Swedish Match Cup

>> 2001

FINAL RANKING

1. DEAN BARKER
1. (NZL, Team New Zealand)
2. RUSSEL COUTTS
2. (SUI, Alinghi)
3. ED BAIRD
3. (USA)
4. BERTRAND PACE
4. (NZL, Team New Zealand))
5. PETER HOLMBERG
5. (USA, Oracle Racing)
6. JESPER RADICH
6. (DEN)
7. MAGNUS HOLMBERG
7. (SWE, Victory Challenge)
8. JES GRAM-HANSEN
8. (DEN)
9. JESPER BANK
9. (SWE, Victory Challenge)
10. KAROL JABLONSKI
10. (POL)

Barker sweeps past Coutts to win in Sweden (07/07/02)
(source : swedishmatchtour.com)

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker defeated former syndicate head Russell Coutts, his onetime mentor and now leader of the rival Swiss Alinghi Challenge, 3-0, in the finals of the Swedish Match Cup, Swedish Match Tour 2001/2’s final event.

“To be honest we were happy to be in the semifinals here this week after finishing thirteenth last year,” confessed Barker.

Commenting on the day’s action, Barker stated, “It was one of those days when you just needed to trust yourself. When you get a little bit of a lead in these conditions its tough for your opponent to catch up. Luckily, things went our way and we were able to protect our leads.”

This is Barker’s second win in Marstrand in the last three years. His victory today not only upset Coutts’ chance at defending his title but also moved Barker into sixth place on the final Swedish Match Tour rankings and earned the Kiwi skipper and his crew of Hamish Pepper, Tony Rae, James Dagg and Chris Ward a US$15,000 share of the US$200,000 total purse.

The win here is Barker’s first of Swedish Match Tour 2001/2. He had previously finished second to Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg at last July’s Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini Cup in Ravenna, Italy, finished ninth in March’s Steinlager Line 7 Cup on his home waters and eighth in April’s Congressional Cup in Long Beach, CA, in the United States.

Recapping the day’s action, in the first flight Coutts copped a penalty when the two were head-to-wind on the final countdown and he tacked through. As a result, Coutts found himself with very poor boat speed off the start while Barker pulled ahead and quickly powered up. From there Barker sailed a conservative match making sure not to give Coutts any openings to engage him and force an off-setting penalty.

In Flight 2, Coutts came out very aggressive, hunting Barker around the start area. When the gun sounded the two competitors took off on a split tack off the line with Barker heading to the left. The first cross found Barker slightly ahead with the young Kiwi only having a boat length lead at the first rounding. A tacking duel on the second upwind leg saw Barker bounce Coutts away from the right side of the course. On the final leg Coutts closed on Barker, but Barker maintained control and was able to keep enough clear air to hold off Coutts and go up 2-0.

In the final match both skippers started on the starboard tack and quickly tacked with Barker able to hold Coutts off all the way up the left side of the course with Barker enjoying a one boat length lead at the windward mark rounding. From there Barker sailed a flawless match eventually building to a five boat length lead to earn line honors.

In the petit finals American Ed Baird and his Team Musto won a grueling five match final over Bertrand Pacé of Team New Zealand. Baird won the first match only to see Pace come back to win the next two. The American, a former world match racing champion, delved deep into his bag of tricks to take the final two matches and the third place overall.

Sail-offs for places 5-8 were completed in the morning. Peter Holmberg of the Oracle Racing team defeated Denmark's Jesper Radich 2-1, to claim fifth place in the event while local favorite Magnus Holmberg and his Team SeaLife swept past Denmark's Jes Gram-Hansen and his Team Victory Lane 2-0.

Pacé may have been disappointed in his result this week but his fourth place finish here, combined with his runner-up result at May’s ACI HT Cronet Cup in Split, Croatia, moved him onto the final Swedish Match Tour rankings and allowed him to grab the eighth spot and the $10,000 prize that accompanies it.

Fantastic conditions graced the regatta’s final day. Competitors and the tens of thousands of spectators gathered on the rocks were treated to bright, sunny skies and a westerly wind of 12 knots. a

Barker and Coutts in Sunday final (07/06/02)
(source : swedishmatchtour.com)

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and the man he replaced, Russell Coutts of the Alinghi Team, are set to square off Sunday in the finals of the Swedish Match Cup.

Barker dispatched American Ed Baird and his Team Musto 3-0, in today’s semifinals. Coutts had a bit of a tougher time advancing to defend his event title as Team New Zealand’s Bertrand Pacé pushed him to five matches in their first to three wins semi.

