The win was Gilmour’s third victory at the King Edward VII Gold Cup and third overall win on the Swedish Match Tour, having previously won the Australia Cup in 2000 and 2001.

Today’s conditions featured blustery and shifty 14-15 knot winds on a white-capped Hamilton Harbor resulting in, as race commentator Peter Montgomery of New Zealand noted, “maritime chess.”

“It was a little more than `maritime chess’ out there today, it was a real handful to keep the IODs in one piece and maneuver them at all,” responded Dickson.

The first two matches found each of the competitors over the start line early, Dickson in the first and Gilmour in the second.

“My team was very, very smooth all week, they had the bit between their teeth,” said Gilmour. “I said to my guys earlier in the week the way to lose this regatta is to be over the line early, because these boats really take to a course.”

“It was tough because the start line was very biased to the committee boat and today was one of those days where you either win the start or you don’t,” replied Dickson.

In the third match, Gilmour shut out Dickson at the start, then luffed him up at the first windward mark rounding, forcing him into a penalty. Gilmour wasn’t done there however, as he continued to push Dickson well past the mark before peeling away to set the spinnaker and establish a comfortable lead and sail on to championship point.

Dickson answered in the fourth match, however, forcing Gilmour into a penalty in the pre-start. After rounding the windward mark ahead, Gilmour dropped his spinnaker to try and engage Dickson in an offsetting penalty. Unfortunately for Gilmour, the move backfired and he copped a second penalty, necessitating an immediate turn and forcing a fifth and final match.

In the fifth match, immediately after entering the pre-start area, both boats sailed over to the Lady Tamara, the spectator boat, circling on either side, and not engaging each other in the slightest. As the clock ticked down and the boats moved back into position to start, the two became tangled and Gilmour was whistled for contact, getting a red flag in the process, as in the umpires’ judgment the infraction gave him an immediate advantage over Dickson.

The action wasn’t over there however, as Dickson was then penalized for tacking too close to Gilmour as the boats crossed the line, putting the Oracle BMW Racing team at a disadvantage to start the race.

After three legs around the course, with both boats staying clear and searching for whatever advantage the breeze on Hamilton Harbor might provide, they rounded the windward mark and went down the final run more than halfway without hoisting their spinnakers. Gybing along, Gilmour’s crew finally pulled out their chute, but as Dickson responded his foredeck ran into trouble, failing to get a clean set as the spinnaker twisted itself into a mess. When the Oracle BMW Racing Team finally straightened themselves out, Gilmour had erased his deficit and moved ahead, with Dickson running out of race track and Gilmour getting the gun.

The win was definitely relished by the four-time America’s Cup veteran and long-time international match racer. “It’s a pleasure to be on the podium again, for us it’s been a long time. It’s such a unique venue here and this is one of the high-end, premier stops on the Swedish Match Tour.”

In the morning’s Petit Finals, defending champion Jesper Radich of Denmark acquitted himself by defeating Team New Zealand’s Dean Barker of the Omega Match Racing Team, 2-1. With the scoreline tied at 1-1, Barker copped a penalty in the pre-start of the third match, but sailed well ahead of Radich around the course to put plenty of position between himself and the Dane prior to the finish line.

However, as bowman Ben Ainslie attempted to pull down the spinnaker to exonerate the penalty he was unable to get the chute below the gooseneck, a requirement to have the umpires drop the flag. As a result, Barker had to attempt the penalty turn again, but the extra time allowed Radich to close the distance and cross the line to grab the decisive win.

“It’s pretty disappointing for us today,” said Barker. “We were in front in all three races and it was a case of either we did it to ourselves or we had issues with the umpires. Jesper and his guys were sailing really well, and had been all week, congratulations to them.”

Gilmour’s win today moved the Australian and his team to the top of the current Swedish Match Tour Rankings, following the first two events of Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004. Gilmour previously finished third at August’s Danish Open 2003. Gilmour is now 13 points ahead of reigning Swedish Match Tour champion Radich and 15 points in front of Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg of Team Continental Airlines, winner in Denmark.

The next event on the Swedish Match Tour is the Nippon Cup 2003, November 17-23 in Hayama, Japan. For all the latest news from the Swedish Match Tour log on to www.swedishmatchtour.com.

Final Investors Guaranty Presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup Standings
Skipper Prize Money
1.Peter Gilmour, AUS/Pizza La Sailing Team $30,000
2.Chris Dickson, Oracle BMW Racing Team $18,000
3.Jesper Radich, DEN/Team Radich $11,500
4.Dean Barker, NZ/Omega Match Race Team $9,000
5.Russell Coutts, Alinghi Team $7,500
6.Bill Hardesty, USA $6,500
7.Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Colorcraft $6,000
8.Paula Lewin, BER/Team Ace Group $5,500

Current Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004 Rankings
Skipper Points
1.Peter Gilmour, AUS/Pizza La Sailing Team 40
2.Jesper Radich, DEN/Team Radich 27
3.Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team Continental Airlines 25
4.Jesper Bank, Denmark 20
=Chris Dickson, Oracle BMW Racing Team 20
6.Dean Barker, NZ/Omega Match Racing Team 12
7.Russell Coutts, Alinghi Team 10
=Kelvin Harrap, New Zealand 10

Final Results
Flight 1
Gilmour def. Dickson

Flight 2
Dickson def. Gilmour

Flight 3
Gilmour def. Dickson

Flight 4
Dickson def. Gilmour

Flight 5
Gilmour def. Dickson

Source: Shawn McBride