Gold Cup
runneth over for Gilmour

 

Hamilton, Bermuda - A tournament style match race that honors the world's top sailors in one of the worlds best yachting centers wrapped up on Sunday afternoon in Hamilton harbor after Australian Peter Gilmour and New Zealander Chris Dickson went to the final seconds of the best of five races at the Investors Guaranty King Edward VII Gold Cup. Gilmour took home the coveted trophy when his team defeated Chris Dickson in one of the best match races seen in these waters in recent memory.

"This is as good as it gets," said an elated Gilmour after a long-week and a long day where the final race of the Bermuda Gold Cup/Swedish Match Tour was decided on a penalty incurred on the first windward leg when Dickson tacked too close to Gilmour and was unable to make up the penalty in time.

The final day of match racing between the two top talents in sailing today was quickly at 1-1 when Dickson was over early in the first race and Gilmour was over early in the second race. With gear failure threatening both teams as the winds increased to nearly 25 knots, Gilmour ended up with a mechanical problem on top of everything else in race two and that put the score at 1-1. Gilmour shook off the cobwebs and dominated the third race. On the fourth race, Gilmour copped a penalty for tacking too close to Dickson putting the score to 2-2 in the best of five series.

Race five of the final day of racing was deemed one of the most exciting in the history of the Bermuda Gold Cup/Swedish Match Tour. With Gilmour incurring a penalty at the pre-start, he did an immediate penalty turn and lost no time in tacking away from Dickson to the right on the first beat. The first crucial cross would have put Dickson slightly in the lead but he tacked too close to Gilmour and incurred a penalty. He was never able to recover from that penalty and the game, set and match went to Gilmour.

"It was about as good as it gets in match-racing," said Gilmour. "It was not a smooth win for us and it could have gone either way. It wasn't easy out there but we did it and I want to congratulate my team."

"Sometimes you get the elevator and sometimes you get the shaft," Dickson said. "It was really maritime chess on the water and blowing a lot harder as the day went on. The boats were a real handful for us and Gavin Brady, Roscoe Halcrow and Dirk de Ridder did a great job." Not only did Dickson's Oracle BMW racing team do a good job, he was quick to point out that he had recruited Gilmours' Japanese bowman as a new member of Oracle.

Both Gilmour and Dickson are multiple winners of the Gold Cup, as is Russell Coutts who have been a part of the Bermuda Gold Cup match racing event for nearly 15 years and come back each year.

And, while British Virgin Islander Peter Holmberg did not have his strongest regatta to date, it appears likely he won't be idle for long as rumour has it he will be the B-boat captain for Alinghi quite soon. Meanwhile, Dean Barker will be off to the Swedish Match Tour in Japan this coming month to sail and "wait and see what will be happening with Team New Zealand."

The build up to the final race day over the week included strong performances by Jesper Radich, Dean Barker, Russell Coutts and a number of unseeded skippers including Bermudian Paula Lewin and San Diego native Bill Hardesty. Hardesty and his team were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Coutts but were rewarded with the recognition by the Swedish Match Tour organizers for their sportsmanship and hard work.

With a prize purse totaling $100,000, Gilmours' team were awarded $30,000 while unseeded skipper Bill Hardesty of San Diego placed sixth winning $6,500 and his airfare home.

"It is very inspiring to be here and we feel like if we work hard and keep sailing we are just going to get better," said Hardesty, 28, who has quit his job to pursue sailing full-time. "It was an aggressive and expensive move to come here but we figured we had to give it a shot. Making it into the final round and sailing against Russell Coutts was more than we had imagined. These top sailors are at the top of the profession but we are going to give it a shot and work hard to get to the places we need to be to sail."

Laurie Fullerton

Overall Results: Listed with Skipper/Team and crew (prize money)

  1. Peter Gilmour/Pizza-La Sailing Team (AUS), Yasuhiro Yaji, Mike Mottl, Kazuhiko Sofuku ($30,000)
  2. Chris Dickson/Team ORACLE BMW Racing (USA), Gavin Brady, Ross Halcrow, Dirk de Ridder ($18,000)
  3. Jesper Radich/Team Radich (DEN), Chresten Plinius, Peter Poulsen, Anders Kristensen ($11,500)
  4. Dean Barker/Team New Zealand's Omega Match Racing Team (NZL), Ben Ainslie, James Dagg, Tony Rae ($9,000)
  5. Russell Coutts/Team Alinghi (SWI), Dean Phipps, Simon Daubney, Warwick Fleury ($7,500)
  6. Bill Hardesty (USA), Matt Reynolds, Jeff Reynolds, Darris Witham ($6,500)
  7. Jes Gram-Hansen/Team Colorcraft (DEN), Rasmus Køstner, Michael Arnhild, Christian Kamp ($6,000)