Ed Baird wins UBS Dubai Defender Trials
Posted by Havermeyer | Posted in General | Posted on 03-02-2007
0
![]() |
Post Page Rank |
Ed Baird (SUI91) and his crew won two races today to draw even on points with Peter Holmberg. In order to break the tie, the race committee reverted to the boat that won the last race.
Racing got away in 8-10 knots on day 4 of the UBS Dubai Defender Trials, Peter Holmberg (SUI64) was over the line at the start, he commented: “That was a big mistake on my part, I had the start won and I got a little greedy. I had set a trap for him to come in there and got a little slow and he came in and hooked me and put me over the line.” With just one windward-leeward, Baird crossed the line 59 seconds ahead to raise his points to 2, edging closer to Holmberg’s 3. In race 6, the last of Round 1, Baird and Holmberg got away to an even start with both boats sailing a long time on port tack. When they met again SUI91 had a small advantage which they maintained to the topmark and downwind to finish 37 seconds ahead. Baird reflected on what he can take away from this 1st round: “All the guys are being reminded that it’s the simple basic things that you have to do correctly time and time again to be successful. As a team, every time we get into a high pressure race, it’s the basics that win it.” Team skipper and tactician, Brad Butterworth, gave his take on the event as a whole: “We’ve been sailing with each other a lot over the last few months and the standard of crew work and the way that we sail the boats has improved since we started racing. There’s a winner and a loser in these regattas and it puts a lot more pressure on the crew. We’re trying to emulate a Louis Vuitton Cup and this is the best we can do. I think it is everything that we have asked for and I’m looking forward to the next one.”
Source: Alinghi
Original post by Dubai Sailing and software by Elliott Back
No related posts.

