Day three of the Carlos Aguilar Match Racing Regatta was a good day for both the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, with three of four teams in the Open Semifinals hailing from local waters.
Weather conditions Saturday offered gusty and often strong puffs, which required crews to change gears to accommodate the bigger breeze, and made dousing the big spinnaker sails soggy work for even some of the higher-ranked teams.
After two seven-match rounds robin, which started Thursday, the spectator and fans were hardly surprised to find match racing legend and Olympic silver-medalist Peter Holmberg (11.5 points) and Jes Gram Hansen (10 points) of Denmark, who just won the Danish Open, going forward to compete in the regatta’s semifinals. Nor was it any great surprise to see top-ranked collegiate sailor Taylor Canfield of the USVI (12 points), who races for Boston College, move forward.
The two surprises in the Open Division semifinal are one of inclusion and one of elimination.
But there were two big surprises: Newcomer to match racing Colin Rathbun (8 points) of the BVI is in, and the world’s foremost expert on match racing rules and top match racing coach, Dave Perry, is out. Perry’s spinnaker went into the water during a rapid-action maneuver, resulting in a loss which knocked them from the semis.
“Were in the semis,” Rathbun said. “We’re excited as ever. Going into today, in order to make it into the semifinals we had to beat at least two of the pros. They are really good.”
Rathbun attributed the success to better crew work and said that weekly practices over the last three months were paying off. The BVI team runs through scenarios and fast sets and take downs in their practice sessions.
“We started behind,” Rathbun said. “It wasn’t the driver [referring to himself] that won that. It was the crew.”
Since Canfield led the Open Division it was his prerogative to select which team he would face first and he chose Rathbun, leaving Holmberg facing Gram Hansen.
Holmberg described the strategy in opponent selection.
“You want to pick the easiest opponent,” Holmberg said. “He [Canfield] is thinking one step at a time. You want to get to the finals and face whoever wins the other side.”
Holmberg has raced often against Gram Hansen and said that he believes the strength of his crew’s work is the confidence that he can make any maneuver that he wants.
Holmberg also spoke about his matchups this regatta against Canfield, where the prestarts took on a provocative tango-like aspect, with each anticipating the other’s moves, stalking, controlling and breaking away before re-engaging. Holberg compares the prestart control game to the 12th round of a boxing match.
“It’s a style of mine,” Holmberg said. “I find that if I can throw off their rhythm by controlling them then [I] have the upper hand. If you can control them for those four minutes you can push them around and put them on their back foot – and then you can win the start.”
Holmberg credits his crew with their success in this regatta.
“My strength is my team,” Holmberg said. “They are all doing an awesome job — Maurice [Kurg], Ben [Beer] and Morgan [Avery].”
In the Women’s Division, French and American teams wound up in the semifinals, with Claire Leroy and Julie Bossard each taking on a team from the U.S. The U.S. woman’s semi finalists are Genny Tulloch and Katy Lovell.
“It’s was a tough lineup,” Katy Lovell said of the racing Saturday, explaining that her team had taken on Bossard, who was close to them in points, and then fellow U.S. Sailing Team member Tulloch. “Somehow we just started getting better and better working as a team.
Lovell’s crew has not all sailed together for very long. Lovell and crewmember Alice Manard have sailed together for a long time, but it is only their second time sailing with Kaity Storck and Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff, although Storck and Gibbons-Neff have trained together extensively. The four came together for US Sailing’s Women’s Match Racing Championships held here two weeks ago.
“We have good chemistry, I guess,” Lovell said.
Just invited to the regatta two weeks ago after another crew’s, Lovell believes that she comes in somewhere about number 30 in national rankings. She said that she must choose regattas carefully so she can spend time with her four-year old, who is staying this week with his grandmother in Maryland.
Analyzing the team’s performance, Lovell was excited to be racing No. 1-ranked Leroy.
“I am excited that Claire picked me,” Lovell said. “Even though she probably thought she would beat me. She’s the best in the world for three years. She doesn’t make any mistakes.”
Asked about strategy, Lovell’s top-ranked opponent said that she never thinks about strategy before the race, but she did say that Lovell’s newness to participating in semifinals and finals might be a small disadvantage.
“We have more experience in this part of the race,” Leroy said. “Probably we feel more comfortable, but she has nothing to lose.”
While she might not think about strategy, Leroy still has a champion’s philosophy.
“We will sail, we will win, we are here for that,” Leroy said.
Results for the Open Division going into the semifinals:
- Points – Name – Nation
- 12 Canfield ISV
- 11.5 Holmberg ISV
- 10 Gram Hansen DEN
- 9 Rathbun IVB
- 8 Perry USA
- 3 Haycraft IVB
- 3 Bus AHO
- 0 Escobar ESA
Results for the Women’s Division prior to the semi finals
- 12 Leroy FRA
- 10 Lovell USA
- 10 Tulloch USA
- 9 Bossard FRA
- 7 Baylis USA
- 3.5 Decnop BRA
- 3 O’Brien-Uszenski ISV
- 0 Ramires POR
In the semifinals, teams face one other team in matches until one of the two accumulates three wins. This means that some crews will have to race as many as five matches.
Two semi final matches were raced Saturday afternoon. Canfield and Rathbun raced twice and each has won against the other. Holmberg bested Gram Hansen in both of their matches on Saturday. Holmberg’s acquired a penalty in the first match, but cleared it at the finish line, completing his circle with just one boat length to spare before Gram Hansen cross the finish.
In the women’s semi finals on Saturday, Leroy bested Lovell in both matches, while Tulloch defeated Bossard in both of their meetings.
Both the Open and Women’s semi finals will continue Sunday morning with crews switching boats.
Unofficial Results so far in Carlos Aguilar semifinals:
Open Division
- 2 Holmberg USA
- 1 Canfield USA
- 1 Rathbun USA
- 0 Gram Hansen DEN
Women’s Division
- 2 Leroy
- 2 Tulloch
- 0 Lovell
- 0 Bossard
