BMW Berlin Match Race - Hansen takes title

by Cedric Ohle on 8 Nov 2010 BMW Berlin Match Race sailed on Lake Wannsee, Berlin, has been won by Bjorn Hansen (Sweden), who defeated Markus Wieser (Germany) 2-0 in the Final.

Phil Robertson from New Zealand finished third, with Alvaro Marinho (Portugal) fourth.

Here is the report from the semifinals and the round robins.

Four teams qualified for the semi finals of the 19th BMW Berlin Match Race late Saturday afternoon.

The only German driver Markus Wieser, last year's champion Björn Hansen from Sweden, Phil Robertson from New Zealand and the Portuguese Alvaro Marinho could defeat their opponents. The eight quarterfinalists needed two wins out of three, which required a third race in only one of the quarterfinals.

Instead of the five races planned originally, the race committee decided on only three runs in order to keep up with the schedule. Initially, Markus Wieser sailed against Ian Ainslie from South Africa, beating him twice. Being in the semifinals after his two victories the experienced sailor commented: 'The wind was much lighter compared to the previous days, which left room for tactical manoeuvrings.'

Part of Wiesers Crew is Ulrike Schümann, the only woman at the BMW Berlin Match Race. Together with Markus Wieser she represents the hosting yacht club 'Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee'. Being Vice World Champion of the Yingling class twice, Ulrike is happy to join the match race crew:' It’s a great honour to participate and sail against these world class sailors. The Berlin Match Race is one of the most important German sailing events. The tough competition makes it a valuable experience even for experienced sailors.'

The Portuguese Alvaro Marinho is looking forward to a challenging semifinale: 'Everything is open and we face tough competition. Of course we go for the title, but Markus Wieser leads a strong team and has an advantage by being very familiar with Lake Wannsee.' Competing for the places five to eight completed today’s sailing. The French team around skipper Pierre-Antoine Morvan captured the fifth place. The South African Team, led by Ian Ainslie positioned at sixth, followed by the Russian Evgeny Neugodnikow and Keith Swinton from Australia.

After the Round Robins, Mads Ebler, Eric Monnin, Przemyslaw Tarnacki and Nicolai Sehested had dropped out of the race.

06 / 11 / 2010
Racing continued on Friday with the round robins of the 19th Berlin Match Race. Lake Wannsee confronted the sailors with a combination of rain and heavy winds. Some gusts came close to 30 knots accelerating the yachts carrying gennacker above hull speed. Markus Wieser, the only German participant, gained by winning seven of the eleven round robin races. The leading group also shows the Portuguese Alvaro Marinho, who continued by winning 88 percent of his 7 races. Also high in the scoring are last years winners Björn Hansen from Sweden and Ian Ainslie from South Africa. Both could win 6 of their eight races. By winning against Markus Wieser, Hansen climbed in the ranking.

Nicolai Sehested, replacing the injured Skipper Jesper Radich, could not qualify for the quarterfinals. This ends this year BMW Berlin Match Race for him and his crew. Also the Swiss Eric Monnin and Przemyslaw Tarnacki from Poland could not recapture from yesterdays defeats. Both only won three out of eleven races, preventing them from making the quarterfinals. The decision which fourth team will drop out remains open.

Principal race officer Axel Paul is satisfied: The wind speed has been so high in the morning that the gennacker were conserved. Afterwards tough racing continued which even made the yachts planning on the broad reach. The organizing committee hopes that the winds support exciting sailing and manoeuvres throughout the finals. The last three races had to be shifted to Saturday due to repair breaks and subsiding daylight.

Results

First Stage, Round Robin (06.11.2010 - 12:00)

Morvan - 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 7 11 64 4
Hansen - 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 8 11 73 1
Neugodnikov - 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 6 11 55 7
Ebler - 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 11 45 9
Marinho - 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 8 11 73 2
Ainslie - 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 6 11 55 6
Robertson - 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 6 11 55 5
Swinton - 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 5,5 11 50 8
Monnin - 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 11 27 10
Tarnacki - 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 11 27 11
Sehested - 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 11 9 12
Wieser - 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 7 11 64 3

Quarterfinal

No. 1
Ainslie 0 0 - 0
Wieser 1 1 - 2

No. 2
Robertson 1 1 - 2
Morvan 0 0 - 0

No. 3
Swinton 0 0 - 0
Hansen 1 1 - 2

No. 4
Neugodnikov 0 1 0 1
Marinho 1 0 1 2

Places 5 - 8
Swinton 0 Neugodnikov 0
Morvan 1 Ainslie 1

Place 5./6. Place 7./8.
Ainslie 0 Neugodnikov 1
Morvan 1 Swinton 0

Sail Off
Place 9./10. Points Place 11./12. Points
Ebler Monnin 1:0 cancelled

Semifinal
No. 1
Robertson 0 2 0 - 0
Wieser 1 6 1 - 2

No. 2
Marinho 0 1 0 - 0
Hansen 1 5 1 - 2

Petit Final
Robertson 0 5 1 1 2
Marinho 1 2 0 0 1

Final
Wieser 0 1 0 - 0
Hansen 1 6 1 - 2

Ranking List
1 Hansen SWE
2 Wieser GER
3 Robertson NZL
4 Marinho POR
5 Morvan FRA
6 Ainslie RSA
7 Neugodnikov RUS
8 Swinton AUS
9 Ebler DEN
10 Monnin SUI
11 Tarnacki POL
12 Sehested DEN

http://www.bmw-berlin-match-race.de