| HAMILTON HARBOUR, BERMUDA -(20-10-2002) It was billed as a confrontation of the Swedish Match Tour’s “Great Danes” and it certainly was a dogfight out on Hamilton Harbour today. In his first appearance at the Swedish Match Tour’s Bermuda Gold Cup, Denmark’s Jesper Radich defeated fellow countryman Jes Gram-Hansen and his “Team Victory Lane,” 3-1, to claim the coveted King Edward VII Gold Cup and the US$20,000 first prize.
“Its all about making as few mistakes as possible and in these conditions you will never win without being lucky,” said a jubilant Radich. “We learned from a week of sailing here that conventional match race tactics don’t work in these boats. The IODs are so heavy and have so little sail area that anytime you have a little bit of wind, you have to go for it.”
The match up of two of the Swedish Match Tour’s “young guns” saw each of them looking for their second win on the world’s premier professional sailing tour. Radich and his crew of Peter Poulsen, Christian Plinius and Andres Kristensen, had previously won May’s Match Race Germany, while Gram-Hansen and his crew of Kevin McCarthy, Christian Kamp and Michael Arnhild, won the Swedish Match Tour’s most recent event, the Danish Open 2002, held on their home waters of Skoveshoved Harbour, just north of Copenhagen.
“Neither of us would have made it this far without the other,” said Radich. “ I want to thank Jes and his crew for bringing out the best in us. We made a deal that the winner would plan a party for the other crew when we return to Denmark and I can promise everyone that we’re going to have a great party.”
Gram-Hansen’s second place finish here, while disappointing, allowed the Dane and his crew to maintain their overall lead on the Swedish Match Tour’s 2002/2003 Rankings. Radich’s win moved him from fifth to second place overall after four of nine events.
“All the racing was very close,” said Gram-Hansen. “It often comes down to a close call, we’re not disappointed at all. Jesper and his team sailed a great race and we’re very happy to continue to be leading the Swedish Match Tour.”
In the first match of the finals, the two boats moved into a dial up at the center of the start box. Gram-Hansen peeled off on port tack with Radich moving slowly onto starboard tack. Both had clean starts with Radich doing a good job starting with his bow out as Gram-Hansen immediately tacked to the right.
As the boats moved up the racecourse and tacked for the first time, Gram-Hansen held the advantage and steamed to the windward mark rounding, with Radich close behind. Just prior to rounding the mark the two became tangled, resulting in offsetting penalties with Radich getting the benefit as he slipped past Gram-Hansen to take the lead.
“I don’t really know what the umpires saw there,” said Gram-Hansen. “It was very tricky and the boats were close, there might have been some contact but Jesper didn’t really react which was why he was flagged as well.”
Coming up to the leeward mark rounding, Radich had a one and a half boat length lead. Following the rounding, Gram-Hansen pulled off to the left in search of a big lift, but he couldn’t find enough to counter the speed Radich was able to generate on the right hand side, eventually opening up a one minute 13 second lead at the windward mark rounding and cruising to victory.
Match 2 found the Race Committee lengthening the racecourse to three laps, giving the competitors more time to play in the shifts on Hamilton Harbour. As the boats entered the pre-start area, Gram-Hansen on the left and Radich on the right, Gram-Hansen pulled his protest flag as Radich pushed Gram-Hansen as hard as he could. No penalty was called however and two boats continued to work for the advantage.
Radich managed a superior start, measuring the distance to the start well as time counted down. However, Radich allowed Gram-Hansen to get to the right side of the course and build good boat speed, countering Radich’s fine starting efforts and rounding the windward mark a boat length ahead.
Radich challenged Gram-Hansen for the rest of the match. Each time the Victory Lane crew was able to build a significant lead, Radich and his crew reeled them in, closing the gaps but, eventually Radich ran out of racetrack, even though the additional lap had been added to the second race.
Match 3 saw the race committee move the course closer to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the spectator bleachers set up on the pier. The course shift also brought the seawall into play in the start sequences, adding another factor to the fluky conditions and ever-growing spectator fleet on Hamilton Harbour that the teams had to contend with and consider in laying out their game plan.
In the start Radich immediately dove into the spectator fleet in a game of cat-and-mouse with Gram-Hansen. Radich then forced a penalty on Gram-Hansen, who did not respond to a luff by Radich. Radich then bore off as the gun sounded, heading to the left side of the course.
