2-0 to Holmberg

Round 1 of Alinghi's defender trials gets underway in Dubai

Round 1 of the UBS Dubai Defender Trials have begun with Peter Holmberg at the helm of SUI91 and Ed Baird behind the wheel on SUI64.

Race 1, with just one windward-leeward, got away with a slight delay in 9 knots. Holmberg won the first start against Baird and held the lead to the first mark and extended downwind to finish four boat lengths ahead. It was a light air race and the boat coming in from the right had an advantage that they kept.

Race 2 started in 10-12 knots with the boats starting together on starboard tack. Baird had to tack away as the wind split between the two boats, lifted them both and took them to opposite sides of the course. Holmberg came out ahead and finished 1 minute ahead of Baird.

Peter Holmberg, SUI91, commented on the first day: “With very little practice I think both crews did a great job today. We had some intensive racing and both teams sailed pretty smart and clean and well so it was good quality racing.”

Ernesto Bertarelli, team syndicate head said: “I would like to thank UBS for supporting us throughout what we are trying to achieve with this Defender Series which has for goal to prepare to fight for the America’s Cup in June. As the Defender, we will not have the benefit of the Louis Vuitton Cup to raise our skills to the level that the challengers will by racing each other. We must raise our skills to the highest possible level within our own team and intend to use this Defender Series which, I can tell you, is going to be extremely competitive. We really want to ensure that ultimately we have the very best team out on the water in June. We will have two Defender Series, with Round 1 and 2 here in Dubai and then after the LV Act 13 we will have a second series in Valencia.”

Brad Butterworth, team skipper and tactician added: “The reason for this regatta is that we are trying to nail down an afterguard and a crew that will sail the America’s Cup in June in Valencia. We have a sailing team of 36 sailors and each man wants to be on the boat in June.

“We rotate our team and we are looking for the best combinations in the afterguard, but also among the trimmers, the bowman, the pitmen and the grinders. They all have a way of communicating and we try to get the best out of them and put the best 17 together so that we wind up with a formidable crew to defend the Cup. Obviously there is a lot of emphasis on how the boats are steered. Peter Holmberg and Ed Baird are some of the best helmsmen in the world and there are really only six guys in the world who can sail these boats at this level. So Alinghi is quite spoilt for choice. It will be a tough decision to decide who will sail the boat, but that’s a good thing for us as our in-house racing is really close and of a high standard and I’m hoping that we’ll get to the Cup and win it with a team where any one of the guys could be on the boat and achieve that goal.”

Crew line-ups

Position	SUI64	SUI91
Helmsman	Ed Baird	Peter Holmberg
Tactician	Brad Butterworth	Peter Evans
Afterguard	Jochen Schuemann	Grant Simmer
Navigator	Mike Drummond	Juan Vila
Runner/grinder	Craig Sattherthwaite	Ernesto Bertarelli
Runner/pit	Rodney Ardern	Dean Phipps
Traveller	Jordi Calafat	Murray Jones
Mainsail Trimmer	Warwick Fleury	Yann Gouniot
Grinder	Will McCarthy	Peter van Niekerk
Trimmer	Claudio Celon	Nils Frei
Trimmer	Simon Daubney	Lorenzo Mazza
Grinder	Nicolas Texier	Enrico De Maria
Grinder	Matt Welling	Mark McTeigue
Pitman	Josh Belsky	Yves Detrey
Mastman	Francesco Rapetti	Mark Newbrook
Mid-Bow	Matt Mitchell	Curtis Blewett
Bow	Bernard Labro	Pieter van Nieuwenhuyzen