Toscana Elba Cup : Coutts and Gilmour square off in the Toscana Elba Cup final again

PORTO AZZURRO, Elba Island (May 7, 2005) — Before the start of the Toscana Elba Cup – Trofeo Locman, Stage 5 of the 2004-’05 Swedish Match Tour, veteran skipper Peter Gilmour marveled at the fleet of 12 teams representing syndicates for the 32nd America’s Cup, and wondered how “hackers such as myself and Russell” would fair.

Gilmour and Russell Coutts are veteran Cup campaigners, but not associated with any of the teams preparing for the event that’s a bit more than two years away.

Of no surprise to anyone, the hackers rose above the fray and are now squaring off in the final of the event for the second straight year. Coutts won last year’s final 2-1, and like last year he opened this year’s final by winning the first flight to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series, or first to 3 points.

This year’s final started this afternoon and will continue tomorrow. The first race wasn’t as thrilling as the Semifinal Round that preceded it, with the easterly wind dying away and filling from the west.

Gilmour held a big lead around the first windward mark. Coutts closed slightly on the first run, but Gilmour still led at the leeward mark. Coutts overtook him on the second beat and then survived the 180-degree windshift for the victory.

Coutts and Gilmour advanced to the final after close semifinal matches against James Spithill (AUS), of Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge for the America’s Cup, and Magnus Holmberg (SWE), of Sweden’s Victory Challenge, respectively. While Gilmour won 3-1, Coutts won his match against Spithill on the finish line in the fifth and deciding match.

In an easterly wind between 7 and 10 knots and with the score tied 2-2, Coutts and Spithill squared off with the final on the line. Coutts has high esteem for Spithill, in the past calling him one of the best young sailors. Spithill has equal regard for Coutts. But in the end Spithill said it was his mistakes that cost him the match.

With less than 25 seconds to go to the start, Coutts tacked to leeward of Spithill on the start line. Spithill bore off slightly and didn’t keep clear of Coutts’ luff. The boats hit side-by-side, and Spithill was penalized for failing to keep clear.

Making matters worse, Spithill was also over the line early. Forced to tack to port and dip the line while Coutts held starboard, Spithill took port tack off the line and stepped into a nice breeze line and quickly overcame the disadvantage of having to restart, although he still carried the penalty.

To Coutts, the incident should’ve been red-flagged, meaning that Spithill would’ve had to do his 270-degree penalty turn as soon as he cleared the start line.

“I’m amazed it wasn’t red-flagged,” Coutts said after the match. “Any (incident) with 5 seconds to go and that clear cut should be red-flagged. We were dead in the water and they ended up ahead of us.”

After stepping into that breeze line Spithill tacked to starboard and converged with Coutts. Coutts, on port, couldn’t clear and was forced to tack to leeward, close aboard.

Coutts tried luffing Spithill soon after, but Spithill had too much way on and simply coasted over the top of Coutts. The Aussie had a comfortable lead around the windward mark and a 22-second advantage at the leeward mark beginning the second of two laps.

Up the second beat Coutts closed about 6 seconds, but still trailed beginning the run to the finish. Spithill, carrying the penalty, also carried good speed to the finish line and it appeared he might have enough of a lead to complete the penalty turn. His crew raised the jib, removed the spinnaker pole and lowered the spinnaker as he hardened up onto starboard tack. Spithill completed his tack onto port and bore off to the finish as Coutts steamed down on starboard jibe with a heap of speed.

The race committee raised a blue flag, signaling that Spithill had narrowly won the match. But the umpires penalized Spithill a second time when they ruled he fouled the starboard-tack Coutts as he bore off on port.

That forced Spithill to cross the finish line back onto the racecourse to complete another penalty turn. Coutts, meanwhile, sailed for the dock having advanced to the final.

“I’m really upset with myself,” Spithill said afterwards. “I made two mistakes ; the start and not nailing the pin end of the finish.”

While the extra penalty turn on the finish line cost Spithill the race, he lost it when he failed to hit the layline for the pin end. He overstood the mark which set him up to foul Coutts when he completed his penalty turn.

In the Gilmour-Holmberg match, Gilmour, the reigning Swedish Match Tour champion, won the final pre-start to claim the match. He timed his start to the pin end perfectly and tacked to port while Holmberg was forced to make two downspeed tacks to escape Gilmour’s cover.

Gilmour won the first cross and held a slim 8-second advantage at the windward mark. The gap between the two was never much larger, but Gilmour was always able to stay ahead and converted for the 3-1 series win.

