Saturday, March 5, 2011

CHIEFTAIN 26

Boat: CHIEFTAIN 26

Builder: Westerly Marine Construction Ltd.

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Match Racing - 2000 Congressional Cup - Day Two


Author: Rich Roberts

Barker & Pacй meet for first place after first round

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- They never met in the America's Cup at Auckland, but their recent rivalry has set off sparks that could lead to fireworks when the 36th Congressional Cup passes the midway point Wednesday.

Dean Barker, the "golden boy" of Team New Zealand's clinching victory, and France's Bertrand Pacй share first place at 6-2 as they finish the first round robin head to head. Denmark's Sten Mohr is at 5-3, followed by everybody else except France's Damien Iehl at 4-4 or 3-5. Mohr is 1-7.

The Congressional is the third Grade 1 match racing event since the America's Cup. Pacй won the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup at Auckland with Barker third, then placed fourth in the Sun Microsystems Australia Cup at Perth with Barker second.

Barker said, "We've had some good races with Bertrand over the last few weeks. He likes to keep things nice and tight, and so do we."

Both are sailing with core crews from the Cup, which may explain their current positions.

"Teamwork is the most important thing in match racing," Pacй said.

Pacй was alone at 4-1 after the first day, but Australia's 20-year-old James Spithill -- about half his age -- brought the French veteran back to the pack with a two-second win in Tuesday's first race. Meanwhile, Barker launched a 3-0 day that included come-from-behind wins against two-time defending champion Peter Holmberg of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Mohr, the No. 1-ranked sailor from Denmark.

After waiting 90 minutes for fog to blow off the harbor, racing proceeded in southerly onshore winds of only 5 to 10 knots that held invisible windless traps at the bottom end near the beach.

Holmberg sailed into one to blow a 38-second lead against Barker, and Dickson found another as he tried to hold off Mohr and do a penalty turn at the finish line. As Dickson dropped his spinnaker and circled, Mohr sailed around and underneath him and the boats collided, side by side.

Both protested, but the on-water umpires weren't sure whether Dickson came down on Mohr or Mohr luffed illegally -- so they flagged both boats. Moments later Mohr was declared the winner by one second, keeping him in the chase and dropping Dickson to 3-4.

Dickson said, ruefully, "We're not sure that Sten actually beat us across the line because when we went across we were connected."

Mohr said, "I think I might have made a bad decision going for the room that wasn't there. We could have been in the wrong."

Barker, 26, has won four consecutive races since losing to Dickson. He is sailing with a crew of tactician Hamish Pepper, trimmer James Dagg, mainsheet trimmer Tony Rae, tailer Chris Ward and bowman Dean Phipps. The latter was a regular aboard the Kiwis' lead boat in the America's Cup, while Ward sailed two of the five races and the others worked with Barker on the backup boat.

Quotes:

Germany's Markus Wieser, after a 1-2 afternoon:

    "Yesterday I said I was a U-boat captain. We tried to fire our bombs today, but . . . "

James Spithill, who collected five of the nine penalties imposed by the on-water umpires Monday:

    "I'm trying to forget. I think I averaged one-and-one-half a race."

Dean Barker, who also had his ups and downs with the umps:

    "We've been to a few events prior to this and [have found that] it's difficult to get consistency with umpiring around the world."

Sten Mohr, No. 1-ranked in the world:

    "This is the first time I've sailed with a wheel since I was here in '96."

More Mohr, on his pre-start joust with Barker alongside the viewing platform that is Belmont Pier:

    "It's a spectator sport. We stayed in there for a couple of minutes to get the crowd going."

Peter Holmberg:

    "It's a pretty strong position when you're bringing the breeze down, sailing lower, and take the other guy to the corner and hammer him."

The 10 skippers, each with a crew of five, are competing for a total purse of $25,000.

They'll race one another twice through two round robins. If weather conditions cooperate, there will be enough time remaining for the top four to advance to the semifinals to determine the final two in a best-of-5 final on Friday afternoon.

Leading sponsors are the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, Farmers & Merchants Bank, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Trojan Battery Co, Boat US, Union Bank. Mt Gay Run, Ralph's Grocery, Colonial Yacht Anchorage, Jones Lumber Co., Mondavi Wines, Nix Check Cashing and Trader Joe's.

More Information: lbyc.org

See also: CHESAPEAKE 32 for sale