Coutts loses out as final four decided

James Boyd reports from Bermuda on the quarterfinals of the Investors Guaranty sponsored Bermuda Gold Cup

Sitting here overlooking Bermuda's Hamilton Harbour it is easy to see what attracts the world's most talented line-up of match racers to the Bermuda Gold Cup - this year sponsored by Investors Guaranty.

Despite it's northerly location Bermuda has the same feel as a Caribbean island with its lush climate, palm trees and island life vibe while those in the financial world on this side of the Atlantic look on it as the 'Cadillac' of tax havens.

Out on the water here within eyeshot of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the past few days have seen a battle of the heavyweights take place between top America's Cup skippers such as Russell Coutts, Dean Barker, Chris Dickson, Dennis Conner, Peter Gilmour, Ed Baird and Magnus Holmberg while up against the ol' timers have been younger blades such as Danes Jesper Radich and Jes Gram-Hansen, Paolo Cian, the Camerons Appleton and Dunn and Britain's Andy Green.

Round one of the Bermuda Gold Cup on Wednesday saw the top 16 take to the water including the leading three from each group of unseeded skippers and Paula Lewin and Jenny Axhede, who came out on top in the conclusion of the women's match racing event earlier this week. The biggest surprises from Wednesday was Dennis Conner being knocked out of the series by local sailor Paula Lewin and one of the most highly rated match racers of all - Peter Holmberg - despatched by relatively unknown US sailor Bill Hardesty, 1998 Collegiate sailor of the year, 1999 Melges 24 National Champion and US Laser champion.

Today's quarter finals comprised the following line-up:
Jesper Radich (Den) v Paula Lewin (Berm)
Russell Coutts (NZ) v Peter Gilmour (Aus)
Bill Hardesty (US) v Dean Barker (NZ)
Chris Dickson (NZ) v Jes Gram-Hansen (Den)

In the best of five series defending champion and 2002-3 Swedish Match Tour winner Jesper Radich roundly defeated Paula Lewin 3-0, beating her respectively by 52, 35 and 34 seconds at the finish line. Conditions were generally light from the south but building and increasingly gusty as the day progressed.

Paula Lewin gave her reaction to her loss. "Jesper and his team did a good job dealing with us. We were happy to make the pre-start somewhat interesting for their team but in each race he managed to get a lead early and didn't present us with any opportunity to pass."

The three other matches today were much much closer.

The series between Coutts and Gilmour was eventually won by the former OneWorld skipper, with a 3-1 scoreline. The second of these races was particularly lively with Gilmour picking up a penalty on the start line. "We were just coming in on the first entry and he was the right of way boat and we thought we were going to pass and he turned right at the last minute and we had contact," Gilmour told thedailysail afterwards. "Normally it goes against the right of way boat in that instance. But we accept what happened." In the end Gilmour was able to extend just enough to be able to carry out his penalty turn on the finish line, just maintaining his lead.

Gilmour, racing in his seventh or eighth Bermuda Gold Cup (he has forgotten how many) said their victory ultimately came down to the starts. "We got off to a good one in the first race and I think that for us set the tone. We were on a roll after we got that one, because it was really unusual to shut Russell out completely." However Gilmour said that he was also highly wary - last time Gilmour raced him here Coutts bounced back from 0-2 down to win 3-2. This time round with Gilmour 2-0 up, Coutts won the third flight and at this point Gilmour said he was fully expecting to go to the full five races...

Coutts agreed that he had been off the pace in the pre-starts "You had to start well, it was such a biased course," he told thedailysail.com. "Whoever was in front won the race each time. We were in great positions in all the starts, but I just didn't finish them off - which is important. I wasn't as sharp as I normally am in that last 20-30 seconds."

Brad Butterworth has not been racing with Coutts on this occasion and Gilmour joked that it was nice not to have Butterworth "chomping at your ear the entire way round the race course."

