Semi-finallists decided

Peter Gilmour continues to lead the charge at Match Race Germany

Peter Gilmour (AUS), of Pizza-La Sailing Team, won the Quarterfinal Round of the Swedish Match Tour's Match Race Germany, with a 6-1 record and will meet Bertrand Pacé (FRA) of BMW Oracle Racing, in one semifinal match. This is a rematch of last year’s Match Race Germany championship, which Gilmour won 3-2.

Meanwhile Swedish Match Tour leader Ed Baird (USA), of Team Alinghi, will square off against Jesper Bank (DEN), of United Internet Team Germany, in the other semifinal match. Bank and Baird each finished the quarterfinals with a 5-2 record, but Bank defeated Baird in Flight 9 to win the tiebreaker.

Pacé just barely advanced to the semis. He finished the quarterfinals in a three-way tie that had more permutations than the weather on Lake Constance.

Pacé tied with Ben Ainslie (GBR), of Emirates Team New Zealand, and Sten Mohr (DEN), each at 3-4. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition, but that didn’t resolve it because they beat each other at least once.

The next tiebreaker pits each skipper against the winner of the round. Gilmour beat all three, so that didn’t solve it. The next tiebreaker pits each skipper against the runner-up of the round. Bank beat all three, so that didn’t solve it.

In the end, it was Pacé’s victory over Baird in today’s Flight 7 that put him in the semifinals. “When I docked at the end of the day I thought I’d change my plane ticket to leave tomorrow morning,” the Frenchman said.

Skippers eliminated from advancing include Ainslie, Mohr, Ian Williams (GBR) and Staffan Lindberg (FIN). Ainslie won the head-to-head tiebreaker with Mohr for fifth and sixth. Williams placed seventh with a 2-5 record, while Lindberg finished eighth with a 1-6 mark.

Today’s racing again was beset by fluky winds. Racing was interspersed with several long postponements as the wind came and went. When it blew, it was mostly from the northwest, and the strength ranged from 0 to 10 knots.

Gilmour is in the enviable position of being atop the leaderboard. If the regatta has to be decided on a countback due to problems completing the next two rounds he can win his second straight Match Race Germany. “That was in the back of our mind,” Gilmour said. “We tried hard to win the round robin. We just want to keep improving our sailing.”

Quarterfinal Round Standings
1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team, 6-1
Crew: Rod Dawson, Mike Mottl, Kazuhiko Sofuku, Yasuhiro Yaji
2. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 5-2
Crew: Henrik Blakskjær, Michael Haestbeck, Thomas Jacobsen, Markus Wieser
3. Ed Baird (USA) Team Alinghi, 5-2
Crew: Nils Frei, Yann Gouniot, Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen, Dean Phipps
4. Bertrand Pacé (FRA) BMW Oracle Racing, 3-4
Crew: Dirk De Ridder, Eric Doyle, Zach Hurst, Brad Webb
5. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 3-4
Crew: Ray Davies, Andy Hemmings, Richard Meacham, Chris Salthouse
6. Sten Mohr (DEN), 3-4
Crew: Jeppe Blak, Niels Gramkau, Thomas Hartwig, Henning Lambertsen
7. Ian Williams (GBR), 2-4
Crew: Chris Gowers, Steve Mitchell, Mark Nichols, Mark Williams
8. Staffan Lindberg (FIN), 1-6
Crew: Nils Bjerkås, Johan Karlsson, Carl-Johan Uckelstem, Robert Sharp

Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, BMW and the Match Race Association. Swedish Match Tour Official Sponsors include Musto, Sebago, Travel Places, Trident Studio and Wedgwood.