Holmberg Picks Read - Davis And Pacé Also In Semifinals

Tough decisions to had to be made on who to sail in the semi-finals.

Buoyed by the news Saturday that Oracle software billionaire Larry Ellison had arranged to submit a challenge for New Zealand’s 2003 defense through the Golden Gate Yacht Club of San Francisco, Holmberg and his crew outsailed rival contenders Bertrand Pacé and Ken Read to finish atop the fleet with 13 wins and 5 losses after the double round robin phase of the 37th Congressional Cup.

Under the Congressional Cup’s old format, with no sailoffs, the man from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who won in 1998 and ’99, would already be the only person besides four-time winner Rod Davis to win more than twice. Instead, he was left with the usual dilemma of a decision that haunts the leader: whom he would pick to meet in the best-of-three semifinals Sunday. His choices were PacZ (12-6), Read (12-6) or Davis (11-7), a native American who lives in New Zealand, sails for Italy and is representing the host Long Beach Yacht Club.

Holmberg chose Read, the skipper of the Stars & Stripes boat he sailed on as strategist in the last America’s Cup. Holmberg beat Read twice in the round robins, as he did Pacé, while splitting with Davis.

There will be sailoffs for the lower positions – fifth against sixth, etc. Several skippers lobbied organizers to have those reduced to one race each to clear the race course for the title matches and to give the also-rans a rest. Thus, the semifinals will be sailed starting at noon, followed by the lesser sailoffs, then the final matchup. The winner will receive $6,000 of the $25,000 purse.

Saturday’s racing on the Long Beach outer harbor was under a heavy marine cloud layer in light winds of 5-6 knots that strained the tactical skills of the world-class teams. Six of the 10 boats were in contention for the four semifinal slots, and the first knockout came when Morgan Larson, a member of Seattle’s OneWorld Challenge, beat Britain’s Andy Green. Then Denmark’s struggling Jesper Radich forced Read over the starting line early and took a 31-second win, OneWorld’s James Spithill of Australia upset Holmberg and Pacé came from behind to beat Davis, creating a temporary three-way tie among Holmberg, PacZ and Read.

That didn’t last long. Read and Holmberg came back to beat Sebastien Destremau and Pacé, respectively, while in another knockout match Larson luffed Davis upwind into a pre-start foul, then gave up his edge by running over the line and having to return to restart. Davis built a lead large enough to do his penalty turn at the end of the race and still win comfortably.

That secured the four semifinal berths with one round remaining, and Holmberg handled Read by 30 seconds to break their first-place tie – perhaps a psychological factor in the selection of his semifinal opponent.

FINAL STANDINGS (top 4 to semifinals)
1. Holmberg, 13-5
3. tie between Pacé and Read, 12-6
4. Davis, 11-7
5. Larson, 10-8
6. tie between Green and Pillot, 8-10
8. Spithill, 7-11
9. Radich, 5-13
10. Destremau, 3-15.