| BAIRD
WINS AS WIND AND TIME RUN OUT AT CONGRESSIONAL CUP
LONG
BEACH, Calif.---The 40th Congressional Cup had run
out of time and
 |
Ed
Baird, wearing his new Crimson Blazer, poses
with his crew around the Congressional Cup.
Clockwise from bottom left are Rob Myles,. Eric
Doyle, Jon Ziskind, Baird, Brett Jones and Andy
Horton. Photo
© Rich Roberts |
Terry Hutchinson had run out of wind when Ed Baird
came from behind on the last leg to win a sudden-death
championship race by 1 minute 41 seconds Saturday.
Baird,
at 46 the oldest competitor in the fleet, was the
only semifinalist among Hutchinson, New Zealand's
Gavin Brady and Australia's Peter Gilmour who hadn't
won the event's traditional Crimson Blazer.
"Whenever
you can win a Swedish Match Tour event, it’s
fantastic," he said, "and to be able to
climb over the group that's here and wind up on
top is special."
The
Congressional Cup is the only American stop on the
eight-event 2003-04 SMT. Baird, from St. Petersburg,
Fla., took the weakest round-robin record into the
semifinals (11-7), but eliminated Brady (12-6),
a two-time winner, 2-1.
Meanwhile,
Gilmour (16-2) chose Hutchinson (12-6) as his semifinal
opponent after the Annapolis, Md. sailor had warned,
"I wouldn't pick us."
 |
Terry
Hutchinson appeals fairness of the course to
principal race officer Bobby Frazier after losing
the title match to Ed Baird.Photo © Rich
Roberts |
Sure
enough, Gilmour was stunned, 2-1, downgrading the
anticipated title showdown between himself and Brady
to a sailoff for third place, won by Brady by 1
minute 15 seconds.
That
was sailed five minutes ahead of the title match
after the race committee announced that the scheduled
best-of-three final was reduced to a single race
because the Sailing Instructions said no race could
be started after 1600 (4 p.m.) and it was already
past 3 o'clock.
Also,
the wind near the beach was the lightest it had
been in the five days---3 to 6 knots with only momentary
flirtations with 12---and when the decisive match
started it soon became clear that the half-mile
windward course was so badly skewed that the boats
could sail between marks without tacking or jibing.
Hutchinson
gained on a favorable wind shift immediately after
the start and was able to tack on Baird's nose and
lead by 53 seconds, 1:23 and 34 seconds at the three
marks before sailing into the fateful leg. With
half a mile to go for the title, he did a simple
bear-away spinnaker set that took him left and into
the lee of one of the oil islands in the Long Beach
outer harbor.
Baird,
seeing no profit in pursuing his opponent, did a
jibe set and went to the right---and into whatever
breeze remained on the course.
"I
thought, 'We can either jibe here and maybe stay
in the race or we can sail into what they've got
and it will be nothing for us, too," Baird
said.
It
was the smartest move he made all week. Soon, down
in the shadow of the island, Hutchinson's sails
were sagging and his boat was dead in the water
as Baird glided on a steady course to the finish.
Hutchinson
said later, "We couldn't jibe. That breeze
that Ed got never got to us. Trust me, I would have
loved to jibe."
As
Hutchinson crossed the finish line he and tactician
Chris Larson summoned
 |
Terry
Hutchinson waves the protest flag in pre-start
incident against Peter Gilmour in semifinals.
Gilmour's bowman is Alan Smith.Photo ©
Rich Roberts |
chief umpire Jack Lloyd for an animated discussion,
then drifted over to talk to principal race officer
Bobby Frazier. They thought the last race should
have been abandoned because of "unfair"
conditions.
"We're
asking for the race to be thrown out and for our
round-robin results to stand," Hutchinson said.
"We beat Peter in the semis, so at that point
we finished higher in the round-robin then Ed did,
so we should be the winners. We don't want to be
sore losers, but I don't feel justice was done in
that race."
He
added with a smile, " I'm not one to whine
when I lose a race, [although] I used to be."
The
umpires listened to the team's case presented by
Larson and crew member Morgan Trubovich but let
the result stand.
Baird
said, "I feel sorry for Terry and his guys.
They sailed well all week and were in a clearly
advantaged position in that race. [But] they could
have gone either way."
Frazier
said, "If the time limit hadn't been there
I would have abandoned the [championship] race and
moved the course out three miles to where we had
wind."
Gilmour
said, "Why couldn't we have changed the Sailing
Instructions to drop the time limit? All of us [sailors]
would have agreed. We could have sailed until 7
o'clock. I think the only person happy is Ed."
Baird
collected $6,000 of the $25,000 total purse for
his first SMT victory, which put him in fifth place
in the rankings behind Gilmour---still the leader
with wins in two of four events, Sweden's Magnus
Holmberg, Denmark's Jesper Radich and Brady.
Video
highlights of each day's racing may be replayed
on the Long Beach Yacht Club Web site, www.LBYC.org.
Sportshow TV is producing a half-hour highlight
video to be aired later by the Outdoor Life Network.
 |
Both
skippers protest after Peter Gilmour (foreground)
luffed Terry Hutchinson in their semifinal.
Umpires ruled the foul was on Gilmour, who finished
half a length ahead but still owed the penalty
turn.Photo © Rich Roberts |
Saturday's
results:
ROUND 18
Scott
Dickson, Long Beach, Calif., def. Cameron Appleton,
New Zealand, 1 minute 14r seconds.
Kelvin
Harrap, New Zealand, d. Allan Coutts, New Zealand,
0:44.
Terry
Hutchinson, Annapolis, Md., d. Mattias Rahm, Sweden,
1:04.
Jes
Gram-Hansen, Denmark, d. Ed Baird, St. Petersburg,
Fla., 0:03.
Peter
Gilmour, Australia, d. Gavin Brady, New Zealand,
0:26.
Final
round-robin standings: 1. Gilmour, 16-2; 2. tie
between Hutchinson and Brady, 12-6; 4. Baird, 11-7;
5. tie between Gram-Hansen and Harrap, 10-8; 7.
Dickson, 7-11; 8. tie between Appleton and Rahm,
6-12; 10. Coutts, 0-18.
SEMIFINALS
Baird
d. Brady, 0:03; Brady d. Baird, 1:04; Baird d. Brady,
DNF.
Hutchinson
d. Gilmour, 0:52; Gilmour d. Hutchinson, 0:35; Hutchinson
d. Gilmour, DNF.
PETIT
FINAL
Brady
($3,000) d. Gilmour ($2,500), 1:15.
 |
Ed
Baird got away with two poor starts against
Gavin Brady, including this one, to win their
semifinal, 2-1.Photo © Rich Roberts
|
FINAL
Baird
($6,000) d. Hutchinson ($3,500), 1:41.
Daily
radio (12 noon PDT): www.KLBC.org
Nightly
video replays: www.LBYC.org
MORE
INFORMATION:
Long
Beach Yacht Club (562) 598-9401 www.lbyc.org
www.swedishmatchtour.com
Rich Roberts Press Officer (310) 835-2526 cell (310)
766-6547
richsail@earthlink.net
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 |