“It was a good day, everything went our way,” said Barker. “We hope we can sail that well or better tomorrow because you know you’re not going to have an easy race with Russell. He is the yardstick when it comes to match racing.”

Coutts, the only man to win an Olympic Gold medal (1984 in Finns) and skipper an America’s Cup (1995 and 2000) winner, opened his semifinal by defeating Pacé in Flight 1 only to watch the Team New Zealand helmsman battle back to win the second and third matches.

In the fourth match, Pacé had a slight advantage at the start but Coutts sniffed out more pressure from the left side of the course. From there the two veteran match racers tracked around the course until the final beat when Pacé split from Coutts to the left side hoping to get a boost from the stronger breeze. Coutts had too much boat speed for Pacé to overcome however as the Alinghi Team skipper held off Pacé, winning by 17 seconds.

In the fifth and deciding match Coutts pushed Pacé over the line two seconds early forcing Pacé to double back, providing Coutts with an advantage to start. Pacé then hit the mark and copped a penalty while Coutts sailed a flawless match to advance to the finals and have an opportunity to defend his Swedish Match Cup crown.

“We’re disappointed we won’t be having an all-Team New Zealand final,” said Pacé. “We had quite a battle two years ago and it would have been fun to go at it again.”

Tomorrow’s Barker-Coutts match-up features the previous two winners of the Swedish Match Cup. Barker defeated Pacé in 2000 in a thrilling five match final that saw the Kiwi down 0-2, before rallying to win three in a row to claim the title.

In 2001 Coutts defeated Luc Pillot of Le Defi Areva, 3-1. Today featured lighter conditions on Marstrand’s south inlet than competitors experienced on Friday.

Winds were in the 6-8 knot range, with afternoon sun replacing early, overcast conditions. “We’ve only sailed three days but we’ve faced a bit of everything this week,” said Barker. His tactician Hamish Pepper agreed. “Its tough in these conditions to be consistent in getting the boats up to speed and get them to go where you want.”

Semi finals results

Flight 1 : Barker def. Baird - Coutts def. Pacé

Flight 2 : Barker def. Baird - Pacé def. Coutts

Flight 3 : Barker def. Baird - Pacé def. Coutts

Flight 4 : Coutts def. Pacé

Flight 5 : Coutts def. Pacé

Team NZ lead way into semi finals (07/05/02)
(source : swedishmatchtour.com)

Team New Zealand boss Dean Barker and helmsman Bertrand Pacé lead the four qualifiers for the Swedish Match Tour 2001/2’s final event, the Swedish Match Cup semifinals.

Barker accumulated the most points among the quarterfinalists, 15, to establish himself as the top qualifier while Pacé chalked up 12 to finish second.

“Today’s result was due to excellent teamwork because I wasn’t starting very well,” said Barker. “The crew work was fantastic and it got us back into a couple of races that we lost the start on.”

Emerging from a four-way log-jam on 10 points to claim the final two spots are defending Swedish Match Cup champion Russell Coutts of the Alinghi Team and American Ed Baird and his Team Musto crew who each advanced on countback over Swedish Match Tour 2001/2 champion Peter Holmberg of Oracle Racing and Danish amateur Jesper Radich.

“It was a great, but long day of racing,” sighed Coutts. “The standard of match racing has risen incredibly. It was clearly much higher today and as a result some very worthy teams are going home.”

In a formatting twist, the Swedish Match Cup awarded one point per victory for the first quarterfinal round robin and two points per victory in the second round. As a result, the stakes jumped significantly in the second round allowing for early missteps in boat handling to be corrected or, in worse case scenarios, late errors to be compounded.

Barker is neither a stranger to success nor disappointment in Sweden. After a dramatic win against Pacé in the 2000 Swedish Match Cup final expectations were high entering last year’s Swedish Match Cup for Barker and his Kiwi mates. However, with a 13th place finish last July they were clearly not met.

This year has been a distinctly different story as Barker seems to have regained his touch with the DS 37 Match Racers as well as his instincts for the tricky winds on Marstrand southern inlet. Today alone, the Kiwi skipper won seven matches including six in a row to demonstrate his mastery.

Adding to his satisfaction on reaching the semifinals, no doubt, is his 2-0, record against former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts the last two days. Barker got off to an impressive early start in the second quarterfinals round today by winning his match against the head of the Alinghi Team.

