Sun Microsystems Australia Cup 2001 - Day Two
by John Roberson 22 Mar 2001 11:48 GMT
PETER GILMOUR OWNS THE TOP OF THE LEADERBOARD.
The home town hero, Peter Gilmour, is the sole occupant of the top spot on the leaderboard, at the end of the second day of the Sun Microsystems Australia Cup.
Gilmour, who heads the OneWorld America's Cup challenge out of Seattle, and is still sailing with his Pizza La Team, is undefeated at the halfway stage of the double round robin elimination series.
He heaped praise on his crew, "the boys were doing a fabulous job, we were sailing quite fast, and could really stratergize each start to decide where we wanted to start from, and take the benefit from there."
Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie was given a lot of credit, "he's the shining star in the team right now, at his young age, he just has an enthusiastic sense of what is going on."
Sweden's Magnus Holmberg, and his Enso Stora Team, who had shared the top of the leaderboard with Gilmour overnight, started the day well, chalking up a string of wins.
However his day went wrong, when the veteran Chris Dickson and the Oracle Sailing Team, inflicted the first defeat of the regatta on the Swede.
After that the Swedish America's Cup skipper came up against Peter Gilmour, and suffered his second defeat of the day, in a race that Gilmour controlled from start to finish.
Gilmour has now demonstrated his all round ability, winning races in yesterday's light winds, and today's 25 knots of breeze.
Luc Pillot of France has climbed into third place after a consistant but unspectacular day on the water.
American Ken Read, who had such a good first day, has struggled a bit in today's stronger breezes.
Gavin Brady of Italy's Prada America's Cup team, climbed the scoreboard after a bad first day, and is now in fifth place.
It was a slow start to the day, with the teams waiting on the lawns of the Royal Perth Yacht Club until mid-morning, for the wind to ruffle a glassey Swan River.
However when the legendary Fremantle Doctor seabreeze did arrive, it did so with some gusto, building rapidly to 20 knots at lunchtime, then 25 knots by the middle of the afternoon.
Report from Andy Beadsworth & GBR Challenge:
Race One - GBR Challenge v Spithill
In much heavier winds than yesterday (20-25 knots) we won the first match after a very even start. It was very close up the first beat, and stuck to the port hand side off the course. When we tacked over and dipped Spithill, he tacked in our water, and was awarded a penalty. We sailed the last run with no spinnakers, as he attempted to give us a penalty. His attempt failed, and we won.
Race Two - GBR Challenge v Brady
We won the start and were leading for the first half of the race. Unfortunately, he passed us and held his lead to the finish.
Race Three - GBR Challenge v Gilmour
In the prestart manoeuvres we called for water and weren't given it. Gilmour received a green flag from the umpire meanwhile we ran aground. The umpire feels that we were not close hauled when we called for water, but we believe
this was a controversial umpire call as we ran aground when water was not given. As a result of us running aground, Gilmour won the start. We were very close to him during the first beat, but he led the whole way.
Race Four - GBR Challenge v Hansen
We won this after Jez was penalised for a port/starboard incident during the prestart. Again, we sailed the final run with no spinnakers as he attempted to offload his penalty by forcing us to foul. He wasn't able to, and so we
won.
Race Five - GBR Challenge v Dickson
The start was very even, but we lost the tiller extension on the first beat which let him ahead. It was a very close run to the leeward mark, and then we rolled him to weather, but we couldn't break the overlap, and so he finished ahead.
Race Six - GBR Challenge v Witty
We won the start and led for the duration of the race. We were sailing with one reef and a small jib, but still continued to use spinnakers.
Day One Wrapup
Overall, we are pleased with our performance, although we are letting ourselves down with crew work and manoeuvres. We need to work harder at this as we are putting ourselves under a lot of pressure.
We are becoming more confident and we're working hard on our communication. This is only our first outing as a crew and our focus is to learn and to establish where we are and how to go forward.
Results: (Scores after day 2)
| Skipper | Nation | Wins | Losses |
|---|
| Peter Gilmour | USA | 11 | 0 |
| Magnus Holmberg | SWE | 9 | 2 |
| Luc Pillot | FRA | 7 | 4 |
| Gavin Brady | ITA | 7 | 4 |
| Ken Read | USA | 6 | 4 |
| Neville Wittey | AUS | 5 | 6 |
| Andy Beadsworth | GBR | 5 | 6 |
| Chris Dickson | USA | 4 | 7 |
| Jes-Gram Hansen | DEN | 3 | 8 |
| James Spithill | USA | 3 | 8 |
| Nicola Celon | ITA | 3 | 8 |
| Jesper Radich | DEN | 2 | 8 |
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