Virgin Island sailors Peter Holmberg and Taylor Canfield dominated the Open Division of the Carlos Aguilar Match Racing Regatta, which concluded Sunday with finals before a crowd of spectators on the waterfront.
Holmberg and Canfield finished first and second respectively.
In the Women’s Division, Claire Leroy of France was the winner, with Genny Tulloch of the U.S. in second.
In its second year, the regatta has proved a magnet for some of the world’s hottest match racing talent, both new and old guard.
Finishing out the top four in the Open Division were Denmark’s Jes Gram Hansen, third, and the British Virgin Islands’ Colin Rathbun fourth. In the Women’s Division petit finals Julie Bossard of France overcame Katy Lovell of the United States for third and fourth.
The morning began with the conclusion of the semifinals. Following an initial two semifinal matches in each division Saturday on a sunny and breezy afternoon, Sunday morning greeted competitors with squally conditions.
Starting out, Lovell was 0-2 against Leroy of France and needed to win a race to stay in the game, but it was not to be.
“She managed to control us,” Alice Manard of Katy Lovell’s crew said. “She did a pretty good job of handling her boat.”
Then the weather let loose.
Katy took one for the team, sending all of her crew below while she got drenched during the squall.
After the clouds moved off, Lovell went on to lose to France’s Bossard in the petit finals to determine third and fourth place.
Petit finals were determined from the best of three races between the crews.
The first match between Leroy and Tulloch had Leroy controlling the pre-start. As they approached the line on port tack Tulloch had no room and was unable to complete the tack, forcing Leroy to tack. Tulloch was issued a red-flag penalty, meaning she had to complete an immediate penalty turn at the start.
“She was still ahead,” Leroy said. “So we were stressed.”
Compounding the stress, Leroy was encountering very little wind at that time. Tulloch then took the right side of the course, but the French women got a good shift and the finish was close, with Leroy coming out on top.
“Some times we don’t know which to chose: the control or the wind,” Leroy said.
In their second match, there was a “good game" in the prestart according to Leroy.
Leroy came up to the line and luffed up, with Tulloch on the leeward side. Leroy wanted the right-hand side and just five to six seconds before the start Leroy got the side that she wanted and got off the start line with better speed than Tulloch, said Henry Menin, one of two chief umpires.
“We love to take the right (side,)” Leroy said. “After the first cross, we were clear ahead and after we controlled and won."
“She was impressive,” Leroy said of Tulloch. “She was a good opponent and has the spirit of match racing.”
“It was good racing,” Menin said of the day’s racing.
Jes Gram Hansen of Denmark was not sailing with his regular crew during the regatta, and Holmberg took advantage of the Danes lack of familiarity with one another while capitalizing on his own crew’s coordination and formidable boat handling skills, throwing fast-action moves to shake up Gram Hansen and his crew.
The strategy worked, with a considerable collision between the two boats, adding to the Holmberg’s confidence shattering strategy.
Showing off the cranial goose egg he incurred when the boats hit, Maurice Kurg said that the collision was a result of Holmberg pushing his right of way.
“They had already rounded but we had rights because we were the leeward boat,” Kurg said. “But they didn’t see us.”
Catching the Danes by surprise cost them an immediate penalty, which preceeded problems with their spinnaker in the second leg of the last race. Gram Hansen then had another problem at the downwind mark and failed to see a course change.
“That sealed their fate for them,” Kurg said.
Kurg attributed the win to Holmberg’s long-time experience, seeing a golden opportunity and taking it.
“I think we sailed pretty well,” Gram Hansen said. “We were frustrated with boathandling and [Holmberg] gave any opportunity to stretch out. They were definitely sailing better than we did.”
Putting them a little on their back foot, Holmberg said he ground the Danes down during the pre-start dance, making it as tough as he could for them.
“I think Jes sailed the best of all of us here,” Holmberg said. “But it’s a four-man sport. We had the advantage there. He should not have engaged and fought so hard because he did not have his A-team.”
While he didn’t come out first, this match was Gram Hansen’s first time in the Virgin Islands and he plans to return for another chance at the Open Division.
Holmberg and Canfield faced off for the Open Division championship, with Holmberg besting Canfield in both races.
After what Canfield called a pretty even start in the first race, a huge left shift allowed Holmberg to tack first and he led upwind afterward.
Holmberg was in control of the pre-start in the first race.
“We had the start that we tactically wanted,” Maurice Kurg, who is Holmberg’s tactician said. “We saw pressure to the right side of the course and basically controlled the race from that point.
In the second race against Canfield, Holmberg had Canfield under control until just 40 seconds before the start.
With both boats on port tack, Holmberg was penalized when he tacked over.
“We got a red flag penalty on him,” Canfield said of the pre-start, where Holmberg was forced to put in an immediate tack to clear the penalty before going on.
Despite the penalty so soon before, Holmberg ended up right on Canfield’s tail at the start, and covered Canfield aggressively, setting Canfield up for the old school maneuver that won the race, Kurg said.
In the second match on the first upwind leg Holmberg used old-school tactics on Canfield and his crew of Chris Rosenberg, Max Nickbarg and Tyler Rice.
“He just threw a fake tack,” Canfield said. “I’ve tried to train myself not to fall for it.”
Holmberg waited until he saw Canfield take his eyes off him for a split second and then fake tacked. In a reflex, the other helmsman reacted to what he perceived as a tack and by then Holmberg had taken advantage.
“We wanted the right side, so we fake tacked, and we got the right,” Kurg said. “It was a combination of tactics and execution.”
“It’s what I do if I ever see them not watching me,” Holmberg said. “It’s a little bit of senior experience paying off. We got the side that we wanted.”
Holmberg lauded his crew for the win in the regatta, saying he was sailing with his “A-team.”
Holmberg’s crew included Kurg on tactics, Ben Beer
(former America’s Cup crew) and Morgan Avery, long time crew with Holmberg’s match racing team and one of the craftsmen who helped to design the IC-24.
Kurg, who is also an airplane pilot, understands the wind and will tell Holmberg ‘I want the right’ or ‘I must have the right’ Holmberg said.
Organizers and sponsors were pleased with the regatta, with the action right on the St. Thomas waterfront. All visitor’s were eager to return as well. Jens-Hansen commented that his crew had seldom been treated so well, in spite of the crowds of thousands that show up for match racing in northern Europe.
The Source sincerely thanks Verian Aguilar, Dean Barnes and Chris Curreri for their assistance in getting photos from the water for this series.