The win wasn’t without drama however as Barker crossed the line early at the start. Barker decided to immediately execute his penalty turn before heading up the first beat. At the first mark rounding Barker caught a shift off the far end of the island and went to the right side of the course with Coutts choosing the left. When the two came back together on the first crossing Barker had pulled even and from there it was a head-to-head race around the course before Barker nipped Coutts at the line.

Additionally, Barker knocked off Pacé in both of their matches on the day to earn in-house bragging rights at the Team New Zealand compound on Halsey Street in Auckland.

For local favorite Magnus Holmberg it was another disappointing Swedish Match Cup. Holmberg finished in eighth place with eight points in failing yet again to win his hometown regatta.

“Both yesterday and today we were struggling with all sorts of things - tough starts, penalties, mark roundings – and as soon as we sorted one problem out another one popped up,” said Holmberg. “We’re a bit disappointed it didn’t go the way we wanted but the teams that are going through sailed much better than us.”

Magnus and his crew of Lars Linger, Stefan Rahm, Magnus Augusston and Mikail Rossberg are not going home empty-handed, however. Their eighth place finish here, combined with Jes Gram-Hansen and his Team Victory Lane’s seventh place finish, allowed the Swedes to claim the second place overall position on Swedish Match Tour 2001/2 and with it the US$40,000 share of the prize purse.

Gram-Hansen finishes in third and he and his crew will receive US$25,000 as a reward for their success over the past 12 months.

Peter Holmberg and Oracle Racing, who had previously clinched the overall Swedish Match Tour 2001/2 championship, finished fifth here this week and will likewise receive their US$60,000 first prize at Sunday evening’s closing ceremony.

With winds blowing to 25 knots, competitors were greeted with vastly different conditions today than they had experienced earlier in the regatta. Ten quarterfinal flights left the crews ragged and worn but for the four who advanced a warm dinner and a good nights sleep will be more than enough to gird them for the semifinal battle ahead.

Quarterfinals leaderboard with points from RR1 & 2 (Skipper Wins)

1. Dean Barker, Team New Zealand 15
2. Bertand Pacé, Team New Zealand 12
3. Russell Coutts, Alinghi Team 10
4. Ed Baird, USA/Team Musto 10
5. Peter Holmberg, Oracle Racing 10
6. Jesper Radich, Denmark 10
7. Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Victory Lane 9
8. Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team SeaLife 8

Quarterfinals leaderboard (Skipper Wins Losses)

1. Dean Barker , Team New Zealand 5 2
2. Bertrand Pacé, Team New Zealand 5 2
3. Russell Coutts, Alinghi Team 4 3
4. Peter Holmberg, Oracle Racing 3 4
5. Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team SeaLife 3 4
6. Jes Gram Hansen, DEN/Team Victory Lane 3 4
7. Ed Baird, USA/Team Musto 2 4
8. Jesper Radich, Denmark 3 4

Quarterfinals Round Robin 2 Results (2 pts per win)

Flight 1 : Pacé def. Radich - Baird def. P. Holmberg - Gram-Hansen def. M. Holmberg - Barker def. Coutts

Flight 2 : Pacé def. Baird - Barker def, M. Holmberg (DNF) - P. Holmberg def. Radich - Coutts def. Gram-Hansen

Flight 3 : M. Holmberg def. P. Holmberg - Barker def. Radich - Pacé def. Coutts - Baird def. Gram-Hansen

Flight 4 : Coutts def. P. Holmberg - Radich def. Gram-Hansen - Barker def. Baird - Pacé def. M. Holmberg

Flight 5 : Coutts def. Baird - Gram-Hansen def. Pacé - P. Holmberg def. Barker - Radich def. M. Holmberg

Flight 6 : P. Holmberg def. Gram-Hansen - Barker def. Pacé - M. Holmberg def. Baird - Coutts def. Radich

Flight 7 : Gram-Hansen def. Barker - M. Holmberg def. Coutts - Radich def. Baird - Pacé def. P. Holmberg

Quarterfinals Round Robin 1 Results (1 pt per win)

Flight 5 : Baird def. Coutts - Gram-Hansen def. Pacé - P. Holmberg def. Barker - Radich def. M. Holmberg (DNF)

Flight 6 : Gram-Hansen def. P. Holmberg - Barker def. Pacé - Baird def. M. Holmberg (DNF) - Coutts def. Radich

Flight 7 : Barker def. Gram-Hansen - M. Holmberg def. Coutts (DNF) - Baird def. Radich - P. Holmberg def. Pacé (DNF)