Holmberg ahead

After day one of the Swedish Match Tour's PTPortugal Match Cup

The 7th season of the Swedish Match Tour got underway today with the beginning of the €100,000 PTPortugal Match Cup in Cascais, Portugal.

The six crews in Group A completed their round robin with Peter Holmberg of Alinghi coming out on top at 4-1. He advances to the Quarterfinal Round along with Staffan Lindberg of Team Finland and Australian Peter Gilmour of Pizza-La Sailing Team. Lindberg and Gilmour both finished 3-2, but Lindberg won the tiebreaker to place second and Gilmour third.

The other three teams in the group, led by skippers Chris Law of The Outlaws, Australian Michael Dunstan and Hamish Pepper of Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team - advanced to the Repechage Round. Law finished 3-2, Dunstan 2-3 and Pepper 0-5.

Racing was dominated by a light northwesterly wind between 3 and 8 knots. The breeze blows off the land in that direction and is very streaky, making tacticians sweat over their decisions.

“You form an overall strategy and monitor it 10 minutes before the start,” said Murray Jones, tactician for Holmberg. “Some streaks hit the water and some don’t. You try to sail what you see, but you don’t want to tack off a good lift. You have to sail the closer angle to the mark. It’s more strategy than connecting the dots, but it’s not easy.”

Holmberg and Jones were left shaking their heads at the last Tour event, the Swedish Match Cup. Tied 2-2 in their semifinal series against Magnus Holmberg, they led by about 20 seconds in the fifth and deciding race. But on the third lap Magnus Holmberg was able to close up at the windward mark and eventually won the race, leaving Peter Holmberg in disbelief.

“We were anxious to get back out here,” said the Alinghi helmsman from the U.S. Virgin Islands. “Murray and I talked last week about what happened in Sweden. We knew the mistakes we made and wanted to correct them.”

The past Swedish Match Tour champion (2002-’03) looked smooth today, leading most of the day. His only hiccup came in the fifth race against Law when he admittedly messed up the start. “We had control and got lazy,” said Peter Holmberg. “We didn’t want to hook him so we slowed down. Then he jibed away and hooked me. We just got lazy. He did a great job.”

Lindberg, who was a disappointing 15th in Sweden, enjoyed a fine day. The tall Finn defeated Law, Pepper and Gilmour, the last one giving him the tiebreaker advantage. “I like it when it’s shifty and tricky,” said Lindberg. “I got better at starting later in the day, and the guys took me around the course.”

Gilmour is sailing his first match-race regatta in years without regular crewmembers Rod Dawson, Mike Mottl and Kazuhiko Sofuku, who man the critical positions of mainsheet, headsails and foredeck. In their stead are Fred Guilman, Thierry Fouchier and Frederico Cerveira, respectively, who join long-time crewman Yasuhiro Yaji.

The two Frenchmen trimming the sails are veteran match-racers, but Cerveira is a local bowman who’s 19 years old. He’s competed with Portuguese crews at match-race events before, but never at the level he’s at now. “He’s just a teenager,” said Gilmour. “His dad’s as old as I am. He’s enjoying himself. All the locals are coming by saying hi. He has to pinch himself out there.”

“I feel very good and happy,” said Cerveira, who joined Gilmour’s crew through event organizers. “Everything is calm onboard. It’s a very good team and they’re always trying to help me.”

Group B is scheduled to sail its round robin beginning tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.

PTPortugal Match Cup Standings

Group A (after 5 of 5 scheduled flights)
1. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 4-1
Crew: Rodney Ardern, Murray Jones, Lorenzo Mazza, Matthew Mitchell
2. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Team Finland, 3-2
Crew: Nils Bjerkas, Niklas Carlzon, Carl-Johan Uckelstam, Daniel Wallberg
3. Peter Gilmour (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team, 3-2
Crew: Frederico Cerveira, Thierry Fouchier, Fred Guilmin, Yasuhiro Yaji
4. Chris Law (GBR) The Outlaws, 3-2
Crew: Andy Oliver, Shamn Pammenter, Diogo Pereira, Mark Sadler
5. Michael Dunstan (AUS), 2-3
Crew: James Fox, Andrew Hutchinson, Ben Morrison-Jack, Nick Wilcox
6. Hamish Pepper (NZL) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team, 0-5
Crew: Marco Constant, Cameron Dunn, Pietro Mantovani, Jon Ziskind

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.

Below: Afonso Domingo's crewman Bernardo Plantier hangs onto a spinnaker sheet after falling overboard during practice for the Portugal Match Cup