Local hero defeated

As Sébastian Col wins Danish Open match racing

How do you take hope and anticipation away from a crowd of 1,500? If you’re Sébastian Col you defeat local hero Jesper Bank in the final of the 10th annual Danish Open.

Col, 29, of Sete, France, won his first ever Match Race World Tour event with a 3-1 defeat of the former champion. Col and crewmembers Christophe André, Jean-Francois Cuzon, Gilles Favennec and Teva Plichart became the first non-Scandinavian team to win the championship in the past six years.

When Col and crew crossed the finish line of Race 4 more than 30 seconds in the lead the watching crowd was dead silent. They finished the regatta with a 12-6 record and won DKK112,500 (approximately $19,000) of the DKK375,000 (approx. $64,000) prize purse.

“What’s incredible is it’s our third Grade 1 win this year and second in a row,” said Col, the helmsman for the French Areva Challenge. “We won earlier this year in Marseille and last week in France. It’s a magical year.”

Bank, the skipper for United Internet Team Germany, sailing with Henrik Blakskjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Matti Paschen and Jan Schoepe, finished with a 14-4 record and won DKK75,000 (approx. $12,700). “We admired their way of sailing,” said Bank. “It was extremely simple. They were always in the right place.”

Dane Jes Gram-Hansen of the Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team placed third after defeating Finland’s Staffan Lindberg and the Alandia Sailing Team 2-0 in the Petite Final. Gram-Hansen won DKK56,250 (approx. $9,500) of the prize purse and has moved into first place on the World Championship leaderboard, with 27 points, two points ahead of Col and Chris Dickson, who won the season-opening Portugal Match Cup last month.

“It’s nice, but someone else will probably get the lead next week,” said Gram-Hansen, referring to Stage 3, the St. Moritz Match Race in Switzerland. It might be Col who takes that lead. The Frenchman is entered in St. Moritz and has experience on Lake St. Moritz having finished seventh last year. That’s more experience than he has in Denmark, where he raced for the first time.

“We improved all week,” said Col. “The start is the key. If you get a good start it gives you the possibility to play the first shift. If you win the first cross, the race is a lot different. Today Teva and [Jean-Francois] predicted the shifts well. We were able to extend.”

Their work impressed Bank, who has raced off Skovshoved Harbor eight times and advanced to the final five times.

The third race of the final left Bank scratching his head. With Col leading the series 2-1, Bank started tight to leeward, wanting the left side of the course. After forcing Col to make a clearing tack to the right, he extended to the left. When Bank tacked to port he thought he looked good. But then Col wound up in a right-hand puff and Bank couldn’t cross. “We were still wondering why the left was paying when the right came in,” Bank said. “The pressure filled on that side.”

Col said his starts got better as the series wore on. He thought he did alright in the first race, had a bad start in the second race, and then good ones in Races 3 and 4. In the fourth race he started on starboard at the pin end while Bank was on port clearing around the race committee boat, which left him slow.

“We set up to go right,” said Bank. “We’d been looking at the wind under a rain cloud and thought it would go right. The boat end was favored, so we should’ve been OK. But when we looked at him he was heeling more. He just sailed that boat into pressure. He was extremely simple and logical,” Bank repeated.


Danish Open 2006 final provisional standings
Prize Purse: DKK375,000 (approx. $63,900)
Skipper (Country) Team, Record, Prize Money*
1. Sébastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 12-6, DKK112,500 (approx. $19,000)
(Crew: Christophe André, Jean-Francois Cuzon, Gilles Favennec, Teva Plichart)
2. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 14-4, DKK75,000 (approx. $12,700)
(Crew: Henrik Blakskjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Matti Paschen, Jan Schoepe)
3. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 10-6, DKK56,250 (approx. $9,500)
(Crew: Rasmus Kostner, Chris Pedersen, Chresten Plinius, Frederik Sparvath)
4. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 9-7, DKK45,000 (approx. $7,600)
(Crew: Nils Bjerkås, Niklas Carlzon, Martin Krite, Daniel Wallberg)
5. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 8-6, DKK33,700 (approx. $5,700)
(Crew: Morten Henriksen, Mark Nichols, Simon Shaw, Mark Williams)
6. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 7-7, DKK16,800 (approx. $2,800)
(Crew: Mathia Bredin, Oskar Ljung, Johan Qviberg, Anton Wester)
7. Sten Mohr (DEN) BMW ORACLE Racing, 6-6, DKK16,875 (approx. $2,800)
(Crew: Haydon Goodrick, Tony Kolb, Kasper Helweg Larsen, Jan Neergaard)
8. Peter Wibroe (DEN) Team Wibroe, 4-8, DKK13,125 (approx. $2,200)
(Crew: Joachim Carlsen, Phillip Guhle, Kristoffer Olesen, Jeppe Rasmussen)
9. Dorte O. Jensen (DEN) Team Sjælsø Gruppen, 4-7
(Crew: Jeppe Blak, Niels Gramkov, Thomas Hartvig, Henning Lambertsen)
10. Simon Minoprio (NZL) Vision Yachting, 3-8
(Crew: Willie Beavis, Charlie Carter, Luke Cross, Stew Gray)
11. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 3-8
(Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Philippe Saliou, Yannick Simon)
12. Mads Ebler (DEN), 2-9
(Crew: George Bry, Niels Kinch, Roar Teglers, Søren Tønder)
(1DKK=0.170414 USD on Aug. 13, 2006)

Match Racing World Championship Standings - (after two events)
1. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 27 points
2. Sebastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 25 points
T. Chris Dickson (NZL) BMW ORACLE Racing, 25 points
4. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 20 points
T. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, 20 points
6. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 16 points
7. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 15 points
8. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 10 points
T. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 10 points

The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Wedgwood (Stoke-on-Trent, England), the Official Trophy Sponsor.