HAMILTON BERMUDA, October 7
words by Talbot Wilson
Royal Southampton member Ben Ainslie took his Olympic Gold Medal skills to the King Edward VII Gold Cup presented by Argo Group at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.
The British skipper of Team Origin was a perfect three for three in Group One matches on the event’s first day.
Ben defeated reigning champion Mathieu Richard (FRA), French Match Racing Team/French Spirit, in a hot battle in the second flight of the day.
Their race included a hook-up between Ben’s bow and Richard’s loose mainsheet in a complicated windward mark rounding. Ben took the inside track from behind and when Richard gybed he didn’t give Ben room to keep clear and the two hooked up in a slow French minuete. Richard was double flagged, and that was it. Ben also defeated Richard’s countryman Damien Lehl and American Chris Von Tol.
The King Edward VII Gold Cup, now stage 8 of the World Match Race Tour sailed for the match-racing world championship, is the oldest match-racing competition in the world for one-design yachts. The trophy presented to the winning team was originally given at the Tri-Centenary Regatta at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1907 by King Edward VII in commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the first permanent settlement in America. C. Sherman Hoyt, a renowned American sailor, won the regatta and was presented with this now historic cup.
Through the years Bermuda has won the Cup 21 times, the United States 17 times, New Zealand 10 times, Australia 5 times, the United Kingdom 3 times, and in 2002 Denmark claimed the King Edward VII Gold Cup for the first time. The 2006 winner was Ian Williams (UK) who defeated a fleet including the 2005 winner, Luna Rosa Skipper James Spithill, who in that year had shut out Russell Coutts’ incredible string of wins. Mathieu Richard of France became the third consecutive first-time winner of the King Edward VII Gold Cup in 2007.
The King Edward VII Gold Cup is the 8th out of 9 events on the 2008 World Match Race Tour’s World Championship schedule. It is sailed in Hamilton Harbour adjacent to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. The venue brings world-class match racing close to shore where spectators can easily see the competition.
The 24 invited crews including two winners of qualifying events are divided into three groups of eight to sail a round robin elimination series Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The leading eight skippers go on to the Quarter and Semi Finals, to be sailed on Friday and Saturday.
The Finals take place on Sunday with the top two teams in a “Knockout” head to head battle and the losing semi finalists in their own “Knockout” Petite Final. Between the second and third races, the course is taken over for the final race of the Renaissance Junior Gold Cup, which will have been underway simultaneously since Thursday in the Great Sound.
Ben Ainslie, nearest camera, at the start.