Monsoon Cup at Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia - Overall
by Sean McNeill 4 Dec 2005 11:31 GMT
29 November - 4 December 2005
GILMOUR WINS TOUR’S 50TH CHAMPIONSHIP
The Aussie wins the inaugural Monsoon Cup with a 2-1 defeat of rival Coutts
Peter Gilmour won what he described as a “fairytale event” when he defeated Russell Coutts 2-1 in the final of the inaugural Monsoon Cup, the 50th event of the Swedish Match Tour.
Gilmour was instrumental in forming the Monsoon Cup, but he’s also a key player on the Swedish Match Tour. He is the only skipper to win the Tour championship twice, and today’s win increased his career victory total to nine. At the outset of the event he wasn’t sure it would happen.
“I’m quite amazed, almost to the point of embarrassed,” said Gilmour, 46, of Perth, Western Australia. “I put a lot of effort into organizing and promoting this event. The result has been greater than my wildest dreams and expectations.”
Gilmour’s crew included Rod Dawson, Kazuhiko Sofuku, Tatsuya Wakinaga and Yasuhiro Yaji. Coutts’ crew featured Jes Gram-Hansen, Christian Kamp, Rasmus Kostner and Jann Neergaard.
The 25 points Gilmour earned for winning the championship moved him into first from sixth in the Swedish Match Tour standings. Gilmour has 48 points and leads Finland’s Staffan Lindberg (Alandia Sailing Team) by 11 points. England’s Ben Ainslie (Emirates Team New Zealand), 30 points, fell to third from first.
In this morning’s Petite Final Sweden’s Björn Hansen (Team Apport.net) continued his torrid sailing and defeated Lindberg 2-0. Hansen won both races outright, although there was a disputed umpire call in the second race. The call could’ve gone against Hansen, but the umpires green-flagged it.
Gilmour and Coutts put on a spectacular final, replete with lead changes, come-from-behind wins and finish line penalty turns. The sporting nature of the series enthused Jean Todt, Principal Team Director of the Ferrari F1 racing team.
“It was exciting and very close. They’re very motivated,” said Todt, who visited the Monsoon Cup at the invitation of event founder Patrick Lim. “I wanted to get onboard to get closer to the action. It was very exciting.”
Gilmour won the first race despite carrying a penalty around the race track. He earned the penalty in the pre-start for a port-starboard incident. He trailed Coutts by about 4 seconds around the first lap and then passed him on the second upwind leg of the six-leg course.
Gilmour slowly stretched to a 19-second lead beginning the last leg. Approaching the pin end of the finish, bowman Kazuhiko Sofuku hoisted the jib and retrieved the spinnaker. Gilmour began his turn and the boat went through the eye of the wind. Trimmer Tatsuya Wakinaga backed the jib as the boat fell off on port tack with Coutts rapidly approaching. Gilmour’s bow crossed the line just 3 seconds ahead.
Coutts led Race 2 wire-to-wire, claiming a 7-second win to even the series 1-1. He started on port at the boat end, went right up the beat, won the first cross and was never truly threatened. His margins at the mark roundings were between 10 and 15 seconds. Gilmour closed on the run, and although he never had a real chance to get around Coutts he took an important note out of the race.
“I suddenly realized that we were sailing pretty fast there,” said Gilmour. “At that point I thought we could start even or behind Russell, be close at the first mark and jump him downwind. To me he looked a little unstable downwind. He wasn’t his sure confident self.”
In the third pre-start Gilmour got a penalty on Coutts. Coutts tried jibing to starboard in front of Gilmour but didn’t complete his turn before Gilmour had to alter course.
“It was a close call,” said Coutts. “The mainsail filled but it probably filled too late.”
The race was close, with Gilmour leading by less than 10 seconds at the first three mark roundings. Coutts closed on the second run and was overlapped to the outside rounding the second leeward mark. But Gilmour opened on the next beat to 12 seconds at the last mark rounding and was on his way to victory, his first win against Coutts in a Tour final after three losses.
“You’ve got to wake up pretty early in the morning to catch Russell sleeping,” said Gilmour. “It was one of those days where I think Russell was starting better, but on the racecourse we were a tiny bit quicker. As a result we were able to go where we wanted to go and Russell started sailing a bit defensively.”
“We got out of phase with the wind a couple of times and that allowed him to sail around us in the windshifts,” said Coutts. “It’s a tough place to sail. Sometimes the right pays and sometimes the left pays. It happens very quickly.”
Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, BMW and the Match Race Association. Swedish Match Tour Official Sponsors include Musto, Sebago and Travel Places.
For more information on the Swedish Match Tour, its competitors and events, please visit the official Tour Web site, www.SwedishMatchTour.com. Swedish Match Tour television programs may be viewed by clicking on the Tour television button on the home page of the Web site.
Swedish Match Tour Standings: (after 4 of 9 stages)
1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 48 points
2. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 37 points
3. Ben Ainsle (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 30 points
4. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 29 points
5. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 25 points
T. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 25 points
7. Russell Coutts (NZL) Coutts Racing, 20 points
T. Gavin Brady (NZL), 20 points
T. Mark Mendelblatt (USA), 20 points
Final Monsoon Cup Standings: Prize Purse: MYR400,000 (approximately $105,000)
Skipper (Country) Team, Record, Prize Money*
1. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 14-7, MYR100,000 ($26,400)
(Crew: Rod Dawson, Kazuhiko Sofuku, Tatsuya Wakinaga, Yasuhiro Yaji)
2. Russell Coutts (NZL) Coutts Racing Team, 14-7, MYR60,000 ($15,800)
(Crew: Jes Gram-Hansen, Christian Kamp, Rasmus Kostner, Jann Neergaard)
3. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.Net, 10-10, MYR40,000 ($10,500)
(Crew: Mattias Bredin, Andus Jonsson, Pontus Meijer, Johan Templeman)
4. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 9-11, MYR36,000 ($9,500)
(Crew: Martin Berntsson, Nils Bjerkås, Carl-Johan Uckelstam, Daniel Wallberg)
5. Chris Dickson (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing, 10-5, MYR32,000 ($8,400)
(Crew: Jamie Gale, Robbie Naismith, Ed Smyth, Paul Westlake)
6. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, 9-5, MYR28,000 ($7,400)
(Crew: Anders Dahlsjo, Martin Krite, Lars Linger, Mattias Rahm)
7. Dean Barker (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand, 9-5, MYR24,000 ($6,300)
(Crew: Don Cowie, James Dagg, Jared Henderson, Terry Hutchinson)
8. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Racing Team, 8-7, MYR22,000 ($5,800)
(Crew: Gerry Mitchell, Mark Nichols, Guy Salter, Mark Williams)
9. Thierry Peponnet (FRA) K-Challenge, 4-7, MYR18,000 ($4,700)
(Crew: Benoit Briand, Herve Cunningham, Gilles Favennec, Albert Jacobsoone)
10. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Luna Rossa Challenge, 3-8, MYR16,000 ($4,200)
(Crew: Michele Cannoni, Gaetano Figlia de Granara, Manuel Modena, Massimiliano Sirena)
11. Cameron Dunn (NZL) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 2-9, MYR12,000 ($3,100)
(Crew: Santino Brizzi, Cicho Chicchetti, Marco Constant, Pietro Mantovani)
12. Sally Barkow (USA) Team 7, 1-10, MYR12,000 ($3,100)
(Crew: Sofia Bekatorou, Debbie Capozzi, Chafee Emory, Carrie Howe, Annie Lush)
(*All USD amounts approximate; exchange rate 1MYR = 0.2646 USD on Dec. 4, 2005)