“We focused on the starts today,” Gilmour said. “The one race we lost we muffed the start.”

Holmberg had similar feelings. “I should’ve done a better job in the last pre-start,” said the Tour’s career victories leader. “The starboard boat had been controlling the pre-start, but the wind lightened in the final race and I mistimed the approach while he got it right.”

The Petit Final for third and fourth place also began this afternoon, and Spithill won the match in equally light winds as the first race of the final. Both series are scheduled to resume tomorrow morning.

While Gilmour can joke about him and Coutts being hackers, they’re the two most experienced skippers in the fleet. Neither can recall how many times they’ve faced each other in a match-race final, but one thing’s certain tomorrow : the two crews will display deft boathandling, cunning tactics and a surprise or two.

Final Match (first to 3 points)
 Russell Coutts (NZL) Coutts Racing leads Peter Gilmour (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team, 1-0

Petit Final Match (first to 2 points)
 James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge leads Magnus -Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, 1-0

Semifinal Results
 Russell Coutts (NZL) d. James Spithill (AUS), 3-2
 Peter Gilmour (AUS) d. Magnus Holmberg (SWE), 3-1

PORTO AZZURRO, Elba Island (May 7, 2005) - Coutts and Gilmour square off in the final again

All hackers to the front of the bus please.

Before the start of the Toscana Elba Cup - Trofeo Locman, Stage 5 of the 2004-’05 Swedish Match Tour, veteran skipper Peter Gilmour marveled at the fleet of 12 teams representing syndicates for the 32nd America’s Cup, and wondered how « hackers such as myself and Russell » would fair.

Gilmour and Russell Coutts are veteran Cup campaigners, but not associated with any of the teams preparing for the event that’s a bit more than two years away.

Of no surprise to anyone, the hackers rose above the fray and are now squaring off in the final of the event for the second straight year. Coutts won last year’s final 2-1, and like last year he opened this year’s final by winning the first flight to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series, or first to 3 points.

This year’s final started this afternoon and will continue tomorrow. The first race wasn’t as thrilling as the Semifinal Round that preceded it, with the easterly wind dying away and filling from the west.

Gilmour held a big lead around the first windward mark. Coutts closed slightly on the first run, but Gilmour still led at the leeward mark. Coutts overtook him on the second beat and then survived the 180-degree windshift for the victory.

Coutts and Gilmour advanced to the final after close semifinal matches against James Spithill (AUS), of Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge for the America’s Cup, and Magnus Holmberg (SWE), of Sweden’s Victory Challenge, respectively. While Gilmour won 3-1, Coutts won his match against Spithill on the finish line in the fifth and deciding match.

In an easterly wind between 7 and 10 knots and with the score tied 2-2, Coutts and Spithill squared off with the final on the line. Coutts has high esteem for Spithill, in the past calling him one of the best young sailors. Spithill has equal regard for Coutts. But in the end Spithill said it was his mistakes that cost him the match.

With less than 25 seconds to go to the start, Coutts tacked to leeward of Spithill on the start line. Spithill bore off slightly and didn’t keep clear of Coutts’ luff. The boats hit side-by-side, and Spithill was penalized for failing to keep clear.

Making matters worse, Spithill was also over the line early. Forced to tack to port and dip the line while Coutts held starboard, Spithill took port tack off the line and stepped into a nice breeze line and quickly overcame the disadvantage of having to restart, although he still carried the penalty.

To Coutts, the incident should’ve been red-flagged, meaning that Spithill would’ve had to do his 270-degree penalty turn as soon as he cleared the start line.

« I’m amazed it wasn’t red-flagged, » Coutts said after the match. "Any (incident) with 5 seconds to go and that clear cut should be red-flagged. We were dead in the water and they ended up ahead of us."

After stepping into that breeze line Spithill tacked to starboard and converged with Coutts. Coutts, on port, couldn’t clear and was forced to tack to leeward, close aboard.

Coutts tried luffing Spithill soon after, but Spithill had too much way on and simply coasted over the top of Coutts. The Aussie had a comfortable lead around the windward mark and a 22-second advantage at the leeward mark beginning the second of two laps.

Up the second beat Coutts closed about 6 seconds, but still trailed beginning the run to the finish. Spithill, carrying the penalty, also carried good speed to the finish line and it appeared he might have enough of a lead to complete the penalty turn.

