Legendary sailor and match racer Dave Perry got his wish.
Perry said Wednesday that he wanted to hear oohs and ahhs from the crowd on shore watching the 2nd annual Carlos Aguilar Match Races, and there was plenty of that to go around for the 16 teams of international acclaim, and local legend, on Friday.
Racing on day two of the regatta saw master and student go head to head in the races between women’s match racing’s top-ranked competitor Claire Leroy and seventh-ranked Julie Bossard. Bossard, who is currently sailing in a brace for her sprained ankle, succumbed to Leroy in their first matchup of the day.
Bossard defeated Leroy in their second matchup, and in so doing endeared herself to spectators for her two-hop tacks and stalwart sportsmanship in spite of what was an obviously painful injury.
In preliminary results, Leroy came off the second day of round robin racing with five wins and one loss. Bossard came off with three wins on the day.
The most surprising upset of the day came when Renata Decnop of Brazil defeated Liz Baylis of the United States in the last women’s match.
Brazilian crew member Kim Murtha said their improvement over a no-win first day came when the crew started to pull together, and culminated in a win against Baylis.
“We had a really good start,” Murtha said. “We stayed focused, and tried not to make any mistakes.”
Local sailor Kelly O’Brien-Uszenski was pleased with three wins on day two after coming up short on day one.
“We overcame Portugal two times,” O’Brien-Uszenski said. “We had really great starts today, improving on our boat handling and upwind tactics. We engaged a lot more in tactical duals, and we were a lot more forceful. We got our confidence up and it paid off.”
In the Open Division, fans got to see the clashes they’d been dreaming about, with longtime rivals Peter Holmberg (ISV) and Dave Perry (USA) facing each other in the first open match of the day, with Holmberg controlling the prestart enough to get Perry black-flagged.
“We had a lot of very good prestarts,” Maurice Krug, who is sailing with Holmberg, said. “Peter locked onto [Perry] early and just stayed in control the whole prestart.”
Holmberg and Perry met again in the fourth flight, with Holmberg besting that race as well.
Possibly the most exciting prestart was what amounted to a tango between Holmberg’s and Canfields boats. First circling each other, tacking away and finally meeting each other practically bow to bow, spectators held their breath waiting for a collision. But the dance looked as perfectly choreographed as if they’d planned it. Canfield’s crew’s tactics and boat handling resulted in a victory for that race over the veteran Holmberg.
The Danish captain Jes Gram Hansen and crew members Torben Nielsen, Kristian Groth, and Michael Hestbak are competing together for the first time, but arrived with impressive resumes, including America’s Cup for Hansen, who sailed with the Italian team, and Hestbak, who sailed with the German team.
Hansen also battled with Holmberg twice on Friday, with each crew chalking up a win.
Hansen, who just won the Danish Open, was defeated in Friday’s opening match against Taylor Canfield, sailing for the Virgin Islands.
“They are definitely good sailors,” Hansen said. “We are still working on our game.”
Hansen has high regard for Canfield as well as the other young Caribbean sailors, and suggested they try match racing on the European circuit.
“It’s good to see these young guys doing very well,” Hansen said. “They should continue working hard.”
Hansen predicts that women’s match racing will become even competitive.
“With the girls going into the Olympics with match racing, they are training all the time,” Hansen said.
Colin Rathbun, who captains a team of British Virgin Islanders concurred with Hansen’s assessment.
“I’d love to sail against them but I wouldn’t be so bold as to say I’d beat them,” Rathbun said. “I mean, look who’s here. The first in the world, the first in [U.S] match racing.”
The Source will provide complete official results for the both the Open and Women’s Division as they are made available.
