Allianz Cup Match Racing at San Francisco - Day 1

Chris Dickson (left) chases Johnie Berntsson around the leeward mark in their Flight 2 match, won by Dickson at the finish on day one of the Allianz Cup Match Racing © Allianz Cup / Paul Todd

WILLIAMS WINS GROUP AT ALLIANZ CUP

World championship leader advances to quarters with Holmberg, Ainslie

The leader of the match racing world championship standings won today the Group A round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the World Match Racing Tour.

Ian Williams, the 29-year-old skipper of Team Pindar, won the group with a 5-2 record. He topped a three-way tiebreaker with Peter Holmberg of Alinghi and Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand, two syndicates for the America’s Cup, for the win.

Williams defeated both in head-to-head matches for the tiebreaker. Holmberg defeated Ainslie in their Flight 2 match to place second and Ainslie third. Those three advance to Friday’s Quarterfinal Round, a knockout series with the first to 3 points advancing.

Williams came into the event having won his previous start at the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Bermuda last week, a win that moved him into the lead for the world championship and garnered sponsorship from Pindar, the British print and electronic media company. He kept that momentum going today.

“We come in confident as Team Pindar, with the same tactician and trimmers we had in Bermuda,” said Williams, from Hamble, England. “But it’s a different field, different boats and different venue. It’s a new challenge and we’re really pleased to have got through this round and into the quarterfinals.”

Racing on Day 1 of the Allianz Cup was tricky with the wind on San Francisco Bay blowing between the northeast and northwest. That direction afforded great spectator viewing at the St. Francis Yacht Club, with the starting line just 50 yards off the club, it was perpendicular to the strong currents.

The current played a role in racing, especially in the ebb tide in the afternoon when the northerly died to 4 to 8 knots. On some runs the spinnakers on the boats were hanging limp, but they were swept down the course by the tide.

“It was a constant decision of what you thought was more important, current or wind,” said Holmberg. “I think we made the mistake early on that current was most important. In the conditions we had today – pretty variable with wind, direction and strength – you had to be smart to know when wind was more important than tide. I think wind was most important.”

Ainslie is competing in his first World Tour event since March. He felt his timing was off slightly in the pre-start.

“We were a bit rusty today,” said Ainslie. “Our starts were probably our weak point. I think through the whole thing our boathandling was good and teamwork in general was fantastic. So we need to work on [that] for the future and getting used to these boats as well.”

Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing, placed fourth in the round at 4-3, followed by Johnie Berntsson, 4-3, Staffan Lindberg, 2-5, Chris Perkins, 2-5, and Bjorn Hansen, 1-6. Hansen, however, was penalized 1 point for causing damage in a collision and finished with 0 points.

Dickson, Berntsson and Lindberg advance to the repechage round, where they’ll join the 4th thought 6th place finishers from Group B in a round robin. The two top crews in that round advance to the quarterfinals.

Group B is scheduled to begin its round robin tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

The event Web site can be found at www.AllianzCup.com and the World Tour Web site at www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com. For free video content about Allianz Cup, please log onto www.thenewsmarket.com/allianz to preview and request video. You can receive broadcast-standard video digitally or by tape from this site.

The Allianz Cup is sponsored by Allianz. The Presenting Sponsor is Oracle and the Main Partners are Allianz U.S. entities Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, and Allianz Life. Fellow Partners include BMW, NetApp, Pindar Graphics and AlphaGraphics.

Allianz Group is one of the largest and most renowned financial services providers in the world. Representing an international network of strong brands with first-class products, Allianz brings together the expertise of specialists in the fields of property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance, asset management and banking. Founded in 1890 in Berlin, Allianz is now present in more than 70 countries with over 177,000 employees. For more details on Allianz sponsorship please visit sponsoring.allianz.com/en/home.html

The World Match Racing Tour is the world’s leading professional sailing series. The events of the World Tour determine the ISAF Match Racing World Champion, who will be crowned in December 2007. A total of 15 events comprise the 2006-’07 World Tour schedule.

The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. The World Tour Partner and Official Car is BMW (Munich, Germany). World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Wedgwood (Stoke-on-Trent, England), the Official Trophy Sponsor.

Group A Provisional Standings: (after 7 of 7 flights)

1. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar, 5-2
(Crew: Bill Hardesty, Gerry Mitchell, Chresten Plinius, Mark Williams)
2. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 5-2
(Crew: Rodney Ardern, Curtis Blewett, Peter Evans, Lorenzo Mazza)
3. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 5-2
(Crew: James Dagg, Terry Hutchinson, Jeremy Lomas, Tony Rae)
4. Chris Dickson (NZL) BMW ORACLE Racing, 4-3
(Crew: Zach Hurst, Jann Neegaard, Kazuhiko Sofuku, Paul Westlake)
5. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team, 4-3
(Crew: Johan Bäckman, Martin Berntsson, Matthew Gregory, Björn Lundgren)
6. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 2-5
(Crew: Nils Bjerkås, Magnus Hanson, Martin Krite, Carl-Johan Uckelstam)
7. Chris Perkins (USA) Team St. Francis Yacht Club, 2-5
(Crew: Scott Easom, Steve Marsh, Russ Silvestri, Darren Ward)
8. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 1-6
(Crew: Mathias Bredin, Gustaf Tempelman, Johan Quiberg, Magnus Woxen)