Baird into the lead

As the Marseille International Match Racing reaches the semi-finals

After the morning mist had lifted, the weather today off Marseille was bright and sunny for the six competitors racing in the last flight of the first round robin. The wind was westerly force 2 to 3, backing to the southwest.

Racing started at around midday with the last flight of the first round robin which saw Chris Dickson, Ed Baird, Sébastien Col, Philippe Presti, Paolo Cian and Mathieu Richard qualifying to be one of the six sailors to make it through to the next round robin.
With 3 points yesterday and just one match left against Ed Baird this morning, France's Mathieu Richard was far from sure to qualify for the second stage... and yet that is exactly what he did. He was tied with Ian Williams after the first round robin, but his victory against the Englishman gave him the advantage, and a ticket through to the next stage.

As the top-ranked Frenchman and Number 4 on the World ranking list, he went on to qualify for the semi-finals by beating his compatriot Sébastien Col and the Italian Paolo Cian.

At the end of five flights, at 6pm, the names of the semi-finalists were finally known : Ed Baird, Chris Dickson, Philippe Presti and Mathieu Richard.

As long as the wind is there, we can expect some fantastic racing tomorrow!

Ranking of the Second Stage Round Robin
1 Ed Baird
2 Chris Dickson
3 Philippe Presti
4 Mathieu Richard
5 Paolo Cian
6 Sébastien Col

More photos on page 2...