Gram-Hansen wins second Danish Open

by Sean McNeill on 16 Aug 2004 A bit of luck turned what looked to be a runaway win for Kelvin Harrap into a second championship for Jes Gram-Hansen.

The skipper from Aarhus, Denmark, defeated Team New Zealand’s Harrap 2-1 to win the 8th annual Danish Open, Stage 2 of the 2004-’05 Swedish Match Tour.

Sailing with crewmembers Michael Arnhild (Aarhus), Christian Kamp (Copenhagen), Rasmus Kostner (Aarhus) and Chresten Plinius (Copenhagen), the win was Gram-Hansen’s second at the Danish Open, and his first on Tour since winning this event two years ago.

‘The conditions were pretty tough,’ said Gram-Hansen, 32. ‘You always need a little bit of luck to win, and we got that today.’

With the win Gram-Hansen moved into a tie with Ed Baird (USA) for first overall on the Swedish Match Tour leaderboard. Each skipper has 25 points after the first two events of the sixth Tour season. The Tour champion will win $60,000 and a BMW 545i Touring.

A westerly wind gusting up to 20 knots powered the final day. The offshore wind, however, was shifty at the top of the leg, where the windward mark was placed within 100 feet of the seawall.

It was perfect placement for the large spectator crowd of 7,500 people, who applauded every windward mark rounding.

Already down a race and facing a 2-0 deficit, Gram-Hansen and crew were gifted the second race.

Harrap, sailing with Danes Sten Mohr, Tim Nielson, Mikkel Røssberg and Jonas Wackenhuth, led by four to five boat lengths approaching the first windward mark of Race 2, and seemed to be well in control of the series.

Then they were penalized when the end of their boom hit the windward mark as they were turning downwind. They remained in the lead up the second beat but Gram-Hansen had closed considerably.

Harrap and mainsail trimmer Mohr decided to try and hook Gram-Hansen at the top of the beat.

‘We didn’t have enough of a lead to unload the penalty,’ said Harrap. ‘I was hoping to drive him into the seawall.’

Gram-Hansen countered with a daring move of his own. He judged there was enough room to clear Harrap’s transom and pulled the helm over. And in that moment the series turned in his favour.

Gram-Hansen’s bow missed Harrap’s stern by inches, but it gave him the inside position on port jibe. And when both crews jibed to starboard, Gram-Hansen was to windward and simply rolled over the top of Harrap to take the win.

With the score even at 1-1, Gram-Hansen got a great start in the third flight and dominated the race.

‘We wanted to start to the right because the pressure was coming from the right,’ said Gram-Hansen. ‘We were lucky he touched the mark.’

Harrap had the luck in the first race.

He received a pre-start penalty for a port-starboard incident when he decided late in the four-minute sequence to get to the right of Gram-Hansen.

But the right was so powerful that he was able to open a big enough lead where he performed his 270-degree penalty turn at the top of the second beat.

‘I was happy with how we sailed,’ said Harrap, the B-boat skipper for Team New Zealand who will sail at the America’s Cup regatta next month in Marseilles, France. ‘I’ve sailed with Sten and Jonas some before, but we haven’t sailed as a team.’

Gram-Hansen, Arnhild, Kamp and Kostner spent the past six weeks racing with Russell Coutts, the all-time winning America’s Cup skipper. They won the Swedish Match Tour event in Sweden at the beginning of July and finished second in Portugal two weeks ago.

While Gram-Hansen said that he didn’t learn much new, he said that the experience gave them added confidence.

‘Russell doesn’t sail much differently than the other top guys,’ said Gram-Hansen. ‘But it’s put a new energy into the team, and the success showed us how it can be done.’

Gram-Hansen advanced to the final by defeating Frenchman Mathieu Richard 2-0, and Harrap advanced by beating Staffan Lindberg of Finland by the same score.

In the Petit Final, Richard beat Lindberg 2-0 to win third, while Lindberg finished fourth.

For flight results and more information on the Swedish Match Tour, including its competitors and events, please visit www.SwedishMatchTour.com, the official Tour Web site.


DANISH OPEN 2004

Final Standings (Aug. 15, 2004)

Prize purse: DKK200,000 ($33,283.41)

1. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, Gram-Hansen Racing, 13-3, DKK60,000 ($9,985.02) Crew Michael Arnhild, Christian Kamp, Rasmus Kostner, Chresten Plinius

2. Kelvin Harrap/NZL, Team New Zealand, 11-5, DKK40,000 ($6,656.68) Crew Sten Mohr, Tim Nielson, Mikkel Røssberg, Jonas Wackenhuth

3. Mathieu Richard/FRA, 8-7, DKK30,000 ($4,992.51) Crew Gregoire Eurard, Olivier Herledant, Yannik Simon, Frederic Rivet

4. Staffan Lindberg/FIN, 9-6, DKK24,000 ($3,994.01) Crew Nils Bjerkås, Martin Krite, Johan Karlsson, Daniel Wallberg

5. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team, 8-5, DKK18,000 ($2,995.51) Crew Rod Dawson, Mike Mottl, Alan Smith, Yasuhiro Yaji

6. Peter Wibroe/DEN, 5-8, DKK12,000 ($1,997.00) Crew Joachim Carlsen, Phillip Guhle, Christian Monberg, Jeppe Rasmussen

7. Philippe Presti/FRA, le Défi Français, 6-6, DKK9,000 ($1,497.75) Crew Antoine Breger, Jean-Marie Dauris, Xavier Husson, Philippe Mourniac

8. Chris Law/GBR, 5-7, DKK7,000 ($1,164.92) Crew Ian Ainslie, Anders Dahlsjo, David Rae, Mark Sadler

9. Lars Nordbjerg/DEN, 4-7
Crew Jeppe Blak, Niels Gramkov, Thomas Hartvig, Henning Lambertsen

10. Ulf Jonson/SWE, 4-7
Crew Sebastian Christnsenson, Niklas Edvardsson, Magnus Hansson, Bjorn Lundgren

11. Lotte Meldgaard/DEN, Team Gerimax, 3-8 Crew Sille Christensen, Caroline Clausen, Anne Mørup, Mia Nielsen, Anette Rom

12. Michael Dunstan/AUS, OzBoyz Challenge, 2-9 Crew Bjorn Andersson, Martin Stromberg, Carl-Johan Uckelstam, Emil Wiberg