World Championship decided in Semi final race

by Lynn Fitzpatrick, US Editor, Sail-World.com on 2 Dec 2007 Going into the 2007 Monsoon Cup a handful of teams could have laid claim to the World Championship title. Only one, Sebastien Col, was eliminated in the round robin series. The quarter finals brought the elimination of the World Match Race Tour leader coming into the Monsoon Cup, Mathieu Richard and his Saba Sailing Team. The quarter finals featured matches between Dato’ Peter Gilmour and Bjorn Hansen and his Team Apport.Net and Ian Williams’ Team Pindar and Paolo Cian of Team Shosholoza.

Dato’ Peter Gilmour shut Bjorn Hansen out in a three-match flight, but 'the racing was a lot closer than the score board showed at the end of the day,' according to Gilmour. Hansen cleared a penalty and sailed to a distant lead in the second race, but let Gilmour scoop him when Glimour nipped him out at the favored pin end of the finish line. Playing the Monday morning quarterback, Hansen thought that his decision to clear the earlier, rather than at the finish line cost him the race and the match.

Paolo Cian and Team Shosholoza were energized after a stellar performance in their quarter final match against the Tour leader, Mathieu Richard. Ian Williams and Team Pindar were in their top form and dominated the pre-starts and left Cian to clear penalties or to catch up in each race. Cian felt that he sailed faster upwind and downwind and were able to pick the shifts, but just couldn’t recover from the pre-start deficits. It was the fourth and final race of the Williams – Cian match that determined the world championship and shuffled the deck on who can podium for the series.

We head into the finals of the Monsoon Cup, sailing’s richest regatta, in Kuala Terengganu with the immediate past World Champion, Dato’ Peter Gilmour and the freshly minted World Champion, and the first Brit to ever win the World Match Racing Tour title battling in out to capture the Cup. As the new World Champion said, with a smile on his face and the undertone of challenge in his voice, 'It’s a fitting end to a fantastic regatta.'

The organization and the venue are truly a step up in showcasing match racing, purpose-built facilities and the efforts that T-Best, the Heritage Bay Club, the Malaysian Tourist Board, the State of Terengganu and the county have contributed to organizing this event.

Semi finals
Gilmour – Hansen

Glimour Hansen
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Flight 1
Dato’ Peter Gilmour re-energized quickly following his final flight win in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Monsoon Cup, the world’s richest sailing event. He jumped out to an enormous lead and continued to protect the right side, event though the course had been shifted to the right.

Nearly a minute elapsed between Gilmour’s second weather mark rounding and Hansen’s. Hansen lost ground on the run and rounded the right gate in desperation. Long before him, Gilmour had rounded the left gate and got further up the course before he threw in his lose covering tack.

Hansen would have needed an engine to catch Gilmour. Gilmour won the race by a country mile.

Flight 2

Bjorn Hansen picked up a penalty before the start when he bore down too close to the obstructing committee boat. He played the shifts up and down the course and rounded the right leeward gate at the same time as Gilmour rounded the left gate, at a lower angle.

Gilmour trailed Hansen around the second gate in the dying breeze by about three boat lengths. Hansen sailed out to the right an extended his lead to almost ninety meters and spun his penalty turn and only lost about fifty meters. Coming out of the 270 degree turn with the starboard advantage and a thirty meter lead gave some confidence to Hansen.

They battled down the run and Gilmour got an overlap just before the finish and skidded over the finish line a millimeter ahead of the Swedish boat.

Flight 3

Bjorn Hansen tried to stay clean during the pre-start by sailing conservatively during the pre-start and yelling a lot. Judges raised green flags with every incident between the two boats. The boats were evenly matched up the beat. Gilmour rounded ahead at the weather mark and Hansen never had a chance to catch up to Gilmour who has sailed more races at this venue than anyone else.

Williams – Cian

Williams Cian
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Flight 1

Ian Williams was salivating with the knowledge that if wins the semi finals; he’d capture the World Championship title, the precious Wedgwood Trophy and a substantial purse to go with it. It would be quite a comeback after being ranked eighth going into the quarter final round. Paolo Cian rallied in the quarter finals to win the final two flights of a four flight quarter final match against the World Match Racing Tour leader going into the Monsoon Cup, Mathieu Richard.

Ian Williams and Paolo Cian were so closely matched that Cian rounded the first weather mark right on Williams’ tail. Williams extended slightly on the run and rounded the right leeward mark approximately two boat lengths ahead of Cian. The pair favored the bottom left side of the course, for a change and Gilmour threaded the needle between them on the second run.

During the next loop, Cian reeled Williams in. Cian favored the left down the run and rounded within striking distance of Williams. It didn’t take long for Cian to pass Williams on the next beat but going right around the right gate and hitting a puff that was strong enough to enable him to cross no more than 100 yards from the gate. Once ahead, Cian favored the left side of the course and Williams followed on his hip. Cian rounded the weather mark 20 meters ahead of Williams.

Cian pulled off a spectacular come from behind win.

Flight 2

Williams shut Cian out at the committee boat end of the line and left Cian to guy around before crossing the line and trailing Williams over to the left of the course. Cian went left and Williams sailed to the right in a lift and pressure. Williams got so far ahead that he decided to consolidate and come back toward the center of the course, but crossed well ahead. Team Pindar had a comfortable lead for the remainder of the race as the breeze continued to die and get fluky – nerve-racking conditions for the tacticians.

Team Pindar won the second match with a 200-yard lead.

Flight 3

Team Pindar looked as if they were going to perform a repeat in the second match and dropped his kite well ahead of Cian at the bottom. Willams took the left gate and Cian went right. Team Pindar sailed the next beat with a lead that was the length of the starting line. Williams maintained his lead and took another gun.

Flight 4

Ian Williams narrowly skirted Paolo Cian’s bow at the pre-start, proving that he would go to any length to win the right. Cian was as agitated as an Italian can be, but shook it off and went on to take the lead and win the match.

Flight 5

There was a ton of money riding on the fifth and deciding race of the match. If Williams won, he would win the 2006/07 World Match Racing Championship title, regardless of his performance in the finals. For Cian, it was a matter of survival and a long shot possibility of winning the World Championship if a lot of other teams fell apart and he went on to win the regatta.

Williams gained control at the start and did the classic dive for the right side of the starting line. They went up the beat with a nice lead, but were unsure about what weather mark to round. They opted for the change mark and beat Cian to the hoist by about two boat lengths in light air and a spotty race course.

Williams took a gamble by taking the left gate, which he thought was further upwind, but under the wind shadow of Cian who was still on the run. Cian went to the right gate. Williams led but the gap narrowed with Williams throwing in more tack that Cian to position himself in a controlling position. Team Pindar popped the chute and was just one leg away from winning th