Kiwi Gavin Brady of Team Beau Geste, former member of the Prada Challenge’s afterguard, and the wire-to-wire leader in the regatta’s round robin standings, will be joined by Australia’s James Spithill, former helmsman for the OneWorld Challenge, Italy’s Paolo Cian of Team Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team, former helmsman for the Mascalzone Latino Challenge, and American Ken Read of Saucony Racing, former helmsman for Team Dennis Conner.

By advancing the semifinals, Brady once again puts himself in position to claim his first Swedish Match Tour victory, an elusive prize over the past two years.  To date, Brady has competed in ten Swedish Match Tour events and finished as runner-up five times including last year’s Congressional Cup.

Read and his team, who finished third at last year’s Congressional Cup, have been red-hot of late, winning six of their last seven matches, including all three today, to sail into the semis tied with Cian, who also posted a perfect record today, at 10-7, overall.

“We’re obviously quite pleased, especially after a 1-4 start when it looked pretty dismal,” said Read. “When it all clicks and you sail well, you have fun.  We’re thrilled to be in the top four and look forward to tomorrow.”

Regatta-leader Brady finally came to earth today when Denmark’s Jesper Radich, ranked second on the Swedish Match Tour, snapped the Kiwi’s 14 match winning streak to start the day’s racing on Long Beach’s Outer Harbor.  Brady then lost his second match to Read before winning a thrilling match against Spithill.

In his match with Spithill, Brady copped a penalty in the pre-start of the day’s most aggressive match.  The two crews went at each other several times in the pre-start area just beyond Belmont Pier, as Brady tried to wipe off his own penalty by drawing the Assuie crew into one of their own.  Brady’s efforts proved fruitless, however and he crossed the line still carrying the penalty. 

From there, Brady sailed a skillful race, staying ahead of Spithill and clear of trouble, and approached the finish line with enough time to execute his penalty.  The victory padded Brady’s win total but also sent a message to his possible opponents in tomorrow’s final action that he’s still on top of his game.

It turns out Brady tweaked his back in the process of racing today, aggravating an old injury.

“Gavin went to get a message to get the kinks worked out, but he should be fine,” said Chris Larson, serving as Brady’s tactician this week and representing him at the afternoon’s press conference.

With the semifinalists decided, the battle for position in the second division standings and Swedish Match Tour points will be on.  The key match in Flight 18 will be the fifth and final one, pitting Swedish Match Tour leader Jes Gram-Hansen of Team Victory Lane against Radich, nine points behind his countryman on the current Swedish Match Tour Leaderboard.

“First of all, it’s a very important match because we’re all on the same flight home to Denmark,” joked Gram-Hansen.  “Any time Swedish Match Tour points are on the line its very important because each point could prove crucial later in the year.”

Following the full flight, the first-to-two points semifinals will be raced with the finals and petit finals concluding the 2003 Congressional Cup later on Saturday afternoon.

For all the latest news from the Swedish Match Tour’s Congressional Cup visit www.swedishmatchtour.com.

CONGRESSIONAL CUP LEADERBOARD

Skipper                                                                       Wins            Losses             Points

1.Gavin Brady, NZ/Team Beau Geste                           15            2                      15

2.James Spithill, AUS/Team Spithill                             12            5                      12

3.Paolo Cian, ITA/Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team       10            7                      10

   Ken Read, USA/Saucony Racing Team                       10            7                      10

5.Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team Holmberg                   7            10                    7

   Chris Law, GBR/ “The Outlaws”                                7            10                    7

  Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Victory Lane                7            10                    7

8.Jesper Radich, DEN/Team Radich                             6            11                    6

  Scott Dickson, USA/Dickson Racing Team                 6            11                    6

10. Luc Pillot, FRA/Team Luc Pillot                             5            12                    5

Round Robin Racing

Flight 15

Spithill def. Dickson

Read def. Law

Cian def. Holmberg

Radich def. Brady

Gram-Hansen def. Pillot

Flight 16

Cian def. Radich

Gram-Hansen def. Dickson

Pillot def. Law

Spithill def. Holmberg

Read def. Brady

Flight 17

Law def. Dickson

Holmberg def. Pillot

Brady def. Spithill

Cian def. Gram-Hansen

Read def. Radich

Source: Shawn Mc Bride