Ed Baird wins Match Race Germany

Gilmour and his multi-national crew of Rod Dawson (NZL), Mike Mottl (AUS), Kazuhiko Sofuku (JPN) and Yasuhiro Yaji (JPN) won the championship with a 2-1 defeat of Denmark’s Jesper Bank, skipper of United Internet Team Germany.

The victory was Gilmour’s first on the Tour since winning the championship here last year. It also was his sixth win on the Swedish Match Tour, and tied him with Russell Coutts of New Zealand and Magnus Holmberg of Sweden for the most career victories in the six years of Tour competition.

“I’m extremely delighted,” Gilmour said. “It’s been a year since we won a Tour event. We’ve had a bit of a tough year, so it’s nice to win again.”

Bank hadn’t raced on the Swedish Match Tour since last July, but was very smooth all week. He also was the local favorite this week as he will skipper Germany’s first America’s Cup challenge. His crew included Henrik Blakskjær, Michael Haestbeck, Thomas Jacobsen and tactician Markus Wieser. Bank said Wieser will continue to serve as his tactician on the Cup team.

“Peter, you guys showed us you have to darn good to win a match-race final, and you guys were darn good,” Bank said to Gilmour at the final awards ceremony.

Ed Baird of the U.S., a helmsman for Team Alinghi, placed third and retained the overall lead of the Swedish Match Tour. Baird’s 15 points increased his total to 90 points. Baird leads Gilmour by 3 points. Gilmour has closed 20 points on Baird in the past two events to heighten the suspense going into the final two stages of the Tour.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t get a chance to race for the championship,” Baird said. “But I’d like to congratulate Rudi Magg and the race committee. They used every bit of wind they had and did a terrific job.”

Baird beat Frenchman Bertrand Pacé, of BMW Oracle Racing 2-0 in the Petit Final. “Ed sailed much better than us,” said Pacé. “He had a better start in the first race and we picked the wrong side in the second race.”

For most of the day it appeared the final may not even be raced. The day began with no wind on Lake Constance. Amendments to the sailing instructions added flexibility to the schedule.

The hope was to complete the semifinal, but if it didn’t get underway by 11:00 a.m. it was to be canceled. That hour came and went without any wind or any attempts at starting.

With the semifinals canceled, Gilmour and Bank advanced to the final because they were the top two in the quarterfinal round robin. Two and a half hours passed before the sailors returned to the water to attempt the final and petit final. In the end, the winds from the northwest at 8 knots were the best of the day and provided fair racing.

The first flight started at 2:15 p.m., and Gilmour won handily. He sailed the left side of the first beat and was never threatened. “I think he sailed around us in that one,” Bank said. “We wanted the right, but he had a lot more speed.”

Bank rebounded for a big win in Race 2. Gilmour had a bad start right to windward of Bank and had to tack away to the right. Bank won the first cross and never looked back to even the series 1-1.

The final flight started just before 4:00 p.m., the time limit for racing on the final day. Gilmour again started to windward of Bank but this time with better speed and a bit more separation. The two legged out on starboard tack for a good three minutes. Gilmour had fractionally better speed and was able to sail over Bank ever so slightly.

“Mike gave it a little more trim halfway up the leg and we were just able to live there,” Gilmour said of the key moment in the race.

Bank was only 9 seconds behind at the windward mark, and tried attacking on the run. But Gilmour’s crew was too polished today and rose to the occasion.

“I told the boys we’re going to have to race this one out,” said Gilmour. “They did a great job. I enjoyed myself this week. I enjoy these boats. They reward skillful crew work ; keeping the boat moving and smooth handling.”

The Swedish Match Tour resumes action on May 22 with the ACI H1 Match Race Cup in Split, Croatia, where Baird and Gilmour will renew their battle for the championship.