Ian Williams leads group A after first day of Allianz Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] The leader of the match racing world championship standings won today the Group A round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the World Match Racing Tour.

Ian Williams, the 29-year-old skipper of Team Pindar, won the group with a 5-2 record. He topped a three-way tiebreaker with Peter Holmberg of Alinghi and Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand, two syndicates for the America’s Cup, for the win.

Williams defeated both in head-to-head matches for the tiebreaker. Holmberg defeated Ainslie in their Flight 2 match to place second and Ainslie third. Those three advance to Friday’s Quarterfinal Round, a knockout series with the first to 3 points advancing.

Racing in the San Francisco bay in the first day of the Allianz Cup. Williams against Ainslie and Holmberg against Dickson. Video copyright Sportshows Television/Narrowstep - Allianz Cup

Williams came into the event having won his previous start at the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Bermuda last week, a win that moved him into the lead for the world championship and garnered sponsorship from Pindar, the British print and electronic media company. He kept that momentum going today.

“We come in confident as Team Pindar, with the same tactician and trimmers we had in Bermuda,” said Williams, from Hamble, England. “But it’s a different field, different boats and different venue. It’s a new challenge and we’re really pleased to have got through this round and into the quarterfinals.”

Racing on Day 1 of the Allianz Cup was tricky with the wind on San Francisco Bay blowing between the northeast and northwest. That direction afforded great spectator viewing at the St. Francis Yacht Club, with the starting line just 50 yards off the club, it was perpendicular to the strong currents.

The current played a role in racing, especially in the ebb tide in the afternoon when the northerly died to 4 to 8 knots. On some runs the spinnakers on the boats were hanging limp, but they were swept down the course by the tide.

“It was a constant decision of what you thought was more important, current or wind,” said Holmberg. “I think we made the mistake early on that current was most important. In the conditions we had today – pretty variable with wind, direction and strength – you had to be smart to know when wind was more important than tide. I think wind was most important.”

Ainslie is competing in his first World Tour event since March. He felt his timing was off slightly in the pre-start. “We were a bit rusty today,” said Ainslie. “Our starts were probably our weak point. I think through the whole thing our boathandling was good and teamwork in general was fantastic. So we need to work on [that] for the future and getting used to these boats as well.”

Peter Holmberg leads Ben Ainslie to the finish of their Flight 2 match. Photo copyright: Allianz Cup / Paul Todd.

Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing, placed fourth in the round at 4-3, followed by Johnie Berntsson, 4-3, Staffan Lindberg, 2-5, Chris Perkins, 2-5, and Bjorn Hansen, 1-6. Hansen, however, was penalized 1 point for causing damage in a collision and finished with 0 points.

Dickson, Berntsson and Lindberg advance to the repechage round, where they’ll join the 4th thought 6th place finishers from Group B in a round robin. The two top crews in that round advance to the quarterfinals.