Nippon Cup fires up

Two practise sessions and Pro-Am race herard the opening of the Swedish Match Tour's Japanese regatta

A mostly quiet day consisting of two practice sessions and a Pro-Am Race belied the action that's about to take place at the Pizza-La Red Lobster Nippon Cup, stage four of the 2004-'05 Swedish Match Tour. The 15th anniversary edition is scheduled to begin tomorrow with round robin racing.

The Nippon Cup is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive regattas on the Swedish Match Tour. With Japan's unique culture and rituals, the Nippon Cup adds life and color that makes it a one-of-a-kind event as does its location.

Flights are hardly a skip across the pond. Most teams spent an average of 10 to 12 hours travelling to Hayama. In a poll conducted among competitors, Geoff Meek's Team Shosholoza crew from South Africa won the award for longest travel. Team Shosholoza needed 18 hours and two stopovers to reach Japan.

The 12 crews taking part in the Nippon Cup are led by skippers Ed Baird (USA), Dean Barker (NZL), Gavin Brady (NZL), Yasutaka Funazawa (JPN), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), Sven-Erik Horsch (GER), Michele Ivaldi (ITA), Meek (RSA), Takami Nakamura (JPN), Philippe Presti (FRA) and Kazuto Seki (JPN).

Early matches tomorrow feature Baird, the world's No. 1-ranked match-racer, against Brady, the helmsman of the BMW Oracle Racing team for the 32nd America's Cup, Barker, the skipper of Team New Zealand, against Gram-Hansen, a fiery Dane who is fifth in the Swedish Match Tour standings, and Baird against Barker.

A north/northeasterly breeze (between 030 and 050 degrees) blew around 12 knots for the morning session but dropped away to 6 to 8 knots for the afternoon session, and competitors found the wind very shifty. That coupled with an unfamiliar boat, the Yamaha 30S, for many of the crews made practice interesting.

"The last boat I sailed was a J/22, which turns in its own radius," said Michele Ivaldi, of Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge. "This is a different boat, with a big turning radius. It'll be tricky to sail fast. They feel heavy and don't have a big jib, so you'll have to make big adjustments in the puffy conditions like today."

Geoff Meek, the helmsman of South Africa's America's Cup challenger Team Shosholoza, likened the venue to Cascais, Portugal, which hosted the first event of the current 2004-'05 Swedish Match Tour season. "The area is a bit like Portugal, where it's very shifty," he said. "The shifts were mostly oscillations, so you could play them. But there was one 20-degree shift that skewed everything so you could lay the marks."

A prize purse of 6 million Yen (approximately $56,000) is at stake, with 1.5 million Yen (approximately $11,000) slated for the winner. The Nippon Cup also affords competitors their last chance of 2004 to gain points toward the Swedish Match Tour championship.

At present Russell Coutts (NZL) leads the championship race with the high score of 45 points. Baird holds second, 5 points behind, and Gilmour third, 10 points behind. Gram-Hansen is fifth with 25 points, 20 points behind Coutts. The champion of the Swedish Match Tour will win a $60,000 bonus and a BMW 545i Touring from Tour Partner BMW.

Swedish Match Tour sponsors include Swedish Match (Official Sponsor), BMW (Partner and Official Car), Colorcraft, Wedgwood, Musto, Trident Studio and Travel Places (Official Sponsors).