Early lead for Richard

Rich Roberts reports on day one of the Congressional Cup match racing in Long Beach, CA

With France's Mathieu Richard leading the way by winning all five of his matches, the five European competitors in the 42nd Congressional Cup presented by Acura won 18 of their 25 races Tuesday to claim the top three positions on opening day.

Close behind Richard, who is eighth in the current ISAF rankings, stand Great Britain's Ian Williams (No. 7) and Finland's Staffan Lindberg (13) at 4-1.

Conversely, the three New Zealanders - four if you count local Scott Dickson who has lived in Long Beach for a decade - were 7-13, an atypical mark for a small country that turns out champion match racers like sheepskin slippers.

Go figure.

Gavin Brady (3-2), a Kiwi who is a two-time Congressional Cup winner, although he resides in Annapolis, had an explanation: the soft spring breeze was more to the Europeans' liking.

"These Mediterranean guys like it light," Brady said. "We discussed that [when he was] at [BMW] Oracle. One of our weaknesses as Kiwis is sailing in light air."

Richard, 29, loved it. He grew up sailing in light wind on a small lake at his home in Angers in western France. "It's just a good feeling we have," he said. "It takes a long time to learn how to sail in light air."

Maybe the Kiwis will try doing a haka wind dance before action resumes Wednesday.

Bobby Frazier, principal race officer for the host Long Beach Yacht Club, was commended for clicking off the first five of the week's 18 rounds of a double round robin in nearly six hours of fluky winds. The customary sea breeze never showed, although it did increase to 7 knots for the final round when Brady beat Williams by 14 seconds in the last race of the day to hand the Brit his first loss and dampen a minor re-enactment of the Battle of Trafalgar against Richard on Wednesday.

One of the event's rookies, Brian Angel, 24, of nearby Redondo Beach, opened with a win against Sweden's Johnnie Berntsson but then lost four in a row.

"The good thing that comes out of it is that we were fast," Angel said. "The big thing here is that you pay for everything you do wrong."

Lindberg, who owns a book distributing company in Finland, was strong off the starting line in all but one of his races - the one he lost to New Zealand's Simon Minoprio. "One of my crew said, 'Get the boat off the line in front and we'll do the rest.' They did."

With a $41,000 purse at stake, the six-man crews sailed their Catalina 37s twice around a windward-leeward course set off the shoreline adjacent to the Belmont Pier, which has accommodations for spectators with expert race commentary at no charge.

Acura, the luxury division of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., has signed on for three more years as the presenting sponsor.

Day one results:

ROUND 1
Brian Angel, Redondo Beach, Calif., d. Johnie Berntsson, Sweden, 7 seconds; Mathieu Richard, France, d. Cameron Appleton, New Zealand, 0:13; Staffan Lindberg, Finland, d. Peter Wibroe, Denmark, 0:17; Ian Williams, Great Britain, d. Simon Minoprio, New Zealand, 0:50; Chris Dickson, Long Beach, Calif., d. Gavin Brady, New Zealand, 0:24.

ROUND 2
Richard d. Wibroe, 0:25; Minoprio d. Lindberg, 0:18; Williams d. Angel, 0:47; Berntsson d. Dickson, 0:18; Brady d. Appleton,
0:57.

ROUND 3
Lindberg d. Angel, 0:16; Williams d. Dickson, 0:16; Berntsson d. Appleton, 0:25; Richard d. Brady, 0:26; Minoprio d. Wibroe, 0:32.

ROUND 4
Williams d. Appleton, 0:19; Brady d. Berntsson, 0:49; Richard d. Minoprio, 0:33; Wibroe d. Angel, 0:04; Lindberg d. Dickson, 0:08.

ROUND 5
Richard d. Berntsson, 1:02; Minoprio d. Angel, 0:27; Wibroe d. Dickson, 0:12; Lindberg d. Appleton, 1:08; Brady d. Williams, 0:14.

Standings (after 5 of 18 rounds)

1. Richard, 5-0
2. tie between Williams and Lindberg, 4-
4. tie between Brady and Minoprio, 3-2
6. tie between Wibroe and Berntsson, 2-3
8. tie between Angel and Dickson, 1-4
10. Appleton, 0-5.

Crew lists:

Ian Williams, Great Britain, Royal Yachting Association, (7)
Crew: Bill Hardesty, Mark Williams, Gerry Mitchell, Chad Hough, Matt Ciesicki.

Mathieu Richard, France, APCC Voile Sportive, (8)
Crew: Philippe Mourniac, Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Vannick Simon, Thierry Briend.

Staffan Lindberg, Finland, Aaland Island Yacht Club (13)
Crew: Peter Krull, Niklas Carlzon, Carl-Johan Uckelstam, Emil Wiberg, Martin Krite.

Johnie Berntsson, Sweden, Stenungsunds Yacht Club (18)
Crew: Matthew Gregory, Johan Backman, Martin Berntsson, Bjorn Lundgren, Dale Harper.

Peter Wibroe, Denmark, Royal Danish Yacht Club (19)
Crew: Christian Monberg, Jeppe Rasmussen, Kristoffer Olesen, Joachim Carlsen, Phillip Guhle.

Gavin Brady, New Zealand, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (21)
Crew: Chris Larson, Tony Rey, Ian Gordon, Skip Baxter, Jeff Brock.

Simon Minoprio, New Zealand, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (32)
Crew: Adam Minoprio, David Swete, Ryan Houston, Chris Burgess, Haydon Goodrick.

Cameron Appleton, New Zealand, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (60)
Crew: Willem Van Waay, Mark Ivey, John Hayes, Matt Cassidy, Nigel King.

Brian Angel, Redondo Beach, Calif., King Harbor Yacht Club (64)
Crew: Payson Infelise, Dave Hochart, Nate Campbell, Jon Bell, Dave Levy.

Scott Dickson, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach Yacht Club (85)
Crew: Tony Stuart, Matt McKinlay, Sonny Gibson, Mark Strube, Mark Callahan.