 
Official Website
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FINAL
RANKING
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1. JESPER
RADICH
1. (DEN)
2. LUC PILLOT
1. (FRA)
3. ED BAIRD
1. (USA)
4. JOCHEN SCHUEMANN
1. (GER)
5. MIKAEL LINDQUIST
1. (SWE)
6. MARKUS WIESER
1. (GER)
7. HENRIK JENSEN
1. (DEN)
8. JES GRAM-HANSEN
1. (DEN)
9. MATTIAS RAHM
1. (SWE)
10. STAFFAN LINDBERG
10. (FIN)
11. ANDREAS WILLIM
10. (GER)
12. CHRIS LAW
10. (GBR)
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HONOUR
ROLL
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2002. JESPER
RADICH
2002.(DEN)
2001. MARKUS WIESER
2002.(GER)
2000. BERTRAND PACE
2002.(FRA)
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Radich
won second Swedish Match events in a row (06/09/03)
(source
: Swedish
Match Tour) |
Jesper Radich and his Danish teammates
wiped the floor on the final day of racing at
Match Race Germany on Lake Constance today.
Confident starting, superior boathandling and
a little bit of luck saw Radich dispatch American
Ed Baird of Team Musto 2-0 in the semi-finals,
and France’s Luc Pillot 3-0 in the finals.
The in-form 27-year-old has now won two Swedish
Match events in a row. Last week he rode his
luck to win the ACI HTmobile Cup in Croatia,
but this week he proved Croatia was no fluke
with a confident display throughout each round
of a frustratingly light-wind Match Race Germany.
Radich often made life hard for himself with
a pre-start penalty or a premature start, but
such was his boat speed in the three-man Diamant
2000 yachts that he seemed able to overtake
his opponents at will. His French opponent saw
a comfortable lead up the first beat dwindle
to little more than a boat length by the windward
mark, and from there Radich was able to grind
Pillot down.
It didn’t help Pillot that they finished both
of the first two matches to discover weed around
the rudder, but even so, Radich always looked
the more comfortable around the boat. His crew,
Winston Rasmussen and Anders Kristensen, looked
particularly slick with the spinnaker work,
frequently getting the kite set before the boat
had even passed the windward mark.
Pillot’s bowman, Bernard Labro, admitted their
starting had let them down, and said the weed
hadn’t helped either, but he was generous with
praise for the dominant Danes. "For sure
we have seen the right guys win this week. They
have been strong all week," he said.
It was surprising to see the French lose the
final in straight matches, having sailed so
well against Alinghi’s Jochen Schumann in the
semifinals. The German had been overnight leader
but things just didn’t go his way today.
Never known as a strong starter, the triple
Olympic Champion often relies on superior boat
speed and tactics to pull him through. But he
went down 2-1 to Pillot, and then lost 2-0 in
the petit-final for third place against Baird.
Now, Jesper Radich makes no secret of where
his ambitions lie. "I hope the America’s
Cup teams will take notice of what we have achieved
recently, because I would love to get involved
in that scene," he said.
RESULTS FROM MONDAY
Semi-finals : Radich def. Baird, 2-0 - Pillot
def. Schuemann, 2-1
Petit-final : Baird def Schuemann, 2-0
Final : Radich def. Pillot, 3-0 |
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Semifinalists
set up at Match Race Germany (06/08/03)
(source
: Swedish
Match Tour) |
It was a long, hot windless day on the
shores of Lake Constance as the sailors began
to curse the race committee for holding them
until late evening, in the hope of catching
sufficient breeze to complete the quarterfinals.
A surprise birthday party for Schuemann broke
up the boredom of the afternoon, and not long
after, the race officer’s persistence was rewarded
with a Force 2 westerly breeze.
Schuemann switched straight from party mode
into ruthless match racer, and came from behind
in his heat against Ed Baird of Team Musto,
to beat the American by some distance at the
finish.
Sweden’s Mikael Lindquist immediately made life
tough for himself against the German by gybing
in Schumann’s water before the start and incurring
a penalty. It was irrelevant, however, as Schumann’s
superior speed saw him stretch away to another
comfortable win.
France’s Luc Pillot put Denmark’s Henrik Jensen
out of contention for the semis with a straightforward
race win.
The Frenchman then stuck a penalty on Radich
before the start, and then the two teams split
tacks and banged each corner of the first beat.
They converged on equal terms at the windward
mark. Pillot rounded marginally ahead, but cunningly
waited for Radich to hoist his spinnaker. Pillot,
spinnaker still on the deck, luffed the Dane,
whose spinnaker was now flailing around in the
air. With Radich stalled out, Pillot deftly
bore away and hoisted his way to a two-boat-length
lead that he never relinquished.
