Schuemann moves ahead

On the penultimate day of racing at the Danish Open match racing in Skovshoved

“Everyone deserves a second chance, eh?” said Gavin Brady. The BMW Oracle Racing helmsman made excellent use of the life line thrown to him by reaching the semi-final of the Danish Open, Stage 2 of the 2005-’06 Swedish Match Tour, on a countback.

Day 3 dawned for Brady rooted in mid-field during the round robin and ended with him leading his first-to-three wins semifinal against Jochen Schuemann (GER), Alinghi, 2-1.
“I started the day in sixth place, came through to fourth and ended it one race up in the semis, so that’s got to be good!” said the skipper in search of his first career victory on the Swedish Match Tour.

Local sailors Henrik Jensen and Lars Nordbjaerg very nearly squeezed Brady out of the fourth spot at the end of the round robin, but the Kiwi advanced by virtue of holding the tiebreaker against the two Danes.

The other semi-final between Dean Barker of Emirates Team New Zealand, and Dane Jesper Bank of United Internet Team Germany, is also poised at 2-1 in favour of the Kiwi crew.

For both pairs, their matches grew in intensity. Schuemann and Bank won the first matches, and then Brady and Barker won the next two for their leads. The third races proved combative, tight and enthralling. For the crowd at the Royal Match Race Centre in Shovshoved, the action was right under their noses. In fact, the yachts got so close that the crowd had stand up because the low seawall obscured their view.

Throughout the day the umpires found it hard to call a foul when a luff seemed to go beyond head to wind, simply because the westerly breeze flicked all over the place as it blew off the land. That didn’t stop Bank using the tactic repeatedly however.

Brady had to attack from astern in his third clash with Schuemann as he trailed narrowly around the first weather mark. “I wasn’t aggressive enough at first because I was waiting for too good an opportunity,” said Brady. That meant he came hard and fast the second time, throwing a series of six false gybes at Schuemann.

Brady incurred a penalty when he failed to notice his observer’s arm drop momentarily to show the overlap was broken. While the umpires have a good view, ironically the people who most need to look in three directions simultaneously (at their opponent, the breeze and the observer) are the ones least able to: the helmsmen. Brady took Schuemann beyond the leeward mark and despite being a penalty down he managed to retain his starboard-tack right-of-way as the pair beat back to the windward mark. If he hadn’t, Brady might have been red-flagged to take his penalty turn immediately because he headed back up the course with a nice advantage to windward of Schuemann.

Brady’s crew extended on the next two legs to the extent they were able to take their turn on the finish line, win and go up 2-1. Schuemann won the round robin after scoring strong wins in his last three races against Jesper Radich (DEN), of Desafío Español, Barker and Thierry Peponnet (FRA), of the K-Challenge, to close with a 9-2 record.

This earned the German triple Olympic gold medalist the right to select his semi-final opponent and Schuemann went into the huddle with Matt Mitchell, Peter van Niekerk, Claudio Celon and Yann Guniot.

“It took a while and at first we couldn’t all agree, but in the end we decided to race the team of Gavin,” said Schuemann.

Also going through tied with an 8-3 record were Barker and Bank. Bank’s losses to Barker and Radich dropped him from top of the leaderboard for the first time in three days.

Peponnet will rue an expensive morning in Shovshoved. The Frenchman’s usual match race style is full of guile and subtlety. “My first priority is to get a good result and avoid mistakes,” said Peponnet, one of three Olympic gold medalists (including Schuemann and Bank) gracing the field. “We try and sail in a conservative mode and rely on our reflexes rather than ask too many questions of the umpires.”

Trouble was, the umpires were much too much involved. Against Bank, Peponnent twice collected two penalties approaching and rounding the windward mark. He then incurred a pre-started penalty against Brady and was required by a red flag to take it immediately before losing his last race to Schuemann. This dropped Peponnet out of contention with a 6-5 record.

In the 7th place sail-off, Radich beat Peponnet 2-0.

Weather permitting - and the forecast for Sunday is for light winds off Copenhagen - organisers plan to run the sail off for 5th and 6th along with the conclusion of the semifinals before the final is run.

Danish Open Semifinal Standings

(First to 3 points)
Gavin Brady (NZL), BMW Oracle Racing, 2
Jochen Schuemann (GER), Alinghi, 1

Dean Barker (NZL), Emirates Team New Zealand, 2
Jesper Bank (DEN), United Internet Team Germany, 1

7th and 8th Place Sail-off
Jesper Radich (DEN), Desafío Español, d. Thierry Peponnet (FRA), K-Challenge, 2-0


Danish Open Round Robin Standings
(After 22 of 22 scheduled flights)
1. Jochen Schuemann (GER) Alinghi, 9-2
(Crew: Claudio Celon, Yann Guniot, Matt Mitchell, Peter van Niekerk)
2. Dean Barker (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand, 8-3
(Crew: Don Cowie, Jared Henderson, Terry Hutchinson, Grant Loretz)
3. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 8-3
(Crew: Henrik Blaksjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Mike Mottl, Jan Schoepe)
4. Gavin Brady (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing, 7-4
(Crew: Rodney Daniel, Ross Halcrow, Ed Smyth, Brad Webb)
5. Lars Nordbjaerg (DEN) Team Nordbjaerg, 7-4
(Crew: Jeppe Blak, Jesper Feldt, Niels Gramkov, Thomas Hartvig)
6. Henrik Jensen (DEN) Team Jensen, 7-4
(Crew: Nils Bjerregård, Mads Juhl, Erik Lund, Anton Wester)
7. Thierry Peponnet (FRA) K-Challenge, 6-5
(Crew: Cameron Appleton, Matt Cornwell, Herve Cunningham, Jim Turner)
8. Jesper Radich (DEN) Desafío Español, 4-7
(Crew: Jaime Hansen, Hartwell Jordan, Pablo Rosano, Mikkel Røssberg)
9. Philippe Presti (FRA) Luna Rossa Challenge, 4-7
(Crew: Thierry Fouchier, Fred Guilmin, Fabrice Levet, Matthieu Renault)
10. Chris Law (GBR) Team Shosholoza, 4-7
(Crew: Ian Ainslie, Michael Giles, Golden Mgedeza, Mark Sadler)
11. Pierre Mas (FRA) China Team, 2-9
(Crew: Jean Marie Dauris, Xavier Husson, Philippe Mourniac, Piotr Przybylski)
12. Flavio Favini (ITA) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 0-11
(Crew: Alberto Barovier, Lars Borgstrom, Antar Vigna, Vasco Vascotto)

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