His crew raised the jib, removed the spinnaker pole and lowered the spinnaker as he hardened up onto starboard tack. Spithill completed his tack onto port and bore off to the finish as Coutts steamed down on starboard jibe with a heap of speed.

The race committee raised a blue flag, signaling that Spithill had narrowly won the match. But the umpires penalized Spithill a second time when they ruled he fouled the starboard-tack Coutts as he bore off on port.

That forced Spithill to cross the finish line back onto the racecourse to complete another penalty turn. Coutts, meanwhile, sailed for the dock having advanced to the final.

« I’m really upset with myself, » Spithill said afterwards. "I made two mistakes ; the start and not nailing the pin end of the finish."

While the extra penalty turn on the finish line cost Spithill the race, he lost it when he failed to hit the layline for the pin end. He overstood the mark which set him up to foul Coutts when he completed his penalty turn.

In the Gilmour-Holmberg match, Gilmour, the reigning Swedish Match Tour champion, won the final pre-start to claim the match. He timed his start to the pin end perfectly and tacked to port while Holmberg was forced to make two downspeed tacks to escape Gilmour’s cover.

Gilmour won the first cross and held a slim 8-second advantage at the windward mark. The gap between the two was never much larger, but Gilmour was always able to stay ahead and converted for the 3-1 series win.

« We focused on the starts today, » Gilmour said. "The one race we lost we muffed the start.« Holmberg had similar feelings. »I should’ve done a better job in the last pre-start,« said the Tour’s career victories leader. »The starboard boat had been controlling the pre-start, but the wind lightened in the final race and I mistimed the approach while he got it right."

The Petit Final for third and fourth place also began this afternoon, and Spithill won the match in equally light winds as the first race of the final. Both series are scheduled to resume tomorrow morning.

While Gilmour can joke about him and Coutts being hackers, they’re the two most experienced skippers in the fleet. Neither can recall how many times they’ve faced each other in a match-race final, but one thing’s certain tomorrow : the two crews will display deft boathandling, cunning tactics and a surprise or two.

PORTO AZZURRO, Elba Island (May 6, 2005) — Coutts, Gilmour, Holmberg and Spithill to the semis

The Semifinal Round of the Toscana Elba Cup – Trofeo Locman, Stage 5 of the 2004-’05 Swedish Match Tour, features three of the most victorious skippers in the history of the Tour and another who in time could easily join their ranks.

One semifinal match pits three-time America’s Cup winning skipper Russell Coutts (NZL) and his Coutts Racing team against James Spithill (AUS), of Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge for the America’s Cup.

The other matchup has Magnus Holmberg (SWE), skipper of Sweden’s Victory Challenge for the Cup, squaring off against Peter Gilmour (AUS), skipper of the Pizza-La Sailing Team and the reigning Swedish Match Tour champion.

Holmberg is the Tour’s all-time winning skipper with six career victories. Coutts and Gilmour each have five career victories. Spithill has one Tour victory and three second-place finishes in his career, but has put in far less time than the three veterans. He’s only 25 years old while the others are somewhere north of 40 years old.

The semifinal pairings are as impressive as the event has been. The Toscana Elba Cup featured 14 teams, 12 of them representing syndicates entered in the 32nd America’s Cup. But boathandling and tactical experience has proved valuable in the blustery conditions. Each of tomorrow’s matches is a first to 3 points series.

The four advanced to the semis after victories in the Quarterfinal Round. In a matchup of former and current Team Alinghi helmsmen, Coutts defeated Ed Baird (USA) 2-1, which was the same final score for the match between Holmberg and upstart Iain Percy (GBR), of Italy’s +39 Challenge for the America’s Cup.

Gilmour and Spithill both won their series 2-0. Gilmour defeated Ian Ainslie (RSA), of Team Shosholoza, while Spithill beat Gavin Brady (NZL) of BMW Oracle Racing.

The northwesterly Mistral blew for the second straight day with similar force, between 15 and 18 knots with gusts up to 20 knots. With racing held in the Bay of Porto Azzurro, the waters remained flat but the conditions were streaky with big shifts in the direction.

The Coutts-Baird match was first up and carried as much intrigue as you could want. Not only is Baird a member of Coutts’ former Cup team, but the two have won three of the first four events of the 2004-’05 Tour. Heightening the suspense, Coutts won the first match and Baird the second to set up a sudden death final match.

