Match Race Germany 2004

Despite a third consecutive day of still conditions, three skippers remain alive in the chase for the Mercedes Benz SLK 200 at Match Race Germany, an event of the Swedish Match Tour. Jes Gram-Hansen’s Team Denmark leads the standings with a 5-0 record. They topped Group B, which finished its initial round robin today, and led three other teams to the quarterfinals. Four teams from Group B have advanced to the quarterfinal round. Joining Gram-Hansen are crews led by skippers Eric Monin (SUI), Luc Pillot (FRA) and Mathieu Richard (FRA). Michael Dunstan (AUS) and Ray Davies (NZL) failed to advance. In Group A, Swedish Match Tour champion Peter Gilmour’s Pizza-La Sailing Team and Gavin Brady’s BMW Oracle Racing both have 3-0 records after three flights. Round Robin Standings
Group A (After 2 of 5 flights) 1. Gavin Brady/NZL, BMW Oracle Racing, 3-0 = Peter Gilmour/AUS, 3-0 3. Bertrand Pacé/FRA, Team France, 1-2 = Lars Nordbjaerg/DEN, 1-2 4. Tino Ellegast/GER, 1-2 6. Karol Jablonski/POL, Toscana Chal., 0-3	Group B (After 5 of 5 flights) 1. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, 5-0 2. Eric Monin/SUI, 3-2 = Luc Pillot/FRA, 3-2 4. Mathieu Richard (FRA), 2-3 -------- = Michael Dunstan/AUS, OzBoyz Chal., 2-3 6. Ray Davies/NZL, Team New Zealand, 0-3
Results
Group A Flight 2 : Peter Gilmour def. Bertrand Pacé - Gavin Brady def. Lars Nordbjaerg - Tino Ellegast def. Karol Jablonski Flight 3 : Peter Gilmour def. Lars Nordbjaerg - Gavin Brady def. Tino Ellegast - Bertrand Pacé def. Karol Jablonski	Group B Flight 4 : Eric Monin def. Luc Pillot - Jes Gram-Hansen def. Ray Davies - Mathieu Richard def. Michael Dunstan Flight 5 : Eric Monin def. Ray Davies - Luc Pillot def. Michael Dunstan - Jes Gram-Hansen def. Mathieu Richard

Jes Gram-Hansen grabs lead at Germany (06/09/03)
(source : Swedish Match Tour)

Light winds on Lake Constance made for a slow day of racing at the 8th annual Match Race Germany, an event of the Swedish Match Tour. Group B was first on the water today, after a shoreside postponement of more than two hours. When the wind didn’t materialize off of Langenargen, the race committee moved the racecourse south to the Bay of Kressbronn. In this light conditions, Denmark's Jes Gram-Hansen got off to a fast start, posting a 3-0 record in winds that hardly topped 7 knots. He’s now one-third of the way to winning the Mercedes Benz SLK 200 roadster offered to the skipper who can win 10 straight races. Group A sailed one flight in the afternoon, which started around 3:00 p.m. With the wind in the Bay of Kressbronn gone, the race committee moved back to Langenargen and conducted the race in a light southwesterly that barely reached 5 knots. Gavin Brady (NZL), Peter Gilmour (AUS) and Lars Nordbjearg (DEN) each won their only race for 1-0 records. But by the time they finished, the wind had evaporated and racing for the day was canceled. The 12 skippers competing at Match Race Germany have been split into two groups of six. Each group is scheduled to sail a five-flight round robin, after which the top four in each group advance to the quarterfinals. The quarters are scheduled as a knockout round, meaning first to two points wins. The four winners advance to the semifinals, also a scheduled knockout round. The winners move on to the final. Round Robin Standings
Group A (After 1 of 5 flights) 1. Gavin Brady/NZL, BMW Oracle Racing, 1-0 = Peter Gilmour/AUS, 1-0 = Lars Nordbjaerg/DEN, 1-0 4. Tino Ellegast/GER, 0-1 = Karol Jablonski/POL, Toscana Chal., 0-1 = Bertrand Pacé/FRA, Team France, 0-1	Group B (After 3 of 5 flights) 1. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, 3-0 2. Luc Pillot/FRA, 2-1 = Michael Dunstan/AUS, OzBoyz Chal., 2-1 4. Eric Monin/SUI, 1-2 5. Mathieu Richard (FRA), 1-2 6. Ray Davies/NZL, Team New Zealand, 0-3
Results
Group A Flight 1 : Gavin Brady def. Bertrand Pacé - Peter Gilmour def. Karol Jablonski - Lars Nordbjaerg def. Tino Ellegast	Group B Flight 4 : Eric Monin def. Luc Pillot - Jes Gram-Hansen def. Ray Davies - Mathieu Richard def. Michael Dunstan Flight 5 : Eric Monin def. Ray Davies - Luc Pillot def. Michael Dunstan - Jes Gram-Hansen def. Mathieu Richard

