Americans tied

After the opening day of the St Moritz match racing in skiffs

The St. Moritz Match Race, stage 3 of the 2005-’06 Swedish Match Tour, bills itself as racing at the top of the world.

Watching the crews depart their boats huffing and puffing at the end of the day gives one an understanding of the challenges involved with sailing at more than 5,600 feet above sea level. “We were outta breath often,” said Alinghi/s Ed Baird. “The guys were gulping for air. It makes the Tour de France all that more impressive,” he said of the gruelling bike race that traverses the Alps and Pyrenees mountains.

“I was huffing and puffing,” said Staffan Lindberg (FIN), Team Finland. “There’s so much going on out there, with the tiller, mainsheet and trying to look around the race course. The crew must’ve had their pulse up around 200.”

Baird and Lindberg joined American Mark Mendelblatt, the event’s reigning champion, in advancing to round robin C. The top three crews from Group A and B advance to round robin C, from which the top four advance to the semifinal round.

Mendelblatt won the five-flight group with a 4-1 record, which included a head-to-head victory against Baird, whom Mendelblatt credits as teaching him a lot about match racing.

Lindberg finished 3-2 and also won a tiebreaker to advance. His head-to-head victory against Mathieu Richard (FRA) gave him the advantage he needed, but it wasn’t without anxiety. He lost his first two races before winning three straight, and then had to sweat out the final match of Flight 5.

“It’s a lot of pressure to get in the top three in the first round,” Lindberg said. “We had to have a lot go our way in the last flight. Mark had to win, Ed had to win and we had to win.”

Baird had to beat Richard for Lindberg to move on. If he didn’t Richard would gain the nod. There was pressure on Richard, too. If he won and Mendelblatt lost, Richard could’ve won the round in a tiebreaker. But that quickly became moot.

The round ended with Mendelblatt defeating Marcel Walser (SUI) in the first match of the flight, which gave him the round outright. Lindberg followed by beating Eric Monnin (SUI) to give himself a chance. Then Baird beat Richard by 2-3 boatlengths.

“My adrenaline is up to here,” Lindberg said, pointing to the brim of the cap on his head. “Anyone who says this isn’t a sport, I’ll punch them.”

Richard, Walser and Monnin advance to Round Robin D, where they’ll be joined by the 4th-, 5th- and 6th-place crews from Group A.

Despite a lengthy delay to the start of the day while the southerly Maloja wind filled, there was plenty of action once the crews hit the water. There were five come-from-behind wins and one victory at the finish line after a 270-degree penalty turn.

With the wind blowing 10 to 15 knots and gusting up to 20, crews were maxed out on the trapeze at one moment and then squatting into the boat the next. And the shifty conditions kept the crews on their toes.

“We had no idea what the wind was doing at the top of the racecourse,” said Mendelblatt, who favored the left side of the beats but also worked the right on occasion.

“It was very shifty out there,” said Baird. The puffs sent some crews planing into the leeward mark with the spinnaker up too late, creating a mad scramble to get the sail down. “And sometimes our toes were on the spinnaker halyard,” said Mike Drummond, crew for Baird.

Others had troubles setting the spinnaker at the windward mark, including Mendelblatt.
“We’re going to have to talk about that,” said the 32-year-old skipper sailing with Dean Slater and Ed Smyth. “We might change responsibilities, but I’ll let the guys decide that.”

The first start was scheduled for 11:00 a.m., but that was delayed more than four hours. During that time Lake St. Moritz was often glass calm. But the wait was worth it at the end of the day.

Group A is scheduled to begin its round robin tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.

The final two days of St. Moritz Match Race, Aug. 20-21, are planned to be broadcast live on the Tour’s broadband Internet channel, www.swedishmatchtour.tv.

St. Moritz Match Race Standings
Group B Round Robin (After 5 of 5 scheduled flights)
1. Mark Mendelblatt (USA), 4-1
(Crew: Dean Slater, Ed Smyth)
2. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 4-1
(Crew: Mike Drummond, Nils Frei)
3. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Team Finland, 3-2
(Crew: Robert Skarp, Carl-Johan Uckelstam)
4. Mathieu Richard (FRA), 3-2
(Crew: Philippe Mourniac, Yannick Simon)
5. Marcel Walser (SUI), 1-4
(Crew: Fabio Müller, Urs Rothacher)
6. Eric Monnin (SUI), 0-6
(Crew: Jean-Claude Monnin, Marc Monnin)

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