In that match, Coutts got a late hook on Baird with about 30 seconds to the start. In doing so, he forced Baird to tack to port. Coutts followed, and drove the pair away from the starting line before tacking and leading back to the line.

When the starting gun sounded, Coutts was still about three boatlengths from the start line, but it didn’t matter. In match-racing the goal is to crush your opponent, and Coutts seemed on his way to that goal.

Coutts led around the first lap of the twice around racecourse, and began the second lap with a lead roughly equal to the one he had at the start. But Baird sailed a blazing second beat and overtook Coutts halfway up the leg. Baird led around the windward mark the second time, but Coutts was right on his transom.

Baird’s crew had a clean set while Coutts’ was slightly slower. Baird still led halfway down the run when Coutts jibed back to port. He found a big puff that allowed him to sail low and fast down the course, and he simply sailed around Baird to win by no more than a boatlength.

“Ninety percent of the runs have favored starboard jibe,” Baird said. “We thought we’d consolidate on that jibe. But he got a puff that allowed him to sail low and fast.”

The Holmberg-Percy match also came down to a sudden death finale, but it was over much sooner than the Coutts-Baird match. Holmberg started to windward close aboard of Percy, and kept him covered up the first beat. Percy never really had a chance as Holmberg led by about three boatlengths at the first windward mark and extended to the finish.

“We got the start a bit wrong in that one,” said Percy, who made his debut on the Swedish Match Tour this week. “A day like today was one where the rich get richer.”

While the other two matches were 2-0, they were hardly walkovers. Gilmour got the best of Ainslie despite the South African, also sailing in his first Swedish Match Tour event, putting forth a huge effort. Gilmour won the first match at the finish line, when Ainslie couldn’t cancel out a penalty he was carrying.

Spithill won the first match against Brady, but trailed in the second match at the second windward mark. Brady had inside position at the mark rounding but was penalized when he tacked to port from starboard his transom hit Spithill’s.

Spithill rounded the mark right behind Brady who tried to luff the Aussie to unload the penalty, but Spithill avoided the incident and sailed over the top and onto victory.

Earlier this morning Coutts and Ainslie won their final repechage round matches against Hamish Pepper (NZL), of Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, and Francesco de Angelis (ITA), of Luna Rossa Challenge, respectively, to advance to the quarterfinals.

In racing this afternoon for fifth through eighth, Baird beat Percy for fifth, and Brady beat Ainslie for seventh.

Percy, the 2000 gold medalist in the Finn class and now the helmsman for the +39 Challenge, finished sixth for the week, a very respectable finish for someone making his match-racing debut.

“This was definitely a confidence boost for us,” said Percy. “We learned too many things to mention. We came here to watch the top guys, but came away with a finish beyond our expectations and experience.”

Quarterfinal Results
 Russell Coutts (NZL) Coutts Racing d. Ed Baird (USA) Team Alinghi, 2-1
 James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge d. Gavin Brady (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing, 2-0
 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge d. Iain Percy (GBR) +39 Challenge, 2-1
 Peter Gilmour (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team d. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 2-0

Semifinal Pairings
 Russell Coutts (NZL) Coutts Racing vs. James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge
 Peter Gilmour (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team vs. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge

Places 5th through 8th
 Ed Baird (USA) Team Alinghi d. Iain Percy (GBR) +39 Challenge
 Baird 5th, Percy 6th
 Gavin Brady (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing d. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza
 Brady 7th, Ainslie 8th

May 5 : With a Mistral blowing on Porto Azzurro, Day 2 produced an array of action

Day 2 of the Toscana Elba Cup, Stage 5 of the 2004-’05 Swedish Match Tour, produced an array of thrills and spills for the 500 spectators who meandered through the race village on a sun-drenched day.

There were as many as six come-from-behind victories in the 22 matches on the day. Two of them came on the finish line in the final flight of Group A’s round robin, and affected the final standings in the group.

Three times crews pulled off a penalty turn on the finish line, completing their 270-degree turn and clearing the line before their competitor could overtake. After the Group A and B round robins were completed, there were seven ties broken (four in Group A, three in Group B) to determine who advanced to the quarters and who advanced to the sudden-death repechage round.

The day ended with the repechage round halfway completed. A repechage round, borrowed from rowing, gives teams a chance to race another day. That honor went to Ian Ainslie (RSA), of Team Shosholoza, Francesco de Angelis (ITA), of Luna Rossa Challenge, Russell Coutts (NZL), of Coutts Racing, and Hamish Pepper (NZL), of Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team. Each won their first knockout match, and will have to survive another tomorrow morning if they hope to advance to the quarterfinals.

