Spoils go to Gilmour on Swedish Match Tour

by Sean McNeill on 29 May 2005 Peter Gilmour (AUS), of Pizza-La Sailing Team, became the new leader of the Swedish Match Tour leaderboard and the career victories list when he won the ACI H1 Match Race Cup.

Gilmour and crew Rod Dawson, Mike Mottl, Kazuhiko Sofuku and Yasuhiro Yaji defeated Philippe Presti (FRA) 3-2 in a tightly fought series. Presti’s crew included Thierry Fouchier, Fred Guilmin, Pascal Rambeau and Mathieu Renault.

Gilmour, with 112 points, overtook Ed Baird (USA), of Team Alinghi, for the lead of the 2004-’05 season - and Gilmour’s seven career victories are tops on that list.

Bertrand Pacé (FRA), of BMW Oracle Racing, placed third, while Baird finished fourth. Pacé beat Baird 2-0 in the Petit-final.

‘We’ve just been looking to improve on last year’s performance,’ said 45 year old Gilmour. ‘We weren’t very happy with how we sailed the second half of last year. Now we’ve got two wins and a second in the last three events.’

Those finishes have put Gilmour in position to become the first repeat champion of the Swedish Match Tour. He leads Baird by 10 points (after trailing by 23 points at the beginning of May) with one event to sail, the Swedish Match Cup (July 4-10).

‘Him finishing fourth and us first is a surprise,’ said Gilmour. ‘We just hoped to finish one place ahead of him.’

Gilmour’s victory was his fifth championship at the ACI Cup, which is also tops on that list. ‘That’s a real pleasure,’ Gilmour said. ‘The people of Croatia are great.’

In the final, Gilmour opened a 2-0 lead. He won the first match when Presti was penalised twice at the leeward mark, and the second when he completed a 270-degree penalty turn on the finish line.

Presti, who upped his level of aggression in the semi-finals and final, rallied to make it 2-2. He won the third flight when Gilmour received a pre-start penalty and the fourth when he completed a penalty turn on the finish line.

That set up a winner-take-all final match, but it was anticlimactic compared to the first four flights, which were marked by close racing and many lee-bow tacks.

With the west/south-westerly sea breeze blowing around 8 knots, down from its high of 10 knots earlier in the day, Gilmour started the final match to the left and Presti to the right.

‘The right had been favored all day,’ said Presti, 39 years old. ‘We thought it was still favored in the last race. We saw a big puff on the left, but thought the wind would drop and swing right.’

Presti, by his own admission, guessed wrong. When he tacked to starboard and towards the left side, Gilmour was crossing in a 10-knot puff about three boat lengths ahead. The Australian led by 30 seconds at the windward mark and was never threatened the rest of the way.

‘I guess it was bad eyes,’ said Presti, laughing off the loss.

‘Philippe started very well today,’ said Gilmour. ‘He pushed us to the right all the time. By hook or by crook, we were going to win the left in the last match, and we did.’

Gilmour advanced to the final by beating Baird 3-1 in one semi-final match. Presti got there by beating Pacé, also 3-1. Ironically, Gilmour and Presti just barely advanced to the semi-finals. They had to win their final races in the round robin and count on others losing to advance.

Yesterday Presti said he enjoyed racing Pacé because of his aggressive nature, but it was Presti who turned up the aggression in the semi-final, taking the fight to Pacé and not backing down from his countryman.

‘In the round robin we were happy to be here, happy to race,’ said Presti, but when we got to the semi-final we knew we had to pick it up and we did.’

Gilmour said he was surprised to beat Baird by such a lopsided score. ‘Ed is the quintessential smooth and consistent sailor. You have to be all that and more to beat him,’ said Gilmour, who beat Baird in five of their six matches this week.

Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, BMW and the Match Race Association. Swedish Match Tour Official Sponsors include Musto, Sebago, Travel Places, Trident Studio and Wedgwood.

For more information on the Swedish Match Tour, its competitors and events, please visit the official Tour Web site, www.swedishmatchtour.com. Swedish Match Tour television programs may be viewed by clicking on the Tour television button on the home page of the Web site.