Swedish Match Tour off to Germany (06/07/03)
(source : Swedish Match Tour)

The Swedish Match Tour visits Langenargen, Germany, on the shores of Lake Constance in southern Germany, for the penultimate event to the 2003-’04 schedule, Match Race Germany, June 8-14.

The 7th annual event has some new features this year, including a boat. The Bavaria 35 Match (from Bavaria Yachts, Giebelstadt, Germany) replaces the Diamant 2000 used in past editions. The 35-footer displaces 11,900 pounds and has 695 square feet of sail area.

With a Euro 20,000 (approximately $23,700) prize purse, Match Race Germany offers a special prize for the skipper who masters the new design the quickest. Any crew that can win 10 races in a row wins a Mercedes Benz SLK roadster, valued at approximately Euro 40,000 (approximately $47,000), from event sponsor Wuerttembergische Versicherungsagentur Speth.

Many familiar faces will be on hand gunning for the sleek speedster, including four of the top five at last week’s Tour event in Split, Croatia.

Heading the line-up is Australian Peter Gilmour and the Pizza-La Sailing Team of Mike Mottl, Kazuhiko Sofuku and Yasuhiro Yaji. They clinched the Tour Championship last week at the Swedish Match Tour event in Croatia, but Gilmour is still upset about his second-place finish to Frenchman Bertrand Pacé, who won the final 3-0. It was Pizza-La’s second consecutive runner-up placing.

Pizza-La may get another shot at the skipper of Team France for America’s Cup 2007 in Germany, where Pacé will also compete. Champion of the inaugural Swedish Match Tour in 2000, he sailed brilliantly last week. Pacé is tied for fifth on the Tour leaderboard.

Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen, third overall on last year’s Tour, is making a late-season push up the Tour leaderboard. A fourth-place finish last week moved him up to eighth place, after beginning the year placed 13th.

Gavin Brady, the New Zealand helmsman of the BMW Oracle Racing syndicate for America’s Cup 2007, looks to improve on his fifth-place in Croatia. Brady will have to do so without regular tactician John Kostecki, who won’t be in attendance. Brady, who could move into second overall on the Tour leaderboard with a top-five finish, will have BMW Oracle Racing teammates Sean Clarkson, Dirk De Ridder and Brad Webb crewing.

Also competing is Poland’s Karol Jablonski, the world No. 1-ranked match-racer and helmsman for Italy’s Toscana Challenge, another America’s Cup hopeful syndicate. Jablonski had a great run at the Tour event Porto Azzurro, Italy, last month before finishing fourth, and will have German Markus Wieser in his crew. Wieser won Match Race Germany in 2001.

Mathieu Richard of France makes his second consecutive Tour appearance, after placing sixth in Croatia. He gained entry by finishing runner-up to Wieser at the Berlin Match Race, and when Wieser declined his invitation to sail with Jablonski.

Other competitors include Frenchman Luc Pillot and New Zealander Ray Davies, representing Team New Zealand and including Kelvin Harrap in his crew. Harrap is tied for ninth on the Tour leaderboard.

Denmark’s Lars Nordbjerg and Australian Michael Dunstan of the OzBoyz Challenge, an America’s Cup hopeful, also will be on hand.

Two other spots will be filled based on the results of the German Invitational Cup, a local feeder event. Carsten Kemmling, the reigning German Match Race champion and a journalist at Germany’s Yacht magazine, is considered the favorite, and will be challenged by five other promising match-race crews from Germany and Switzerland.