Those victories followed the round robins for Group A and B being completed by mid-afternoon. The top three crews in each group advanced directly to the quarterfinals, and will be joined by the two winners from the repechage round.

The wind made a welcomed appearance today. A light east/southeasterly dominated the final three flights of Group B’s round robin in the morning. As the final match was finishing, the wind shifted around to the northwest, the Mistral direction, and promptly increased in strength to 15 knots, with gusts up to 18 knots. The gusts started reaching 20 knots later in the day, and forced the race committee to order the use of the smaller, 100-percent jibs on the Swedish Match 40s in place of the larger, overlapping genoas.

There were also big oscillations in the breeze as the puffs rolled off the mountains at the western end of the bay. No lead was safe, and when it changed it changed quickly.

Some of the best action of the day came in the four matches of the sudden-death repechage round. Ben Ainslie (GBR), of Emirates Team New Zealand, faced Ian Ainslie, while De Angelis raced Thierry Peponnet (FRA), of K-Challenge, both in the top half of the ladder. In the bottom half, Coutts raced Peter Holmberg (ISV), of Team Alinghi, while Pepper faced Karol Jablonski (POL), of Desafio Español.

Pepper won his match after Jablonski was penalized at the first windward mark when he tried to round inside of Pepper. After the match Pepper was at a loss to explain what had happened. As he walked towards the umpires’ office to confer about the incident, he said that he thought he might’ve been in the wrong.

Coutts, the former skipper of Team Alinghi who led his team to victory in the 2003 America’s Cup, won his match against Holmberg, a helmsman for the America’s Cup-winning team, despite having to clear a penalty on the finish line. Coutts earned the penalty approaching the leeward mark while trailing Holmberg.

Despite being penalized he rounded the leeward mark close to Holmberg and then gained the lead in the following moments. On port tack, he crossed Holmberg’s bow in a lifting puff. Once across, he got to the right side where, on starboard tack, he found another lifting puff. That allowed him to extend to an insurmountable lead, despite a bad spinnaker set and the penalty turn.

In the match of the Ainslies, who have no relation to each other, Ian beat Ben when the Great Briton started too early. Ben Ainslie protested the race committee after the loss, saying that the timing between the start flag and the sound signal wasn’t in sync. But he also admitted it’s his responsibility to start properly.

Perhaps the only straightforward match was that between de Angelis and Peponnet, but even then de Angelis overtook Peponnet on the first beat in a manner similar to the way Coutts passed Holmberg. De Angelis then held on to the finish to race another day.

Tomorrow morning’s repechage matches pit Ian Ainslie against de Angelis and Coutts against Pepper. Ben Ainslie, Peponnet, Holmberg and Jablonski have been eliminated from competition.

The winner of the Ainslie-de Angelis match advances to the bottom half of the ladder where he’ll face Peter Gilmour (AUS), who won the Group B round robin with a 5-1 record. Gilmour won his group after completing penalty turns at the finish line in two of his three final matches.

The other half of that bracket pits Magnus Holmberg (SWE), second in Group A with a 4-2 mark, against Iain Percy (GBR), who finished third in Group B at 3-3.

The winner of the Coutts-Pepper match advances to the top half of the quarterfinal ladder to face Ed Baird (USA), who won Group A at 4-2. James Spithill (AUS), third in Group A with a 4-2 record, races Gavin Brady (NZL), second in Group B at 4-2, in the other half of the bracket.

With the Mistral predicted to last up to three days, the action should continue to be rough and tumble.

TOSCANA ELBA CUP – Repechage Round Results

 Ian Ainslie (RSA) d. Ben Ainslie (GBR)
 Francesco de Angelis (ITA) d. Thierry Peponnet (FRA)
 Winner of I. Ainslie-de Angelis match advances to quarterfinals

 Russell Coutts (NZL) d. Peter Holmberg (ISV)
 Hamish Pepper (NZL) d. Karol Jablonski (POL) Winner of Coutts-Pepper match advances to quarterfinals

TOSCANA ELBA CUP – Final Round Robin Standings

Group A
 1. Ed Baird* (USA) Team Alinghi, 4-2
 2. Magnus Holmberg* (SWE) Victory Challenge, 4-2
 3. James Spithill* (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge, 4-2
 4. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 4-2
 5. Hamish Pepper (NZL) Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, 3-3
 6. Francesco de Angelis (ITA) Luna Rossa Challenge, 2-4
 7. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Team Alinghi, 0-6

