Portugal Match Cup is under way

Mathieu Richard (foreground) and Lotte Meldgaard at the start of their match in Flight 3, won by Meldgaard. (Imagepress photo)

Stage 1 of the 2006-‘07 World Match Racing Tour season, the Portugal Match Cup, today kicked off in the Bay of Cascais with the only women’s team scoring a win against Mathieu Richard in Group A.
The 3rd annual Portugal Match Cup features 12 teams competing for a $100,000 prize purse, with $30,000 earmarked for the champion. Racing off the Cascais city front, the event is being held in SM40s, the Pelle Petterson-designed match-racer for the World Tour.
The 12 teams have been split into two groups of six.

Chris Dickson (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing
Peter Gilmour (AUS) PSTg
Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge
Chris Law (GBR) The Outlaws
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team
Alvaro Marinho (POR)
Lotte Meldgaard (DEN) Team HSH Nordbank
Thierry Peponnet (FRA) Areva Challenge 
Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team
Przemek Tarnacki (POL) Tarnacki Racing Team
Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racingp

A highlight of Dickson’s three-win day was his match against Law. A lively pre-start saw Dickson win the right side of the racecourse. He played it to win the match for a 3-0 record. Peponnet, tied with Dickson, rolled Law on the run to the finish in the previous flight.
In Group B, long-time Tour competitors Gram-Hansen, Holmberg and Lindberg each went 2-1. Lindberg, however, holds the upper hand among the three with victories against each. The final flight of the round robin will be a teller with Gram-Hansen racing Holmberg and Lindberg against Ian Williams (GBR), Williams Sail Racing. The two placed third and second, respectively, in the 2006 World Championship, an order decided on the last day of the season.
“We won in the first one, we were not very far ahead, but we were ahead all the time, I’d say,” said Lindberg. “Then we lost to the local hero (Alvaro Marinho). He did a good job, he picked the right side of the course and he won. In the third, we were trailing Magnus for a quite a long time but in the end on the last beat we managed to pass him which was very nice and extend slightly on the last run to the finish so we were very happy.”

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