Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand Wins the Allianz Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] The immensely talented British sailor Ben Ainslie became the fifth first-time winner on the World Match Racing Tour when he won the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle.

The 29-year-old Ainslie, a helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand, defeated Ed Baird of Alinghi, 3-1, to win his first World Tour event. Ainslie’s crew included James Dagg, Terry Hutchinson, Jeremy Lomas and Tony Rae. They finished with a 14-5 record and won $25,000 of the $100,000 purse.

“It was a tough day, really windy and shifty, plus the tide, our team did a good job dealing with all the conditions,” said Ainslie. “The first start we didn’t have a great one to be honest, the next three we nailed them. Terry did a great job nailing the shifts.”

Baird sailed with Mike Drummond, Nils Frei, Craig Satterthwaite and Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen. They finished with a 13-5 record and won $15,000. “I didn’t do a good job on the line,” said Baird. “Compared to the rest of the week I wasn’t as strong off the starts at all. That was the difference. You let him start ahead of you and it’s really hard to pass, especially on this type of racecourse.”

Video highlights of the Final of the Allianz Cup. Video copyright Sportshows Television/Narrowstep - Allianz Cup

In the Petite Final Jesper Bank defeated Ian Williams, 2-0, to place third. Williams finished fourth in the event, but it was good enough to keep him in the lead of the Match Racing World Championship standings. Williams leads Baird by 7 points.

“Our goal coming into the event was to be leading the tour going out, so we’re please with that,” said Williams. “That’ll be our goal at the Monsoon Cup, to come out that still leading the Toru and if we can put in another top four result that should be ok.”

After the first race of the Final it looked as if Baird was going to run away with the regatta. A fairly even start saw both boats come off the line on starboard tack with Baird to windward. The two rode starboard tack to the seawall at St. Francis Yacht Club before tacking. When they did, Baird opened a two-boatlength lead.

Ainslie made it close at the top of the leg and got positioned to leeward of Baird. He luffed Baird, but then the pair drifted into the two-boatlength zone at the windward mark and the umpires penalized Ainslie when he didn’t fall off soon enough to allow Baird buoy room.

Ainslie received a second penalty moments later when he tacked to port and fouled Baird on starboard tack. Baird regained control of the match as Ainslie did one of his penalty turns and went on for the 1-0 lead.

Then Baird’s troubles in the start box began. In the second race Ainslie shut Baird out at the committee boat end, taking a two-boatlength advantage onto the racecourse and sailing to a resounding win to even the score line, 1-1.

Ben Ainslie (foreground) and Ed Baird circle in pre-start maneuvers during the Final of the Allianz Cup. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

In Race 3 Ainslie started to leeward and ahead for another commanding win to go up 2-1.

Ainslie took another commanding lead onto the racecourse in the fourth and clinching race. With about 50 seconds to go Baird got a leeward hook on Ainslie. Ainslie tacked away to port with about 20 seconds to go, but Baird was stuck. He’d lost way and when he called for port tack to chase Ainslie couldn’t get the boat going immediately. When the start gun sounded Baird was crossing two lengths behind Ainslie on port tack.

“We probably were slightly slower than I thought,” said Baird. “When I called for port tack there was a little hesitation. If we had gone right on to port tack we probably would’ve been a little stronger, but not strong enough to win the start.

“Those guys have been sailing well,” said Baird. “They do a lot of practice in these size boats. I fully expected them to be tough and they were. The thing that surprised me was me. I was disappointed that I didn’t have stronger starts.”

“The last three starts we shut him out in one, got him late and the last one we wanted the left and got that,” Ainslie said. “Ed and his team are bloody good. It was a real challenge to us. It was great to beat someone of that caliber.”

Ben Ainslie sails to leeward of Ed Baird in Race 1 of the Allianz Cup Final. (Allianz Cup/Paul Todd photo)

Alinghi's Ed Baird unbeaten in Allianz Cup semifinals

America’s veteran match racer is up 2-0 and England’s wunderkinds are tied 1-1 in the Semifinal Round of the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour.

Ed Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) leads Denmark’s Jesper Bank 2-0 in one semifinal match. Baird staged a come from behind victory in their first race and then dominated the second race for the lead.

“We got an opportunity at the first windward mark,” Baird said of his first race. “He dialed us down hard on starboard. It was close whether we could cross behind him but were able to.”

Once around the windward mark, Baird’s crew snapped off a maneuver quicker than Bank’s. “We had a much better jibe and that was the race,” said Baird.

In the other half of the semifinal bracket 29-year-old Ian Williams, the match racing world championship points leader, is tied with triple Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie, also 29.

Williams won the first race after unloading a penalty. Ainslie won the second when he nipped Williams at the finish of a 5-minute run that saw the lead change hands three times.

“We were sailing nicely and fast,” said Williams. “But we made a mistake and gave him a get out of jail card. We had two opportunities to jump on him, but didn’t take advantage.”

The semifinals were suspended late this evening with the setting sun. The wind shifted to the west for the semifinal races and blew around 10 knots. The conditions were much more suitable for racing than the light northerlies that the quarterfinals were sailed in and have dominated the regatta, but there were still pratfalls on the racecourse.

