Rahm, himself an employee of Henry Lloyd in Sweden, and his crew of Claes Dahlberg (IT manager), Mikael Bjorndahl (banker), Pontus Meijer (computer purchasing manager) and Niklas Carlzon (student) posted an overall round robin record of 8-3 and, by virtue of their results against those still completing the round robin, are guaranteed one of the four semifinal spots.

“We had six races in a row today so the guys couldn’t rest, and after the first three we were already tired,” said Rahm.  “Considering that, I’m really happy we won two of our last three and are advancing to the next round.”

“Our teamwork today was excellent,” continued Rahm.  “We only won two of our starts so the guys really bailed me out.  I’m going to need to start much better if we hope to have a successful weekend.”

Also registering four wins on the day were Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen and Team Victory Lane.  Their day gives the Danes an overall record of 6-2, and puts them in a good position to advance.

“The boats are very maneuverable and we definitely use our knowledge of them to our advantage,” said Gram-Hansen.  “With the wind being very stable, not a big difference in pressure or direction, boat handling and keeping speed are very important to having success.”

Not to be diminished in Gram-Hansen’s opinion is the psychological aspect of the game of match racing.  “The effort we’ve put in over the past two years on the Swedish Match Tour is starting to show now, at every event.  Being able to be competitive with America’s Cup teams gives us confidence and we are not intimidated by anyone we line up against.

“The whole team is doing a great job and Jens (Dolmer – an new crew member for this event) has worked in well.  In my mind these guys are on par with any of the America’s Cup crews we’ve met at Swedish Match Tour events.”

Without putting too much pressure on himself or his crew, Gram-Hansen expects good things at Danish Open 2002, “We’ve lost two races so far and both have come down to umpire calls.  If we continue to sail like we have, we can have a very good result.”

Also at 6-2, overall after posting three wins today is local skipper Lars Nordbjerg.  After losing his first two matches of the day to Gram-Hansen and Great Britain’s Chris Law and the Outlaws, Nordbjerg rebounded to win three in a row, including one against Rahm, to finish his day and keep his hopes of advancing alive

Completing their portion of the round robin were Henrik Jensen of Denmark and Australian Scott Walton.  Jensen registered three wins against three losses on the day for a final record of 6-5.  Walton, unfortunately, never got on the scoreboard, finishing a disappointing 0-11.

Wrapping up Thursday’s action, in jury hearings in the evening both Law and Sweden’s Bjorn Hansen of Team GOL Sailing were penalized .5 points for on-the-water incidents.

The racing format for the Danish Open 2002 begins with a round robin with each of the 12 teams sailing each other once.  Following the round robin the four highest scoring teams qualify for the first-to-two-points semifinals.  The two winning teams then advance from the semifinals to meet in a first-to-three-points finals.

The Danish Open 2002 continues at 10am on Saturday.  For all the latest news and results log on to www.swedishmatchtour.com.

ROUND ROBIN LEADERBOARD
Skipper                                                      Wins    Losses
1. Mattias Rahm, SWE/Team StoraEnso                    8            3

2. Lars Nordbjerg, Denmark                                             6            2

3.Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Victory Lane            6            2

4. Henrik Jensen, Denmark                                             6            5

5. Chris Law, GBR/The Outlaws                                  4.5            3

6. Bjorn Hansen, SWE/Team GOL Sailing                 3.5            4

7.Staffan Lindberg, Finland                                                3            2

8. Michael Lindquist, Sweden                                   3            2

9. Richard Mathieu, France                                     3            5

10. Jesper Radich, Denmark                                             2            3

11.Gustav Nilsson, Sweden                                               2            6

12.Scott Walton, Australia                                             0            11

Round Robin Results
Flight 9
Hansen def. Mathieu

Law def. Nilsson

Gram-Hansen def. Nordbjerg

Flight 10
Law def. Nordbjerg

Nilsson def. Mathieu

Gram-Hansen def. Hansen

Flight 11
Gram-Hansen def. Walton

Jensen def. Hansen

Rahm def. Mathieu

Flight 12
Gram-Hansen def. Jensen

Hansen def. Rahm

Mathieu def. Walton

Flight 13
Rahm def. Gram-Hansen

Mathieu def. Jensen

Hansen def. Walton

Flight 14
Nordbjerg def. Jensen

Rahm def. Law

Nilsson def. Walton

Flight 15
Nordbjerg def. Rahm

Law def. Walton

Jensen def. Nilsson

Flight 16
Nordbjerg def. Walton

Rahm def. Nilsson

Jensen def. Law

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

Source: Shawn McBride