Gram-Hansen followed and both boats received good lift, with Radich sailing directly into a lull, as Gram-Hansen sailed past. Gram-Hansen continued to lead and decided to execute his penalty turn prior to the second windward mark rounding. It turned out the decision was ill-advised as Radich was able to cross ahead following the penalty turn as Gram-Hansen fell victim to the combination of a loss in speed and the another patch of light air.
After rounding the windward mark, Radich sailed directly into some good pressure, extending his lead over Gram-Hansen to 28 seconds at the second leeward mark rounding and continuing to read the shifts well on the final lap to put he and his crew on championship point.
In Match 4 the race committee changed back to a two-leg course for what would prove to be the final match of the regatta. In the pre-start Gram-Hansen played the role of aggressor, trying to pin a penalty on Radich and provide himself with some breathing room. An exciting pre-start culminated with Radich being over the line early and Gram-Hansen stuck against the Committee Boat with no momentum and no where to go. As Radich circled to re-start, Gram-Hansen’s crew executed some fancy sail-work to get themselves clear and moving.
Gram-Hansen was able to read the better shifts up the leeward leg and round the windward mark 13 seconds ahead of Radich. Gram-Hansen held his lead on the downwind leg but battled light air on the second leeward leg, yet still able to round the windward mark ahead on Radich.
Radich was able to catch a good puff as he rounded the windward mark and the momentum propelled him within a boat length of Gram-Hansen. On the final leg it was a horse race with the boats racing within a bow length down the run.
Radich made his move, a decisive jibe with about one-third of the track remaining, and was able to pass Gram-Hansen, pulling slightly ahead into the favorable pressure by the start line, claiming the 2002 Bermuda Gold Cup.
In the petit finals, local Peter Bromby of “Team Ace Group” took the first match of the first-to-two-wins series, outmaneuvering Poland’s Karol Jablonski and his “Team MK Café” on a racecourse set just off the terrace of the Hamilton Princess Hotel. In the second match, Bromby again got the better of Jablonski, claiming third place and the $7,000 share of the prize purse.
The next stop on the Swedish Match Tour is the New Zealand Cup in February 2003. Log on to www.swedishmatchtour.com for all the latest news and results.
BERMUDA GOLD CUP FINAL STANDINGS
Skipper
1. Jesper Radich, DEN/Team Radich, US$20,000
2. Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Victory Lane, $12,000
3. Peter Bromby, BDA/Team Ace Group, $7,000
4. Karol Jablonski, POL/Team MK Café, $5,900
5. Mikael Lindqvist, Sweden, $4,800
6. Paula Lewin, BDA/Team Ace Group, $4,200
7. Mattias Rahm, SWE/Team Stena Bulk, $3,700
8. Staffan Lindberg, FIN/Team Musto, $3,400
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR 2002/2003 RANKINGS
Skipper Points
1.Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Victory Lane 64
2.Jesper Radich, DEN/Team Radich 53
3. Chris Law, GBR/”The Outlaws” 31
James Spithill, OneWorld Challenge 31
5. Ed Baird, USA/Team Musto 30
6. Mattias Rahm, SWE/Team Stena Bulk 26
7. Karol Jablonski, POL/Team MK Café 24
8. Staffan Lindberg, FIN/Team Musto 19
FINALS
Flight 1
Radich def. Gram-Hansen
Flight 2
Gram-Hansen def. Radich
Flight 3
Radich def. Gram-Hansen
Flight 4
Radich def. Gram-Hansen
PETIT FINALS
Flight 1
Bromby def. Jablonski
Flight 2
Bromby def. Jablonski
About the Swedish Match Tour
· The Swedish Match Tour is comprised of nine of the world's leading professional sailing events and is proving to be the ultimate battleground of sailing.
· In addition to more than US$400,000 in individual event prize money, the Swedish Match Tour awards US$200,000 to the top eight sailors on the Swedish Match Tour, with the first-place skipper netting US$60,000.
· In addition to a US$60,000 first prize, the winner of the Swedish Match Tour receives the official Swedish Match Tour Championship Trophy, 15`` (30 cm) high with 22 carat gold gilding, produced by Swedish Match Tour sponsor Wedgwood. Additionally, Wedgwood supplies runner-up prizes for second and third places as well as commemorative plaques to each event organizer.
· The Swedish Match Tour produces 155 hours of television coverage reaching more than 427 million households worldwide.
· Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, Octagon and the Match Race Association.
· Swedish Match Tour sponsors include Colorcraft, Champagne Mumm, Musto and Wedgwood
| 
