Cottonfield ISAF Match Racing Worlds Preview

WHEN: August 15th to 22nd 1999
WHERE: Skovshoved Harbour, Copenhagen, Denmark
WHO: Ten of the best match racers in the world

SOME GOOD MATCHES ON THE OPENING DAY & HITTING MARKS

At 9:30 on Wednesday morning the flag drops on the first race of the Cottonfield ISAF Match Racing World Championships, and from then on it's points on the scoreboard that count.

There are some good matches right from the first flight of the double round robin, as is to be expected when the top ten match racers in the world gather at one regatta.

In the first match of the championship, defending champion and world number one Peter Gilmour of Australia, and his Japanese Pizza-La crew, faces triple Olympic Gold medallist Jochen Schumann of Germany.

Jochen has been putting in a big effort on the Soling match racing circuit in his preparations for the Sydney Olympic regatta next year, he will also face Gilmour on the race track in Auckland when the Louis Vuitton Cup get under way in two months time.

In the second flight, expect sparks to fly when England's Chris Law and Bertrand Pace of France meet in the second match of the flight, these two are long standing rivals, and always entertain the spectators.

Bertrand Pace and Jochen Schumann meet in the first match of the third flight, and there is bound to be some psychological point scoring between these America's Cup rivals as the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup approaches.

Locals Jesper Bank and Sten Mohr will both want to impress the home town crowds when they meet in match four of flight four.

There is another all Danish derby in flight five when Morten Henriksen meets Sten Mohr, with Henriksen the rising star of Danish scene, keen to topple the more experienced Mohr.

Jochen Schumann and Jesper Bank both have their sights set on the Soling gold medal in Sydney next year, and when they meet in race four of flight six, it will be another opportunity for psychological point scoring.

In flight seven Kiwi Dean Barker has the opportunity to show the depth of talent in the America's Cup defence team, when he faces Jochen Schumann, his first match against one of the challenge teams.

The last scheduled flight of the day, flight eight, sees Barker against Gilmour, another defender versus challenger match for America's Cup teams.

It seems that Paul Elvstrom's idea of allowing competitors to hit marks isn't quite as new as it may appear, we have heard from both Bob Fisher and Eddie Warden Owen about England's Ultra 30 circuit.

"So has the Ultra 30 class since its inception nine years ago" says Fisher, of being allowed to hit marks without penalty.

Eddie Warden Owen, who now runs this circuit, added, "I am surprised you are not aware that the high profile Ultra 30 fleet, whose racing is shown on BBC TV and on satellite channels all over the world, have allowed the hitting of marks for the last ten years. The skippers are also aware that hitting the marks puts them perilously close to catching the anchor warp and this is very slow!!"

Of course both Bob Fisher and Harold Cudmore have experienced the ultimate penalty for hitting a mark, they have sunk boats after hitting the Isle of Wight when it has been a mark of the course.

Peter Isler has pointed out that Lowell North used to be referred to as the Pope of sailing.

Event Website: www.sail.dk