Congressional
Cup - Gilmour Sweeps To 5-0 Start In Congressional
Cup
LONG
BEACH, Calif.—Peter Gilmour seems bent on
making the world of the Swedish Match Tour his
own private pond. Already the winner of two of
the first three events on the 2003-04 tour in
Japan and Bermuda, the Australian veteran blew
out of the gate with five wins in as many races
on the first day of the 40th Congressional Cup
Tuesday.
 |
Gavin
Brady leads Sweden's Mattias Rahm past Belmont
Pier in pre-start maneuvering. Photo ©
Rich Roberts
|
"It
was fun to be back on the water," he said.
"It was a beautiful day out there."
Easy
for him to say. The first day's results ranged
from his 5-0 perfecto, shadowed closely by New
Zealand's Gavin Brady and Denmark's Jes Gram-Hansen
at 4-1, to a windup round that saw two guys named
Dickson and Coutts fighting each other to avoid
the prospect of starting 0-5---Long Beach's Scott
Dickson, younger brother of Chris, and New Zealand's
Allen Coutts, nephew of Russell.
Dickson
won, salvaging a measure of local pride.
The
standard Long Beach sea breeze was chilly for
late April, but as it built from 7 to 15 knots
through the afternoon Bobby Frazier's race committee
snapped off five fast rounds with hardly a hiccup,
leaving 13 rounds to sail leading into Saturday's
best-of-three semifinals and finals. The course
was a half-mile windward-leeward, twice around,
with the Queen Mary a distant backdrop in the
harbor.
While
the first round proceeded mildly, noteworthy mainly
for Gram-Hansen's 30-second win over Brady, the
level of aggression soon accelerated to a flurry
of red and yellow "Y" protest flags.
Through the day there were 45 protests; 16 resulted
in penalties by the umpires tracking the races,
including a red flag against New Zealand's Kelvin
Harrap (2-3) for a flagrant foul, meaning he had
to do his penalty turn immediately.
"That's
a lot more than I would have thought," said
Jack Lloyd, the chief umpire from New Zealand.
 |
Peter
Gilmour (left) has Terry Hutchinson in his
sights. Photo © Rich Roberts
|
Whether
it foretold an outbreak of water rage for the
week remained to be seen, but it was evident that
the younger members of the diverse lineup weren't
shy about asserting themselves.
Gilmour's
Pizza-La team, for the most part, stayed above
the fray, but after sweeping through Coutts, Terry
Hutchinson, Harrap, New Zealand's Cameron Appleton
and Sweden's Rahm, the skipper insisted his day
wasn't as easy as it appeared.
"We
had some interesting [as in mediocre] starts,"
he said. "Harrap was ahead of us and Appleton's
spinnaker fell down, but we also were sailing
very well around the race course."
Gilmour
last sailed the Congressional Cup when he won
it in 1988. In those days the event was run on
the open ocean in borrowed Catalina 38s. The only
other time he sailed a Catalina 37---the match-racing
specialty boats built for the event in 1990---was
in the World Match Racing Championship in 1996
as leader of the Pizza-La team.
The
core of the team---Gilmour, Yasuhiro Yaji, Sofuku
Kazuhiko, Alan Smith and Michael Mottl---has been
together for nearly 10 years since Gilmour coached
Nippon Challenge in the 1994-95 America's Cup
at San Diego. Rod Dawson joined the team last
year.
Gilmour,
whose home is in Perth, seemed a bit surprised
by their successful day. "We hadn't raced
since the Nippon Cup," he said. "I spent
the [Down Under] summer diving for lobsters and
crayfish."
A
dockside post-race interview with Yasuhiro was
interrupted when Gilmour handed him a mobile phone.
The Kyodo News syndicate was on the line. The
team is big news in Japan.
"When
we're in Japan we're always signing autographs,"
Gilmour said. "The Swedish Match results
all go on TV over there. As a result, a lot of
young Japanese sailors are interested in match
racing."
 |
Chris
Larson (right), tactician for Terry Hutchinson,
appeals to the umpires. Photo © Rich
Roberts
|
Pizza-La,
pronounced peetz-AH-lah, is the 900-outlet gourmet
pizza chain owned by their sponsor, Hidenori Asano.
"He's
been with us through three America's Cup campaigns,"
Gilmour said, "including [Seattle's] One
World [in 2002-03]."
But
none of the flag waging was by people ordering
pizza. Several races turned on penalties. Brady
took one when he fouled Gram-Hansen trying to
escape a trap at the pin end of the starting line.
Hutchinson took two pre-start penalties against
Gilmour, although he still managed to make a contest
of their match.
Racing
starts at noon daily, conditions permitting. There
is $25,000 in prize money, with $6,000 to the
winning team.
Live
radio commentary of the racing may be heard worldwide
on www.KLBC.org or at 810 AM within a four-mile
radius of the Belmont Pier spectator site. Video
highlights of each day's racing may be replayed
each evening on the club's Web site, www.LBYC.org.
Sportshow
TV is producing a half-hour highlight video to
be aired later by the Outdoor Life Network.
Tuesday's
results:
Round
1
Peter
Gilmour, Australia, def. Allen Coutts, New Zealand,
0:50.
Kelvin
Harrap, New Zealand, d. Mattias Rahm, Sweden,
0:50.
Jes
Gram-Hansen, Denmark, d. Gavin Brady, New Zealand,
0:30.
Ed
Baird, St. Petersburg, Fla., d. Scott Dickson,
Long Beach, Calif., 0:16.
Terry
Hutchinson, Annapolis, Md., d. Cameron Appleton,
New Zealand, 0:25.
Round
2
Brady
d. Rahm, 40 seconds.
Gram-Hansen
d. Dickson, 0:30.
Baird
d. Coutts, 0:20.
Gilmour
d. Hutchinson, 0:30.
Harrap
d. Appleton, 0:03.
 |
John
Kostecki (left), tactician for Gavin Brady,
casts a wary eye at onrushing Terry Hutchinson.
Photo © Rich Roberts
|
Round
3
Gram-Hansen
d. Coutts, 0:21.
Hutchinson
d. Baird, 0:27.
Gilmour
d. Harrap, 1:20.
Appleton
d. Rahm 0:33.
Brady
d. Dickson, 1:30.
Round
4
Baird
d. Harrap, 0:09.
Gilmour
d. Appleton, 0:15.
Rahm
d. Dickson, 0:09.
Brady
d. Coutts, 0:05.
Hutchinson
d. Gram-Hansen, no time (Gram-Hansen owed penalty).
Round
5
Gilmour
d. Rahm, 0:08.
Dickson
d. Coutts, 0:28.
Brady
d. Hutchinson, 0:19.
Gram-Hansen
d. Harrap, 0:16.
Appleton
d. Baird, 0:42.
Standings
(after 5 of 18 rounds): 1. Gilmour, 5-0; 2. tie
between Gram-Hansen and Brady, 4-1; 4. tie between
Hutchinson and Baird, 3-2; 6. tie between Harrap
and Appleton, 2-3; 8. tie between Rahm and Dickson,
1-4; 10. Coutts, 0-5.
MORE
INFORMATION:
Long Beach Yacht Club
(562) 598-9401
www.lbyc.org
Rich
Roberts
Press Officer
(310) 835-2526
richsail@earthlink.net
SWEDISH
MATCH TOUR
www.swedishmatchtour.com