“The breeze was more solid at the end,” said Williams. “We were sailing up and down with the current but it brings new challenges, like time and distance in the pre-start.”

Baird noticed differences in the ebb current from the shoreside to the middle of the bay.

“It was a little softer on the shore, we were surprised by that,” said Baird. “The beats were short so you had to start to the right.”

The quarterfinals were held earlier in the day. Baird defeated Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing, 3-1. Bank needed five races to defeat Peter Holmberg, Baird’s teammate at Alinghi.

Williams beat old nemesis Peter Gilmour, 3-1, to knock a chip off his shoulder. Williams has beaten Gilmour plenty in round robin racing on the tour, but has lost to him in three knockout rounds.

“It felt good to get that one,” said Williams. “He seems to be our nemesis in final rounds. For the tour standings it’s a big deal.”

Ainslie defeated Paolo Cian in the last quarterfinal match, also by 3-1. Ainslie won the first two, dropped the third and then won the fourth. Cian aided Ainslie by getting a penalty and being over the start line early. Despite all that Cian led towards the finish line, but saddled with the penalty Ainslie was able to steam past for the win.

In racing for 5th through 8th places this evening, Cian defeated Dickson and then Gilmour to place 5th and Gilmour 6th. Dickson placed 7th when he passed Holmberg on the final run to the finish, relegating Holmberg to 8th.

Racing is scheduled to resume on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. and will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.Sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting.

Alinghi's Ed Baird wins Group B at Allianz Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] Ed Baird, a helmsman for America’s Cup defense syndicate Alinghi, won the Group B round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won all three of his matches today and finished with a 6-1 record. Baird tied for the win with Italian Paolo Cian of Team Viano Mercedes Benz – Shosholoza. Cian led yesterday at 4-0, but his lone loss was to Baird in Flight 5 which gave Baird the win.

“It was pretty light,” said Baird, the only skipper to finish in the Championship 8 every Tour season. “There was some current. The current was changing, and each race was different. That was part of the difficulty, to be comfortable with that. Especially in the starting area, it seemed to be quite different than on the racecourse. My guys did a great job of reading that and timing to the line. It gave me a lot of confidence to be in right place in the starts. We got ahead and stayed there today.”

Baird’s timing was the difference in the pre-start against Cian in Flight 5.

“They did an incredible job of time and distance to the line and were able to push us up and out of the line,” said Cian. “So the race was probably over at the beginning. I think we were pretty happy with six wins out of seven races. It’s just the way you read it.”

Racing in the San Francisco bay in the third day of the Allianz Cup. Video copyright Sportshows Television/Narrowstep - Allianz Cup

Denmark’s Jesper Bank, skipper of United Internet Team Germany, finished third at 5-2 and Australian Peter Gilmour, the reigning match racing world champion, was fourth at 4-3.

They advance to tomorrow’s Quarterfinal Round, which features some very intriguing matches. Baird will face Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Cian races Ben Ainslie, a helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand. Bank takes on Peter Holmberg, another helmsman for Alinghi, and Gilmour goes against Ian Williams, the current leader of the world championship standings.

The winner of each match is the first to 3 points. The quarterfinals will be broadcast live on the Internet on Saturady at www.sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. , weather permitting.

The light winds from the north today inhibited the completion of more racing. The wind blew mostly between 6 and 8 knots, but died away in the afternoon which forced racing to be abandoned after Group B finished its round robin.

Paolo Cian (left) follows Ed Baird back to the start line in their Flight 5 match. Baird won the match and the Group B round robin. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

The event moves on to the quarterfinals without arguably its biggest attraction, Larry Ellison. The CEO of Oracle and founder of the BMW ORACLE Racing Team fell to 0-5 before closing out with two wins. He finished with a 2-5 record and in 6th place in the group.

“Actually, we’re kind of pleased with sixth place,” Ellison said to a packed press conference at the St. Francis Yacht Club. “Let’s here it for sixth place!”

Ellison said he hadn’t raced in J/105s before but enjoyed the regatta. He said that yesterday was a very humbling experience sailing in a cross current.

“It is very difficult and tricky sailing in a cross current,” Ellison said. “And sailing against this caliber of skipper and these quality teams, it’s quite astonishing how good they are at what they do. It was just an honor for me to be out amongst them.”

Cameron Dunn leads Brian Angel off the start line early in their Flight 5 match, which Angel would win. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

The Allianz Cup may not be Ellison’s last World Tour event. He received an impromptu invitation to Stage 6, the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, from Gilmour, the event’s technical director.

“Just yesterday I got word that Russell Coutts is unavailable to come because he doesn’t have a crew,” said Gilmour. “So Larry, there’s an opening for you. It’s known as the world’s richest event in sailing with a 1 million ringet ($275,000) prize money.”

“Are you serious?” replied Ellison. “I guess that’s a yes,” Gilmour concluded.

Saturday’s schedule calls for the quarterfinals to begin at 10:00 a.m. The race committee also hopes to sail the semifinals in the afternoon.