Ainslie on top

Anne Hinton reports from an action packed penultimate day at the New Zealand National Match Racing Championship

Southwesterly winds commencing at 12 knots, but rising to 25 knots by the end of racing, greeted competitors on the third day of the New Zealand National Match Racing Championships 2004. Flights 6 to 9 of the first round robin were completed on the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland, together with the first two flights of the second round robin.

Barker had been leading the championships, with no losses, but it was Ainslie’s day today and, as both Barker and Pace are now counting two losses, he ended up as top scorer. Chris Dickson also pulled up today, to be in fourth spot overnight. The Dickson brothers had very close contests, with less than 12 seconds between them in the finishing times of both matches that they sailed against each other. It was the senior brother, Chris, who prevailed on both occasions.

Barker’s first loss of the day was in his opening match against last year’s runner-up, Cameron Dunn. Dunn had the starboard entry and initially was very careful not to let Barker to the right of him, defending that side in a number of dial-ups. The right side, on the beat, had paid in all the matches in the flight that were sailed before this one. Barker eventually managed to get to the right of Dunn, but then chose to start at the pin end of the line.

Near the top mark there were cross-tacks at close quarters. Both tacked at the same time and came together. The penalty was adjudged to Barker by the umpires. Dunn was also ahead coming out of the situation and from then on it was game over, with the win going to Dunn.

The second flight of the day commenced with an exciting match between Dunstan and Pace. Dunstan had control in the pre-start and Pace both hit the pin and was over the line. He was awarded a penalty by the umpires for this, in addition to having to return to re-start. In some confusion, the umpires took the penalty flag down as Pace turned to re-start. Dunstan then put up a red flag. However, at the end of the race, Pace, who has been notably quick around the course at all times in the Farr MRXs, was able to take the penalty and finish clear ahead of Dunstan.

Barker sailed youth sailor Adam Minoprio in this flight. The younger of the Minoprio brothers controlled Barker in the pre-start, which commenced with a dial-up held for so long that both boats travelled backwards some distance. Adam Minoprio crossed to the left ahead of Barker on the start, but the latter out-sailed his young opponent around the course to take the win.

Another possible win for Cameron Dunn turned into defeat at the hands of Chris Dickson due to problems with the spinnaker halyard on Dunn’s boat. Crew work has certainly been a major issue on Dunn’s boat, not helping his chances of winning races. He and one or two others experienced some wild broaching when the wind got up.

Ainslie easily defeated Scott Dickson in this flight, while the two ex-youth squad contemporaries, Jury and Simon Minoprio, had a good battle. Jury won the start and was in control on the first round, but was out-sailed by Simon Minoprio, who took the win at the end of the second round.

Flight eight in the first round robin saw young Adam Minoprio take a race off one of the ‘old masters’ of match racing: Chris Dickson. Adam Minoprio is certainly one of the best sailors in the start box and on this occasion he managed to hold off his opponent around the course too.

The two met again in the last match of the day and there was very nearly another win for the younger Minoprio. Although Dickson was ahead the first time at the top mark, it was Adam Minoprio on the second occasion. Both boats had issues with putting the spinnaker up on the last downwind leg. Dickson’s crew delayed the hoist; Minoprio’s went for it but had an hour glass in the kite, which seemed to get worse rather than better as time went on. When Dickson’s crew eventually put the kite up they were able to steam past Minoprio a few lengths from the line. A case of what might have been…

Flight nine of the first round robin, as with the first flight of the second round robin, saw the two Dickson brothers up against each other, with Chris taking narrow victories on both occasions after very close racing around the course. The same flights saw two Barker and Pace confrontations.

In the first race, Pace got control in the pre-start, took the right side up the beat and got a massive shift in his favour. Although Barker closed the gap, it was pretty much game over from this point.

However, Barker turned the tables in his second match with Pace, dominating the pre-start. (Along with young Adam Minoprio, and newcomer Ainslie, Pace has looked strong in most pre-starts.) Barker gained a penalty on Pace before the start as the latter was adjudged not to have responded sufficiently to a luff from Barker. Barker also started the race with Pace in his wake, over by the committee boat. Pace was determined and fast and caught up, forcing a way inside at the top mark, after James Dagg fell overboard from Barker’s boat, forcing the latter to slow down and allowing Pace to catch up. A Y-flag from Barker saw Pace penalised for barging in at the mark; his second penalty. Since this meant that Pace had to take a penalty immediately, Barker was able to get away. Although Pace caught up again on the next beat to be just behind Barker at the windward mark, a luff from Barker downwind finally settled the match in favour of the Emirates Team New Zealand skipper.

As Pace himself put it, “in the first race we win the start, we win the side that we want and we have a big lead straight away. In the second race we had a bad start. We was locked, and unfortunately touched Dean with the boat so we were penalised. But I think we are quicker, so by the end it was very fresh and we pushed hard to get an advantage, but we don’t arrive to do it, so he won the race.” Pace and Barker have match raced each other often in the MRXs in training for the last America’s Cup when they were team mates.

Concerning his new BMW Oracle Racing team crew, Pace says “The crew is good. We enjoy a lot sailing together. I have good experience on these boats so I think we are sailing quite well the boat. It is the first time that we [this particular crew] are sailing together.”

Commenting on the conditions to date, Pace said “I am happy to be here [in New Zealand]. We have seven summer days and seven winter days, but that is part of New Zealand weather! It’s quite fresh. It’s a bit too fresh for me. I think I prefer more medium or light conditions.”

Regarding Ainslie’s sailing [Ainslie beat Pace in their only confrontation to date], Pace said “he is sailing well: he has ten wins and just one loss, so I think he has learned quite quickly. I think he has a good teacher with Rod Davis and all the guys from Team New Zealand.”

Pace has just come to New Zealand for the National Championships and will be returning to France immediately afterwards. He will then take a Christmas break before repairing to Valencia. The BMW Oracle Racing team is scheduled to be in Valencia by the end of February.

At present Pace is up with Ainslie, Barker and Chris Dickson, so the two sets of Emirates Team New Zealand and BMW Oracle Racing helmsmen are currently the top four sailors, as predicted. Tomorrow, Sunday, sees the final day of racing for the 2004 New Zealand National Match Racing Championships.

Results:

1st Ben Ainslie 10-1
2nd= Dean Barker 9-2
2nd= Bertrand Pace 9-2
4th Chris Dickson 7-4
5th= Scott Dickson 5-6
5th= Simon Minoprio 5-6
7th Cameron Dunn 4-7
8th Michael Dunstan 4-7
9th Laurie Dury 1-10
10th Adam Minoprio 1-10