Jesper Bank, Mathieu Richard lead after first day of Match Race Germany

Jesper BankSkipper / Helmsman of United Internet Team Germany

Click for more info and Mathieu Richard are the early leaders at the cold and windy Match Race Germany, Stage 7 of the 2005-06 World Match Racing Tour.

Bank and Richard top their respective groups at 3-1. Each is tied with another skipper, but owns the tiebreaker to hold the lead after four of five flights in each group. They survived chilly conditions that saw the temperature in the high 40s and winds anywhere from 4 to 20 knots, with intermittent rain. The wind was blowing west/southwest, off the snowcapped Alps, which made it so cold.

“It was close racing. We liked it when the breeze came up, we felt pretty quick,” said Bank, the Danish skipper of United Internet Team Germany. “I prefer cold and sailable to hot and windless. I feel good about the boats. After sailing a slow America’s Cup boat for a year, getting into a boat that is the same speed as the others and being able to sail fast is a good feeling.”

Bank won a close race against Peter Gilmour in Flight 3 to hold the tiebreak advantage. After a split tack start Gilmour won the first cross and sent Bank back to the right. Bank found a little better breeze on the right and leapfrogged Gilmour to lead at the windward mark.

The match was close throughout, but Bank held the lead. On the last leg to the finish they split sides of the course with Bank taking the left and Gilmour the right (looking upwind). Gilmour had better pressure and speed and made a furious charge. Approaching the finish he bore away but got nipped by one meter, according to Principal Race Officer Rudi Magg.

Gilmour disputed the call. He sought video evidence to support his case, but the video boat didn’t have a direct line of sight down the finish line, so the outcome stood. "They say Bank crossed first, so Bank crossed first," Gilmour said.

Richard opened his account with a dreadful loss to Ian Ainslie. “We had a bad start, bad first beat and bad tactics. We also went to wrong mark. We didn’t bring enough clothes, we had to go out and buy hats this morning. Our brains are a bit chilled,” Richard said.

He rebounded with three straight wins, including one over Sten Mohr to hold the tiebreak advantage. “The boats are totally different to Croatia. It’s quite tricky getting a feel for them,” said Richard, who placed runner-up at the World Tour event in Croatia last week. “The wind was difficult and it’s bloody freezing. But I’m happy with my day.”

Mohr, the Dane who’s an afterguard member of the BMW Oracle Racing team, ran off three wins before running into Richard. “It was a god day. I need to improve my starts, but the guys sailing with me are one level above. They’re talking all the time and the calls are good,” Mohr said. “The strategy is coming together. They’re watching and talking bout clouds coming off the shore. The boats are tricky to put a leebow on someone because they come out of tacks so slowly. You’ve got to work the strategy out, where you want to be on the racecourse before working out the boat-for-boat stuff.”

At the end of the day the cold weather was a hot topic of discussion. “All the scientists that believe in global warming should come to Langenargen to experience the ice age,” said Chief Umpire John Standley.

Racing continues on Friday. The top three from each group will advance to the quarterfinals and bottom three to a repechage round, from which the top two advance to the quarters.

RANKINGS (After 4 of 5 scheduled flights)

Round Robin A1			Round Robin A2
Skipper	Points		Skipper	Points
Peter Gilmour	3		Mathieu Richard	3
Jepser Bank	3		Sten Mohr	3
Björn Hansen	2		Ian Williams	2
Evgeniy Neugodnikov	2		Ian Ainslie	2
Michael Hestbaek	1		Eric Monnin	1
Tino Ellegast	1		Staffan Lindberg	1