Peter Holmberg dominates to win Budget Marine Match Racing Cup

by Event Media on 5 Mar 2009
Olympic medalist. America’s Cup winner. World match-racing champion. U.S. Virgin Islands native Peter Holmberg has carved out a well-earned reputation as one of the world’s top, most versatile sailors.

In a dominating performance, he added yet another title to his resume when he defeated English skipper Marc Fitzgerald in a straight-set, 3-0 victory, to win the finals of the inaugural Budget Marine Match Racing Cup.

In doing so, Holmberg and his crew of fellow Virgin Islanders, Ben Beer and Maurice Kurg, took home the $5,000 first-place check in the kick-off to this year’s slate of events leading up to the 29th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Fitzgerald, the skipper of Sir Peter Harrison’s Farr 115, Sojana, earned the $3,000 prize for second. And in the Petite Final, Russian match-racer Eugeny Nikiforov cashed the $1,000 third-place purse after dispatching American sailor Antony Hussey, who finished fourth in the six-crew field.

'Match racing’s a great spectator sport, it adds a little spice to everything,' said Holmberg. 'It was the first year for this event and I think they did a good job. They attracted a nice little field and I was happy to come here and help them get started with it.'

'Peter is just a tremendous sailor and a fantastic match racer,' said Fitzgerald, a late entry to the event whose crew included tactician Karl James, a two-time Olympian from Antigua. 'It’s fantastic to sail against someone of that caliber. I’m hugely impressed he came here to help get the series off the ground.'

Along with the top four teams that advanced to the respective finals, the fleet included two up-and-coming skippers, young Jamie Haines from the U.S. and Brazilian Francisco Bulhoes. 'I think those youngsters are pretty darn good,' said Robbie Ferron of Budget Marine, the Caribbean-wide chandlery that sponsored the event. 'I think they know that. We had some great sailors out there today. The trouble is, one of them, Peter Holmberg, is that much greater than the others.'
Holmberg’s lone loss in the five-flight round robin that determined the finalists was in a tight race with Fitzgerald in the second race of the day. It wasn’t a matter of deficient tactics or boat speed, however; Holmberg and his team were forced to withdraw after their Jeanneau 20 was dismasted on the second windward leg. 'After we cleaned everything up we found a cotter pin on deck so I think the leeward shrouds came loose before we tacked,' he said.

'I just told the fellas, ‘For the rest of our lives we can say we beat Peter Holmberg in a match race,’' laughed Fitzgerald. 'We just don’t need to discuss the details.' Holmberg and Fitzgerald advanced to the finals with identical 4-1 scores in the round robin.

Good boat handling paid a premium in the early racing, conducted in 16-18 knots of puffy breeze aboard the 20-foot one-designs in the protected waters of Simpson Bay. For the afternoon series of final races, the wind moderated to a more manageable 10-12 knots.

'Good stuff in the morning,' said Holmberg. 'It was very settled and heavy air so you had to figure out how to go fast in that breeze with these boats. So that was a challenge for the crews. In the afternoon a couple of squalls came through and the breeze dropped so it got pretty tricky. So you had to balance it out between covering your opponent and sailing to the next puff.'

Holmberg also sang the praises of his team and their spotless crew work throughout the event. 'I’ve sailed with Maurice for years, I think he was with me in my first match-racing event some 10 or 15 years ago,' he said. 'And Ben is very handy and very smart. So I’ve got a lot of confidence in them. If we had a close race I thought our guys could muscle our way through.'

Before the racing began, Budget Marine’s Ferron said the new match-racing series would be 'a great experiment.' Afterwards, he deemed the experiment a success.

'Match racing is here to stay,' he said. 'We all know it’s going to get bigger. The question is how. This was a great start and I’m very satisfied. I’m committed to make sure something evolves to continue what we’ve started.'

Holmberg seconded those thoughts. 'My personal dream is to see more match-racing here in the Caribbean,' he said. 'We started one in the Virgin Islands this year, and now Budget Marine has successfully run this event. I think we’ll learn what we did from this year and make some improvements for next year. I’d be happy to help them to see if we can grow it some more.'

In the shorter term, however, Holmberg had to figure out what to do with his prize winnings. 'I’m going to split it with my crew, like always,' he said, smiling. 'And then we’ll enjoy some Heinekens this week in St. Maarten.'

Next up in this week’s festival or sailing, parties, and music is the IGY Commodore’s Cup, for the racing divisions, on March 5th. Then comes the main event, the 29th annual St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, on March 6-8. When it comes to finding a cold beer in a green bottle, Holmberg won’t have to search far.

For full information on Budget Marine Match Racing, the IGY Commodore’s Cup and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, as well as entry lists, entry forms and much more, visit www.heinekenregatta.com.