And so, Radich gave up his overnight lead to
Schumann, with the Dane relegated to a three-way
tie for second place alongside Baird and Pillot.
After some hasty checking of the rules on tie-breaks,
Radich discovered that he was second, with Baird
third and Pillot fourth.
This is important as the consistent failure
of the breeze to materialize over Lake Constance
until late in the day, means that the race organizers
may be forced to pass over the semi-finals and
go straight to a Schumann v Radich final.
OVERALL QUARTERFINALS
STANDINGS (Skipper/Wins/Losses)
1. Jochen Schuemann (GER), 6/1
2. Jesper Radich (DEN), 5/2
3. Ed Baird (USA), 5/2
4. Luc Pillot (FRA), 5/2
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5. Mikael Lindquist (SWE), 3/4
6. Markus Wieser (GER), 2/5
7. Henrik Jensen (DEN), 2/5
8. Jes Gram Hansen (DEN), 0/7
RESULTS FROM SUNDAY
Flight 8 : Schuemann def. Pillot - Baird def.
Jensen
Flight 9 : Schuemann def. Baird - Pillot def.
Jensen
Flight 10 : Schuemann def. Lindquist - Pillot
def. Radich - Baird def. Gram Hansen |
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Jesper
Radich storms his way to the top (06/07/03)
(source
: Swedish
Match Tour) |
Light, fluky breezes played havoc with
the form guide today at the Swedish Match Tour’s
Match Race Germany on Lake Constance.
Yesterday in more steady winds, Dane Jes Gram-Hansen
of Team Victory Lane appeared to be on top of
his game, whilst his compatriot and close rival
for the overall lead of the Swedish Match Tour,
Jesper Radich, had a shocking day.
Today in the quarterfinals, Gram-Hansen crashed
out of overall contention with 0 wins in 6 races,
while Radich used some searing downwind pace
to come from behind in three heats, and finish
the day at the top of the leaderboard with 5
wins and just 1 loss.
Yesterday, Radich complained that he was too
caught up in the complexities of the 20-foot
Diamond 2000 yacht to be able to consider the
tactics properly, but today he felt comfortable,
even in the light airs that proved the undoing
of such strong performers as Gram-Hansen and
the German Markus Wieser, a former winner of
this event.
Gram-Hansen was at a loss to explain his dramatic
fall from grace. Certainly, the margins by which
he lost were tiny, but then that is the nature
of match racing. His match against Radich was
a classic, with the lead changing on each of
the four legs, before Radich grabbed a last-gasp
victory of less than a boat length across the
line.
The other casualty of the day, with no hope
left of progressing to the semifinals, was Markus
Wieser, who like Gram-Hansen was bewildered
by his loss of form. But he admitted that his
team were perhaps a little heavy for the conditions.
Luc Pillot would have had a perfect day but
for an unfortunate oversight in his final evening
match against American Ed Baird. With the Frenchman
leading down the second run by a very comfortable
margin, he failed to note the race committee’s
change from two laps to three, and while he
sailed prematurely for the finish line, Baird
rounded the leeward mark for the final lap and
left the Frenchman in his wake.
This leaves Pillot and Baird on 3 wins 1 loss,
the same score as German Jochen Schuemann who
is doing enough to keep his semi-final hopes
alive with some solid sailing.
Tomorrow the race committee plans to complete
the final three flights of the quarterfinals.
From there, the top four teams will advance
to compete in the semifinals.
QUARTERFINALS STANDINGS
(Skipper/Wins/Losses)
1. Jesper Radich (DEN/), 5/1
2. Jochen Schuemann (GER), 3/1
2. Ed Baird (USA),
3/1
2. Luc Pillot (FRA)
, 3/1
5. Mikael Lindquist (SWE), 3/3
6. Henrik Jensen (DEN) , 2/3
7. Markus Wieser (GER), 2/5
8. Jes Gram Hansen (DEN), 0/6
RESULTS
Flight 1 : Lindquist def. Wieser - Schuemann
def. Jensen - Radich def. Gram Hansen
Flight 2 : Schuemann def. Wieser - Radich def.
Lindquist - Jensen def. Gram Hansen
Flight 3 : Radich def. Schuemann - Wieser def.
Gram Hansen - Lindquist def. Jensen
Flight 4 : Baird def. Lindquist - Pillot def.
Gram Hansen - Radich def. Wieser
Flight 5 : Lindquist def. Gram Hansen - Radich
def. Baird - Pillot def. Wieser
Flight 6 : Pillot def. Lindquist - Baird def.
Wieser - Jensen def. Radich
Flight 7 : Baird def. Pillot - Schuemann def.
Gram Hansen - Wieser def. Jensen |
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