Dickson v Gilmour

Old adversaries to square up tomorrow in final of Bermuda Gold Cup

Experience made the difference in semifinal racing today at the Investors Guaranty Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup, the second event on Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004.

Oracle BMW Racing’s Chris Dickson and Australia’s Peter Gilmour of Team Pizza-La, two America’s Cup and international match racing veterans, defeated their more youthful opponents, Team New Zealand’s Dean Barker of the Omega Match Racing Team and Denmark’s Jesper Radich, respectively, to advance to tomorrow’s final.

Sunday’s championship battle features two skippers each with two regatta titles to their credit, Dickson winning honours in 1987 and 1989 and Gilmour hoisting aloft the prestigious King Edward VII Gold Cup in 1995 and 1997.

“It’s scary to think we’ve been doing this for 16 years and we’re still at it,” laughed Dickson. “It just goes to show that there are still days when the old bulls come through and with age comes wisdom, even if we’re a bit slower. I think we can look forward to a sedate final with a high level of finesse tomorrow.”

“This is clearly a unique venue and format and all of us sailors dearly love to come here,” said Gilmour. “Chris’ Oracle team beat our OneWorld team (in last year’s America’s Cup challenger series), I’m still licking my wounds from that, so we’re looking forward to having some fun tomorrow.”

Dickson won his first two semi-final races comfortably, as Barker went over the line early in the second, digging himself a hole from which he couldn’t escape.

Dickson was then over the start line early himself in the third match allowing the newly appointed Omega Match Racing Team helmsman to grab a point and momentarily get back into the match.

In the fourth and decisive race Dickson found himself on the short end of a great start by Barker, but was able to close the gap approaching the windward mark by finding better pressure up the leg. When Barker failed to respond to two quick Dickson tacks, the veteran slid between Barker and the mark to round first. A poor spinnaker set by Barker’s crew then allowed Dickson to get some separation and create a lead he would protect for the final three legs of the match.

“It was sort of like being up against the ropes and responding with a 1-2 punch and getting a knock-out,” explained Dickson about the turn of events in his final race with Barker. “We had a reasonable lead, but things went a little pear-shaped and we tried to do too much and then we were following them around (the mark). Today was just one of those days where we never seemed to get it going.”

Gilmour and his Pizza La Sailing Team, running hot this week, dispatched the defending regatta champion and reigning Swedish Match Tour champion, Jesper Radich 3-0. Radich was his own worst enemy at times on Hamilton Harbour today, copping a penalty that he clearly, and vocally, didn’t agree with in the pre-start of the first match.

"He thought he was unoverlapped and he just didn't keep clear," said Gilmour of the incident. This was followed by Radich crossing the start line prematurely in the second match.

In the third Gilmour used an excellent pre-start to shut Radich out, forcing him towards the stern of the committee boat as time wound down, giving the Australian skipper a two boat length lead off the line, a margin that Radich couldn’t overcome.

"It was good," said Gilmour. "The guys were really going nicely and I think Jesper found our style fairly challenging and even a little bit intimidating. You could see he was trying things that I wouldn't have said he would normally do and that gave us the the chance to jump him at the right moment."

He added: “Match racing is very much a game of momentum and when you get it going one way or another it can make a big difference.”

“Big congratulations to Peter and his crew, they were better than us,” said Radich. “I did some stupid errors myself, two unforced errors. When you’re racing a guy like Peter you have to be up there.”

In sail-offs for places five through eight, Team Alinghi’s Russell Coutts topped the scorecard, with American Bill Hardesty finishing sixth, Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen of Team Colorcraft grabbing seventh and Bermuda’s Paula Lewin of Team Ace Group winding up eighth.

The final day of the Investor’s Guaranty Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup tomorrow will feature the petit finals beginning at 10am to be followed by the finals in the afternoon.

Finals Match Pairing – First-to-three-points - Semifinal Results

Flight 1
Gilmour def. Radich
Dickson def. Barker

Flight 2
Gilmour def. Radich
Dickson def. Barker

Flight 3
Gilmour def. Radich
Barker def. Dickson

Flight 4
Dickson def. Barker

More photos on page 2

To listen to Jesper Radich's take on his performance today click here