One of the most heated series was between Team New Zealand's Dean Barker and Bill Hardesty. It is a tribute to the format of the Bermuda Gold Cup, that provides a competition for unseeded skippers prior to the main event itself that Hardesty and his crew made it through to the quarter finals. In the end the American was seen off 3-0 today by Barker, but there were some dramatic moments when, for example on the first run of their last race, Barker drove him right across the race course attempting to protect the inside.

Barker and his crew of Tony Rae and James Dagg have the welcome addition of Ben Ainslie on board for the Gold Cup, who is being trialled for a possible spot within Team New Zealand's afterguard, although not until well after Athens is done and dusted.

Barker says he has known Ainslie since his Laser sailing days. "You can't doubt that he's a very gifted talented guy. He's been incredibly successful in two singlehanded classes now and I've really enjoyed it. I've known him for some time, but never really sailed against him but I've watched with interest how he's been going. He's right on top of his game and give him another six months and he'll be very very hard to beat in the Finn."

Ainslie says that he was aware of Bill Hardesty when he used to race Lasers against him. "He was pretty good in that. He is a bit of legend at team racing and I guess a lot of those principles apply to match racing. For us, it worked really well. It was quite shifty and we got really really good starts and we were able to control him from there. There were a few close moments but we managed to hold it together."

On board for this regatta Ainslie is doing bow but is also providing tactical input for Barker. "It is a little bit hard at some of the roundings because you've got your head down but just trying to help call the shifts but it seems to be working well so far and it's been a lot of fun as well so far," said Ainslie.

Barker maintains that apart from the America's Cup (which he doesn't feel counts) he hasn't done any match racing since he beat Russell Coutts 3-0 at the Swedish Match Cup in 2002. "We are brushing the rust off as we go..."

Bill Hardesty quipped: "It was obvious Dean has done this before and we were just a little less experienced."

The most lengthy and hard fought of the series was between Jes Gram-Hansen and Oracle BMW Racing CEO Chris Dickson. During this the Dane received a red flag penalty for a deliberate foul. This series not only went to a tie break after boat skippers had each won two races but there then were a number of delays.

"We were 2-1 down and then we had a delay when the cruise ship left," recounted Dickson. "Then it got to 2-2 in the last race and then we had another move of the race course while the wind shifted and then we had a postponement and then we had a start that was abandoned and then we got to the top mark and had a race abandoned - it seemed like we sailed that last race four or five times!" Dickson added that he didn't mind this because he is sailing with his new Oracle match race team of Gavin Brady, Dirk de Ridder and Ross Halcrow and they needed all the practice they could get.

The final race between Gram-Hansen and Dickson was an example of how one should never give up in a yacht race. Dickson had picked up a penalty in the pre-start... "It was a little surprising," commented the Oracle boss. "Three quarters of the way up the first windward leg the boats were bow to bow and Jes was on the starboard side and we had a penalty to do. And less than two minutes later and we were around the top mark and in a puff and he was 100 yards behind. It was just the way the puffy shift went our way. it was tough for Jes, lucky for us."

Tomorrow, in the semi-finals, Jesper Radich lines up against Peter Gilmour while Chris Dickson meets Dean Barker.

Semifinal Match Ups – First-to-three-points
Jesper Radich, DEN/Team Radich v. Peter Gilmour, AUS/Team Pizza La
Dean Barker, Team New Zealand Omega Match Race Team v. Chris Dickson, Oracle BMW Racing

Today’s Quarterfinals Results
Flight 1
Jesper Radich, DEN/Team Radich def. Paula Lewin, BER/Team Ace Group
Peter Gilmour, AUS/Team Pizza La def. Russell Coutts, Alingi Team
Dean Barker, Team New Zealand, Omega Match Race Team def. Bill Hardesty, USA
Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Colorcraft def. Chris Dickson, Oracle BMW Racing

Flight 2
Radich def. Lewin
Gilmour def. Coutts
Barker def. Hardesty
Dickson def. Gram-Hansen

Flight 3
Radich def. Lewin
Coutts def. Gilmour
Barker def. Hardesty
Gram-Hansen def. Dickson

Flight 4
Gilmour def. Coutts
Dickson def. Gram-Hansen

Flight 5
Dickson def. Gram-Hansen