Open de España Match Race - Day 3: Cameron Dunn first at round robins

The four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard clearly depicts the very tight level of competition among the America's Cup sailors racing here in Calpe. Despite going through another day of light and shifty winds there were a couple of exciting matches, mainly the ones Jesper Radich of Desafío Español raced against Cameron Dunn and Bertrand Pacé. Radich won the first one and lost the second but both of them were very hard-fought and at no point did the winner have a large advantage over the loser.

BMW Oracle's Bertrand Pacé could have been the leader had he won the last match of the day against Philippe Presti but a poorly-executed spinnaker drop at the bottom mark cost him the race. With the winds having died down, his boat came to a stop, allowing Presti to take advantage of a very small puff on the left side of the course and build a lead of several boatlengths. After that match the race committee decided to abandon racing.

Cameron Dunn of Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team was ranked first since he was the only one to have two victories among the four tied sailors. He will have the choice of opponent but as he admitted it would a very tough one, similar to choosing your poison. With no clear laggard among the rest he faces a choice he could regret.

Open de España leaderboard
Final round robin rankings (ties broken)
1. Cameron Dunn (Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team) 8 points
2. Philippe Presti (Luna Rossa) 8 points
3. Bertrand Pacé (BMW Oracle) 8 points
4. Jesper Radich (Desafío Español) 8 points
5. Manuel Weiller 7 points
6. Adam Minoprio 6 points
7. Santiago López-Vázquez (Desafío Español) 5 points
8. Jose Maria Ponce 5 points
9. Daniel Maestre 4 points
10. Rasmus Viltolf 3 points
11. Juan Luis Páez (Desafío Español) 3 points
12. Gustavo Benavent 1 point

Cameron Dunn sailing during the third day of the Open de España. Calpe, 9 September 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Cameron Dunn sailing during the third day of the Open de España. Calpe, 9 September 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Cameron Dunn and Jesper Radich sailing during the third day of the Open de España. Calpe, 9 September 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Cameron Dunn sailing during the third day of the Open de España. Calpe, 9 September 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Jesper Radich sailing during the third day of the Open de España. Calpe, 9 September 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The match between Bertrand Pacé and Jesper Radich had several very close situations. Calpe, 9 September 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Bertrand Pacé sailing during the third day of the Open de España. Calpe, 9 September 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Bertrand Pacé sailing during the third day of the Open de España. Calpe, 9 September 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing