboard BMW Oracle racing at the America’s Cup.

Gilmour was looking dead and buried half way down the first run of match 4 in this best of five pairing against Col, but used his downwind speed with great effect, catching Col approaching the leeward mark, forcing an error which resulted in a penalty for the Frenchman, Gilmour shadowed him through the remaining two legs to finish ahead.

Two each in both matches, and into the deciding sail off late in the evening with the setting sun. Williams sailed cautiously in the pre-start at first, but some careful manoeuvring and a little bit of tide saw Brady to hit the mark and score a penalty. It was tight all the way to the first mark but then the match was decided approaching the leeward mark when Brady tried to cross Williams Bow port and fouled again, leaving Williams a free run all the way to the finish.

Ian said afterwards, ‘I was feeling pretty confident today, we led off every start line and that I think was key for us against Gavin’.

Gilmour’s experience paid handsome dividends in their match, as Col was sucked into trying to gybe in front of Gilmour in the pre-start, and was caught in a Port/starboard situation with a collision that shook the crews on both boats. From there Gilmour led all the way around the course and despite frantic efforts from the Frenchman, he couldn’t claw his way back.

Gilmour said, ‘It was a great series we had against Sebastien, they sailed very solidly, and we made mistakes which gave them openings, typically we don’t make the same mistakes twice, but I think our crew work was a little bit sharper, especially downwind, we seemed to be able to come in from behind fast, and in the fourth race we got down, got an overlap coming into the leeward mark and went on to win that which evened it up at 2-2, if they had led round that bottom mark, I think they would have gone on and won, and I think our win was due to the crew work on board our boat’.

So that sets up a Gilmour v Williams final, a pair that have enjoyed some titanic battles in the past 18-months and an air of anticipation has settled over the regatta site looking forward to tomorrow.

Gilmour commented, ‘I think on a head to head record we are probably a little bit ahead than he is, but clearly they’re coming on strong and we’re not going to take them lightly tomorrow, Ian is sailing these boats as fast as anybody, and it’s going to come down to a lot of the subtleties, the starting, the tactical placement, the choice of gate marks and there’s a lot more in it than just sailing fast, and so when all those aspects are added together, at the end of the day, that’s who’s going to take the final out tomorrow’.

This is a crucial match for Williams, apart from the prize money at stake for winning, a victory here will see him back in contention for the top of the World Match Racing Tour rankings. He said, ‘We’re growing into the boats, in the past we’ve really struggled in events with the SM40’s, and we feel pretty confident going into the final. We’ve sailed against Peter a lot, particularly in the last year and a half, we’ve sailed four or five times against him in quarters, semis or finals, we’re beginning to work him out, but he’s also probably working us out, so it’s going to be quite a battle’.

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