Sébastien Col downs Jesper Bank for first World Match Racing Tour win

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] How do you take hope and anticipation away from a crowd of 1,500? If you’re Sébastian Col you defeat local hero Jesper Bank in the final of the 10th annual Danish Open.

Col, 29, of Sete, France, won his first career World Tour event with a 3-1 defeat of the former champion. Col and crewmembers Christophe André, Jean-Francois Cuzon, Gilles Favennec and Teva Plichart became the first non-Scandinavian team to win the championship in the past six years.

When Col and crew crossed the finish line of Race 4 more than 30 seconds in the lead the partisan crowd was dead silent. They finished the regatta with a 12-6 record.

“What’s incredible is it’s our third Grade 1 win this year and second in a row,” said Col, the helmsman for Areva Challenge. “We won earlier this year in Marseille and last week in France. It’s a magical year.”

Sebastian Col helms from leeward while preparing to ease the mainsheet at a windward mark rounding. Photo copyright Per Heegaard/Danish Open

Bank, the skipper for United Internet Team Germany, sailed with Henrik Blakskjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Matti Paschen and Jan Schoepe. They finished with a 14-4 record.

“We admired their way of sailing,” said Bank. “It was extremely simple. They were always in the right place.”

Dane Jes Gram-Hansen of the Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team placed third after defeating Finland’s Staffan Lindberg and the Alandia Sailing Team 2-0 in the Petite Final.

Gram-Hansen moved into first place on the World Championship leaderboard. Gram-Hansen has 27 points and is 2 points ahead of Col and Chris Dickson, who won the season-opening Portugal Match Cup last month. “It’s nice, but someone else will probably get the lead next week,” said Gram-Hansen, referring to Stage 3, the St. Moritz Match Race in Switzerland.

Rainy conditions soaked competitors during the semifinals of the Danish Open, such as Jesper Bank and his United Internet Team Germany crew. Photo copyright Per Heegaard/Danish Open

It might be Col who takes that lead. The Frenchman is entered in St. Moritz and has experience on Lake St. Moritz having finished seventh last year. That’s more experience than he has in Denmark, where he raced for the first time.

“We improved all week,” said Col. “The start is the key. If you get a good start it gives you the possibility to play the first shift. If you win the first cross, the race is a lot different. Today Teva and [Jean-Francois] predicted the shifts well. We were able to extend.”

Their work impressed Bank, who has raced off Skovshoved Harbor eight times and advanced to the final five times.

The third race of the final left Bank scratching his head. With Col leading the series 2-1, Bank started tight to leeward, wanting the left side of the course. After forcing Col to make a clearing tack to the right, he extended to the left.

When Bank tacked to port he thought he looked good. But then Col wound up in a right-hand puff and Bank couldn’t cross.

“We were still wondering why the left was paying when the right came in,” Bank said. “The pressure filled on that side.”

Col said his starts got better as the series wore on. He thought he did alright in the first race, had a bad start in the second race, and then good ones in Races 3 and 4. In the fourth race he started on starboard at the pin end while Bank was on port clearing around the race committee boat, which left him slow.

“We set up to go right,” said Bank. “We’d been looking at the wind under a rain cloud and thought it would go right. The boat end was favored, so we should’ve been OK. But when we looked at him he was heeling more. He just sailed that boat into pressure. He was extremely simple and logical,”.


Danish Open 2006 Final Provisional Standings
1. Sébastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 12-6
2. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 14-4
3. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 10-6
4. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 9-7
5. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 8-6
6. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 7-7
7. Sten Mohr (DEN) BMW ORACLE Racing, 6-6
8. Peter Wibroe (DEN) Team Wibroe, 4-8
9. Dorte O. Jensen (DEN) Team Sjælsø Gruppen, 4-7
10. Simon Minoprio (NZL) Vision Yachting, 3-8
11. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 3-8
12. Mads Ebler (DEN), 2-9


Match Racing World Championship Standings
(After 2 Stages)
1. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 27 points
2. Sebastian Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 25 points
T. Chris Dickson (NZL) BMW ORACLE Racing, 25 points
4. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 20 points
T. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, 20 points
6. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 16 points
7. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 15 points
8. Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing, 10 points
T. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 10 points