Group B
 1. Peter Gilmour* (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team, 5-1
 2. Gavin Brady* (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing, 4-2
 3. Iain Percy* (GBR) +39 Challenge, 3-3
 4. Russell Coutts (NZL) Coutts Racing, 3-3
 5. Thierry Peponnet (FRA) K-Challenge, 3-3
 6. Karol Jablonski (RSA) Desafio Español, 2-4
 7. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 1-5

May 4 : Underdogs have their day at Porto Azzuro

The pre-regatta consensus among the 70 sailors competing in the Toscana Elba Cup, Stage 5 of the 2004-’05 Swedish Match Tour, was that there wouldn’t be any easy outs.

The 14-team field is stacked with America’s Cup champions, Olympic medalists and world champions from all forms of sailing, from ice-boating through the Olympics to the America’s Cup. But it was the established match-racers who had difficulty in the opening flights.

Skippers such as Swedish Match Tour leader Ed Baird (USA), of Team Alinghi, and three-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts (NZL), of Coutts Racing, are 1-2. Past Swedish Match Tour champion Peter Holmberg (ISV), of Team Alinghi, is 0-3.

At the top of the fleet, James Spithill (AUS), of Luna Rossa Challenge, in Group A and Gavin Brady (NZL), of BMW Oracle Racing, in Group B both won all three of their matches and lead their respective groups.

“It’s tough match-racing in light winds, it’s not always exciting” said Brady, a helmsman for BMW Oracle Racing. “This event has a good format. There’s enough racing scheduled to get the job done and move to the quarterfinals. But if you don’t get it done, there’s another chance in the repechage round.”

Brady’s Group B fought not only each other, but also lighter winds than Group A did in the morning. While the wind averaged around 8 knots for Group A’s four flights, Group B contended with winds lighter than 5 knots for much of the afternoon. Throughout the day the wind was from an easterly direction, blowing into the Bay of Porto Azzurro.

The conditions were ripe for upsets, and there were plenty. Coutts, a Finn gold medalist in 1984, lost matches to Iain Percy (GBR), of +39 Challenge and a Finn gold medalist in 2000, as well as Ian Ainslie (GBR), of Team Shosholoza, himself a two-time Olympian in the Finn class.

In Group A, Ben Ainslie (GBR), of Emirates Team New Zealand and a double Olympic gold medalist (Laser in 2000, Finn in 2004), left the day with a 2-2 mark in his first Swedish Match Tour event since 2001.

“We made a few key mistakes in the ones we lost,” said Ben Ainslie, “but it was nice to bounce back and win after the losses.”

Ben Ainslie said the key was the pre-starts. In the two losses he got stuffed in the pre-start. But he also won his final match of the day against Baird by stuffing him in the pre-start. Ainslie earned a penalty against Baird when the American tacked too close in the final moments of the four-minute sequence.

“From our boat it didn’t look too close,” said Baird. “But from the umpires’ boat, which is following behind, it might’ve looked too close.”

Holmberg surprised everyone by going 0-3 to be the only winless skipper after the first day. Holmberg, one of the craftiest skippers on the Tour, said he could’ve done better all around.

“We’re not putting our plan together,” said Holmberg. “The other guy is getting the first shift off the line. We got what we wanted, but it wasn’t the right thing. Our starts were just OK ; they could be better. It was tough to pass.”

While there were few passing opportunities in the early racing, the afternoon action saw many passes, mainly due to the light and streaky easterly. Thierry Peponnet (FRA), of the K-Challenge, dropped his match to Coutts on the first run after leading around the first windward mark.

“It’s a shame, we could’ve had one there,” said Peponnet. “(Coutts) got a puff on his side of the course that we never saw.”

Peponnet had one of those go his way when he beat Karol Jablonski (POL), of Desafio Español, after trailing at the first three mark roundings. Peponnet closed up on Jablonski from behind, and then beat him in a jibe to starboard to on the run to the finish.

While Coutts won that match against Peponnet, he lost his match against Ian Ainslie on the run to the finish. Coutts led Ainslie around the first lap of the two-lap windward-leeward racecourse, but lost the lead when Ainslie’s crew beat Coutts’ in a jibe to starboard. Ainslie then rolled over the top of the all-time America’s Cup-winning skipper.