Gilmour wins Swedish Match title

by Sean McNeill on 10 Jul 2005 Australian Peter Gilmour and the Pizza-La Sailing Team – Mike Mottl, Rod Dawson, Kazuhiko Sofuku and Yasuhiro Yaji – became the first repeat champions of the Swedish Match Tour when they defeated Ed Baird (USA) and Alinghi – Nils Frei, Yann Gouniot, Dean Phipps and Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen – 2-1 in the Quarter-final Round of the Open Regatta at the Swedish Match Cup.

Gilmour and Baird were tied with 102 points coming into the eighth and final stage of the Tour season. Baird, seeking his first Tour championship, had to finish in the top four with Gilmour behind him. Gilmour, attempting to become the first repeat champion of the Tour, just had to beat Baird, no matter where they finished overall.

Gilmour not only beat Baird for the championship but he also advanced to the Semi-final Round of the regatta. Although he didn’t set any records in winning this season (last year he set Tour records for best score line, most net points and most cumulative points), this year’s championship was much more lucrative.

In winning the sixth season of the Swedish Match Tour, Gilmour won a $60,000 bonus from the Tour and a BMW 545i Touring, valued at $85,000, from Tour partner BMW.

‘This is a great result for us,’ said Gilmour, of Perth, Western Australia. ‘It’s the last event that Pizza-La is sponsoring us, and it’s a superb outcome for them. They’ve been a great sponsor over the years.’
Pizza-La, a Japanese gourmet pizza company, has sponsored Gilmour’s match-racing team since 1995.

The crews split the first two races, but the winner won the start in each case and was able to stay ahead throughout the match. That set up a one race, winner-take-all for the championship.

Baird expressed disappointment about the outcome and said that he was determined early in the third flight.

‘I was happy with our start, but not happy with the umpire call,’ said Baird.

With about 15 seconds to the start, the two crews approached the right end of the starting line and Baird’s bow just overlapped with Gilmour’s windward transom. Gilmour turned down and his transom hit Baird’s leeward bow.

The umpires penalized each crew.

‘With an overlap he threw his transom at us,’ said Baird. ‘The way I understand the rules, you’re not supposed to do that, but it’s one area in the rules that you never know how it’ll turn out.’

Gilmour responded: ‘It was an unusual penalty in that situation. The umpires must’ve been unsure about the call.’

The crews came off the start line with Gilmour to leeward of Baird, both on starboard. They sailed into a slight header and Baird was forced to tack away to port.

Baird said he felt comfortable tacking away to port toward the right side of the course because the wind had been showing a right-hand bias in the lead-up to the start.

‘We got a header and tacked (back to starboard), but he was still advantaged on us,’ said Baird. ‘That was pretty much the race because of the one-sided racecourse.’

Gilmour led around the windward mark by about five seconds, and extended that advantage slightly by the leeward mark. Up the second beat Baird kept tacking trying to escape Gilmour’s cover.

The two crews tacked about 11 times in the seven-minute leg, but it was to no avail for Baird. Gilmour extended to about a 17-second lead at the second windward mark, and with the right-hand bias in the racecourse there was little he could do on the run.

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.