Swedish Match Tour - Sailors Undergo Physical Scrutiny
Monday, 24 May 2004

SPLIT, Croatia (May 24, 2004) — With a brisk northeasterly wind blowing, 10 of the 11 crews registered in the ACI HTmobile Cup spent today practicing for the sixth of eight events on the Swedish Match Tour.

The day began with the crews going through the ritual weigh-in process. The bane of sailors worldwide, some crews had to go through the process more than once when they were over the 437.5 kilogram (964.5 pound) weight limit.

During the process, some crews also participated in a voluntary survey being conducted by a local professor of physical education.

Mladen Marinovic, the professor of Physical Education at the School of Kinesiology in Split, collected data on 15 sailors.

He studies kinanthropometry, which he defines as the sports science dealing with the study of human size, shape, proportion, composition, maturation and gross function in order to help understand growth, exercise performance and nutrition.

“I’m trying to determine what makes a sailor physically,” Marinovic said.

Marinovic has conducted the study on athletes from sports such as rowing, tennis, swimming, volleyball and basketball. He’s also been working with sailors for the last six years.

“Six years ago, when I started doing this survey, sailors used to have a big amount of body fat,” said Marinovic. “They didn’t pay attention to fitness training.”

Marinovic said it was too early to determine the results of the data he collected this morning. The data included weight, height (standing and sitting), muscle development (flexed and relaxed) and skin folds for various parts of the body.

“Basically it was a skin fold test to try and get the idea of the dimensions of a yachting athlete,” said Mike Mottl, 36, a member of Peter Gilmour’s Pizza-La Sailing Team. “We all had a little laugh at the calipers used on Gilly, suggesting that they use the biggest size available.”

On the competitor front, 12 teams were expected to compete but, due to the withdrawal of Paolo Cian (ITA), the filed has been whittled to 11 crews. Cian withdrew last week when he couldn’t find sponsorship.

The event format calls for a double round robin of 22 flights, giving each crew 20 races.

The top four crews at the end of the round robin advance to the semifinals, and the two winners to the final. The semis and final are scheduled as best-of-five (first to 3 points) series.

Racing will be conducted in front of Split Harbor on Jeanneau 35 One-Design. Event Director Emil Tomaševic is hopeful the weather will cooperate over the next few days.

A cold front yesterday produced rain squalls and today’s blustery northeasterly. The crews practiced with reefed mainsails and small, 90-percent jibs. Tomaševic said that the predominant breeze is a southwesterly, and could blow up to 15 or 20 knots.

“Before you used to be able to set your watch by the wind conditions,” Tomaševic said. “Now, like the rest of the world, the weather isn’t as predictable.”

Flight 1 matches: Mathieu Richard (FRA) vs. Mattias Rahm (FIN), Bertrand Pacé (FRA) vs. Kelvin Harrap (NZL), Frano Brate (CRO) vs. Lindberg (SWE), Gavin Brady (NZL) vs. Peter Gilmour (AUS), and Magnus Holmberg vs. Mate Arapov (CRO). Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) has a bye.

For more information on the Swedish Match Tour, its skippers and events please visit www.SwedishMatchTour.com.