Into the semis

Sean McNeill reports from Match Race Portugal

One semifinal pair stands at match point while the other is tied at 1-1 as stage one of the Swedish Match Tour 2004-'05, the inaugural Portugal Match Cup, nears its conclusion.

New Zealander Russell Coutts leads Peter Holmberg of the U.S. Virgin Islands 2-0 while American Ed Baird stands tied 1-1 with Jesper Radich of Denmark.

The two winners will meet for the championship of the 150,000 Euro (£100,000) event, with the champion winning 40,000 Euro (approximately £13,000).

Coutts, the former skipper of Team Alinghi, built a two-race lead on Holmberg, Alinghi's current helmsman, through bad timing on Holmberg's part. Holmberg was penalised in the first match when his spinnaker fell on Coutts' boat during a hectic douse at the leeward mark.

The two crews were on starboard gybe, with Coutts' - Michael Arnhild, Jes Gram-Hansen, Christian Kamp and Rasmus Kostner - to windward and rolling Holmberg's - Rodney Ardern, Murray Jones, Lorenzo Mazza and Pete Van Nieuwenhuyzen.

Then the two gybed to port, and Coutts was the leeward boat. They were well outside the port layline to the leeward mark and had to drop the chutes to get to the mark. Holmberg's spinnaker fell on Coutts' port bow, inducing the penalty call from the on-water umpires.

Holmberg led by three to four boatlengths around the second windward mark and approaching the finish line. It was nearly enough to do his 270-degree penalty turn and still win the match, but he lost by about one metre.

"That was a complicated situation," Holmberg explained. "If I did my turn and came out on port gybe I'd be vulnerable to Russell lining me up for another penalty. So I had to gybe to port to come out on starboard, which took some time. I needed one more metre."

Holmberg was late for the start of the second match, crossing the line 15 to 20 seconds after the start gun.

Despite trailing by between six and eight boatlengths throughout the race, the shifty conditions gave Holmberg a chance in the end. Holmberg rode a big puff down to Coutts and crossed the line just a half length behind.

"The conditions are very shifty. It's tough and strategical," said Coutts. "They're good conditions for match racing. They challenge our thoughts of where to go on the race course."

The winds blew from the north for the fourth consecutive day, and between 12 and 18 knots. There were shifts of up to 60 degrees again, as streaks funneled offshore and down the course. Baird lost the first match to Radich in their pairing, and then won the second to square it up.

The pair was late for the start of the first race, sailing downwind to clear the start line. They wound up three lengths over the line after a series of circling and dial-ups.

Radich and crew Jann Neergaard, Chresten Plinius, Pete Poulsen and Rasmus Winston led back to the line with Baird on his transom. After clearing the line they hardened up on starboard and then tacked to port. Later up the beat Radich, on port, crossed Baird and led by three boat lengths around the first mark.

Baird and crew Andy Horton, Dean Phipps, Guy Salter and Jon Ziskind closed to within two boatlengths at the top of the second beat, but couldn't get past Radich on the run.

Radich was penalised in the second start when he hit the port side of Baird's stern scoop. Baird started on starboard and Radich, on port, attempted to duck to get to the right of him. Radich misjudged the distance, however, and hit Baird. Then he had to tack immediately to avoid hitting the committee boat. Baird maintained a three to four-boatlength lead all race to even the score.

"I'm happy to go to sleep tonight tied 1-1 and come back and fight tomorrow," Baird said.

Radich referenced history when asked about tomorrow's showdown. "Last time we raced Ed was in Lake Garda (at the end of April). I think he led 2-1, but we won 3-2," Radich said.

Coutts wound up in the semifinals due to a 3-0 victory over Staffan Lindberg (FIN) in the quarterfinals. Baird beat Philippe Presti (FRA) 3-1 in the quarters while Holmberg beat Peter Gilmour (AUS) 3-2 in an entertaining match.

Holmberg legged out a 2-0 lead only to see Gilmour even it at 2-2. He led by two boatlengths around the first windward mark in the decider. Gilmour beat Holmberg in a gybe to starboard on the run and then began rolling him to windward. Then Holmberg luffed and Gilmour was penalised.

"He didn't respond to my luff and I had to pull the helm down to avoid contact," Holmberg said.

Gilmour still grabbed the lead and led on the run to the finish. But he didn't have enough separation to perform a penalty turn and instead tried to lure Holmberg into a trap. Both crews gybed repeatedly from starboard to port and back, but Holmberg remained clear. Both boats finally wound up on starboard jibe with Holmberg inside and laying the pin end to win the race and the match.

In racing for fifth through eighth, Gilmour beat Presti for fifth and sixth, and Lindberg beat Pace for seventh and eighth.