• The Swedish Match Tour is comprised of nine of the world's leading professional sailing events and is proving to be the ultimate battleground of sailing.
• In addition to more than US$500,000 in individual event prize money, the Swedish Match Tour awards US$200,000 to the top eight sailors on the Swedish Match Tour, with the first-place skipper netting US$60,000.
• In addition to a US$60,000 first prize, the winner of the Swedish Match Tour receives the official Swedish Match Tour Championship Trophy, 15" (30 cm) high with 22 carat gold gilding, produced by Swedish Match Tour sponsor Wedgwood. Additionally, Wedgwood supplies runner-up prizes for second and third places as well as commemorative plaques to each event organizer.
• The Swedish Match Tour produces 155 hours of television coverage reaching more than 426 million households worldwide annually.
• Swedish Match Tour partners include Swedish Match, Octagon and the Match Race Association.
• Swedish Match Tour sponsors include Colorcraft, Champagne Mumm, Musto and Wedgwood

The American skipper Of Team Musto Wins The Nippon Cup For His Third Career Tour victory

Jon Ziskind and Andy Horton watch Ed Baird celebrate victory in the Nippon Cup with the smallest bottle of celebratory champagne ever seen. (Swedish Match Tour/Kaoru Soehata)

HAYAMA, Japan - American Ed Baird, skipper of Team Musto, regained the overall lead in the Swedish Match Tour championship when he won the Pizza-La Red Lobster Nippon Cup.

Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) notched his third career victory on the Swedish Match Tour when he and crew Andy Horton (Newport, R.I.), Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen (Valencia, Spain) and Jon Ziskind (Newport, R.I.) won the final of the Nippon Cup, 3-0, over Jes Gram-Hansen and the Gram-Hansen Racing Team. ... [more]