Baird wins on tie break

At conclusion of first round of Alinghi's 'defender trials'

Ed Baird and his crew on SUI 91 won two races today to draw even on points with Peter Holmberg. In order to break the tie, the race committee reverted to the boat that won the last race.

Racing got away in 8-10 knots on day 4 of the UBS Dubai Defender Trials. Peter Holmberg at the helm of SUI64 was over the line at the start. He later commented: "That was a big mistake on my part: I had the start won and I got a little greedy. I had set a trap for him to come in there and got a little slow and he came in and hooked me and put me over the line."

With just one windward-leeward to sail, Baird crossed the line 59 seconds ahead to raise his points to 2, edging closer to Holmberg’s 3.

In race 6, the last of Round 1, Baird and Holmberg got away to an even start with both boats sailing a long time on port tack. When they met again SUI91 had a small advantage which they maintained to the topmark and downwind to finish 37 seconds ahead.

Baird reflected on what he can take away from this first round: "All the guys are being reminded that it’s the simple basic things that you have to do correctly time and time again to be successful. As a team, every time we get into a high pressure race, it’s the basics that win it."

Team skipper and tactician, Brad Butterworth, gave his take on the event as a whole: "We’ve been sailing with each other a lot over the last few months and the standard of crew work and the way that we sail the boats has improved since we started racing. There’s a winner and a loser in these regattas and it puts a lot more pressure on the crew. We’re trying to emulate a Louis Vuitton Cup and this is the best we can do. I think it is everything that we have asked for and I’m looking forward to the next one."

At an informal prize-giving on the dock, Saeed Hareb, Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) Managing Director and Vice Chairman of the UAE Marine Water Sports Federation presented Ed Baird and his crew with a trophy for Round 1 from UBS.

Round 2 of the UBS Dubai Defender Trials is scheduled from 16-19 February and will culminate in the announcement of the helmsman and afterguard for Louis Vuitton Act 13 in Valencia.

Crew line-up

Position	SUI91	SUI64
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	Brian Sharp
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