Hardest day of match racing

Sean McNeill reports on day one of the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Bermuda

The first day of the Championship Round at the King Edward VII Gold Cup, the third stage of the Swedish Match Tour 2004-’05, is one of the hardest days of match racing at any regatta in the world.

Eight seeded skippers, who begin racing with minimal practice, are paired against eight qualifiers, who have had up to three days of practice in the tricky International One-Design sloops. The lack of practice for the seeds, among the best sailors in the world, sets the stage for upsets, and today was no exception.

Klaartje Zuiderbaan of the Netherlands, winner of the Cicada International Women’s Match Racing Championship last weekend, pulled off an inconceivable upset with a 3-1 defeat American Dennis Conner, the No. 8 seed and the four-time America’s Cup winner.

Anthony Kotoun of the U.S. Virgin Islands, who advanced to the championship round with a 5-2 record, narrowly pulled off an equally stunning upset against reigning Swedish Match Tour champion and event defending champion Peter Gilmour of Australia. Kotoun stretched to a 2-0 lead before succumbing to Gilmour, the No. 3 seed, 3-2.

Another qualifier, Scott Dickson, defeated Björn Hansen of Sweden. Dickson lost the first match, but then rallied for three straight to knock out No. 6 seed Hansen.

Today’s tricky wind conditions were the key factor in giving the qualifiers a chance for victory, if not the upset. The breeze blew generally from the southwest, but oscillated through a huge arc. When asked if it was a 50-degree range, Charlie McKee, tactician for James Spithill, said, “At least!” The wind was also light, in the 4- to 7-knot range.

Zuiderbaan said that her victory over Conner was easily the biggest win of the 32-year-old’s career. “We were tenser today than over the weekend, but we knew what we had to do. We were still nervous. I think we won most of the starts.”

The one race Zuiderbaan didn’t win was the second, when they were penalized for a port-starboard incident in the pre-start. But Conner still gave props to the women’s team. “The conditions were difficult today, but all in all we got beat fair and square,” said the 62-year-old San Diegan, who is the world No. 1-ranked skipper in the Etchells class.

Kotoun, who leaned on fellow St Thomas resident Peter Holmberg for some advice about racing on Hamilton Harbor, sailed loose and free to take a 2-0 lead against Peter Gilmour.



“We won every start with an advantage, but he was sailing so well and so loose,” said Gilmour. “He passed us on the right side in the first race and on the left side in the second race. It got to the point where I said to the guys, ‘Let’s win just one race.’”

Kotoun, though, lost his composure a bit in the Race 4 pre-start. Leading 2-1, Kotoun tried turning up his aggression in the 4-minute sequence, but it backfired. Kotoun was penalized for altering course as the right-of-way boat in a port-starboard situation. Moments later, the umpires missed a call that likely would’ve gone against Gilmour when his bow hit Kotoun’s transom.

“We were in a knife fight with the best guy in the world,” said Kotoun, who turned 29 years old on 17 October. “But we came out bruised and cut.”

“I think he lost his composure in that pre-start,” said Gilmour. “He doesn’t have the experience to get back the poise to sail loose, and that was the difference.”

Dickson, who won his qualifying group with a 6-1 record, also noted the light and shifty conditions as being problematic. “It was incredibly tough for all the teams, it put a premium on the starts,” he said.

Up 2-1 and in the fourth pre-start, Hansen got the better of the start. He led back at the committee boat end, with Dickson about 7 seconds behind. Dickson worked the right side of the beat to close up to Hansen’s transom at the windward mark, and then found his passing lane. “He gybed to starboard and basically into a hole,” said Dickson’s tactician Dave Ridley. “When he jibed we gained one and a half boat lengths immediately. We knew we were in a better puff.”

While the other five matches sailed today were each decided by a 3-0 score, they were hardly one-sided. There were 10 individual recalls, numerous lead swaps and at least eight come-from-behind wins.

Skippers advancing with 3-0 records include No. 1 seed Ed Baird over Chris Larson, No. 2 seed Mathieu Richard over Cameron Dunn, No. 4 seed Spithill over Cameron Appleton, No. 5 seed Staffan Lindberg over college student Brian Angel, and No. 7 seed Russell Coutts over Jenny Axhede of Sweden, runner-up in the women’s regatta.

Racing in the Championship Round resumes on Friday with quarterfinal action. Baird races Zuiderbaan, Lindberg faces Spithill, Gilmour squaring off against Dickson and Coutts sailing Richard.

Round 1 Results (Wednesday, Oct. 20)
No. 1
Ed Baird (USA) Team XL Capital d. Chris Larson (USA) Team Annapolis YC, 3-0
Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED) d. No. 8 Dennis Conner (USA) Team Dennis Conner, 3-1
No. 5 Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Team Henri Lloyd d. Brian Angel (USA) King Harbor Match Race Team, 3-0
No. 4 James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge d. Cameron Appleton (NZL) Triangle Rigging, 3-0
No. 3 Peter Gilmour (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team d. Anthony Kotoun (USA), 3-2
Scott Dickson (NZL) Dickson Racing Team d. No. 6 Björn Hansen (SWE), 3-1
No. 7 Russell Coutts (NZL) Team Colorcraft d. Jenny Axhede (SWE) Team Panorama, 3-0
No. 2 Mathieu Richard (FRA) d. Cameron Dunn (NZL), 3-0