| TEAM WIBROE SHOW HOW IT IS DONE |
Mathieu Richard (on the left) looks at the win disappearing off into the distance as he is disqualified against Sten Mohr.
(Photograph: Per Heegaard)
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Staffan Lindberg (to the right) got something of a lesson from Peter Wibroe.
(Photograph: Per Heegaard)
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Peter Wibroe (Team Wibroe) in deep concentration (standing in the centre) as his crew record an excellent days racing amongst some of the very best crews in the World. Danish Open 2007
(Photograph: Per Heegaard)
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (10 August 2007) — Recently crowned European Champions, Team Wibroe, took the Danish Open by storm today. With 7 wins out of 8 matches they easily lead the event in one of the strongest fields one could imagine.
A fine example of the superb sailing today was the duel between Wibroe and Ian Williams of Team Pindar. In an exhibition of world class match racing Williams and Wibroe were at each others’ throats from the moment they entered the pre-start area. Williams engineered a penalty on to Wibroe during the pre-start duelling and they were evenly matched all the way to the top mark. William tried to drive Wibroe further off the top mark in search of another penalty, he gave up and tacked for the mark, whilst Wibroe took the opportunity to gybe round and shed the penalty before rounding the mark. A move that cost him practically no time at all. Wibroe then found a band of pressure on the far side of the course and sailed past Williams on the down-wind leg. They continued this aggressive sailing until the final down-wind leg by which time Wibroe had clearly got the better of Williams and took the win.
In another demonstration of Team Wibroe’s growing confidence was their pre-start duel with Staffan Lindberg (FIN) of Alandia Sailing Team. The decisive moment came when both boats went head to wind at the pin end of the start line. Lindberg was at the pin-end side, the gun went and they both sat waiting. Wibroe dropped the fore-sail and finally Lindberg was forced to bear away, Wibroe followed and managed to squeeze over the line leaving Lindberg to gybe round to make the start. After that there was no way back for Lindberg and Team Wibroe took another scalp.
But the results may not do justice to the fantastic quality of match racing that the traditionally very knowledgeable crowd at the Danish Open have been treated to. Sten Mohr, recently back to the Tour from America’s cup duty with BMW Oracle Racing (along with 5 other crews from the Americas Cup, which underlines Team Wibroe’s outstanding performance) gave a master class of his own. In flight 11,Mohr loaded his opponent Mathieu Richard up with two penalties which soon turned into a black flag when Richard failed to start taking one of the penalties as soon as he could. “I wanted to take my penalty earlier but from my point of view it was not possible with all the other boats around us. Otherwise I have no complaints about the penalties, they were completely correct,” says Frenchman Richard, ”The current was not bad today, in fact the conditions were perfect. We are still after a place in the semi final and with the tough competition, 4 wins out of 7 still make it very realistic possibility.”
Richard’s point is a good one, apart from Team Wibroe (and unfortunately Team Viltoft with no wins on the board) all the other teams seem to be evenly matched; tomorrows matches are really going to be worth watching as the crews fight for a semi final berth.
Racing is planned to resume at 09:15 tomorrow, instead of the scheduled 10:00, in order to make up for lost time due to the conditions encountered so far.
The racing can be followed live on the internet courtesy of the onboard tracking systems at
www.tractrac.com/danishopen
Links
Results in Detail
Photos from the Danish Open
Follow the racing live at www.tractrac.com/danishopen
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