Bank to steer Victory tomorrow

By HELEN TUNNAH

Dane Jesper Bank will again steer for Victory Challenge for their first race in round robin two of the challenger series tomorrow as the Swedish syndicate juggles its two world class helmsman.

Bank helmed Victory's boat Orn for almost all the first round, but was replaced by his Swedish rival Magnus Holmberg for Victory's last race, a loss against Oracle after Orn suffered major gear problems.

Holmberg had previously sailed much of the round as Bank's strategist, with the Swedish team picking up a run of wins early in the challenger series only to run into some sticky problems later.

Crew errors cost the Swedes two races. Victory had secured a handy lead over Prada but their afterguard chose not to cover the Italians in light, shifty wind conditions and the race was lost, while crossing the start line early to incur a penalty cost Victory a win and a point against GBR.

Victory, with Bank at the helm, showed their potential in one of the most exciting finishes near the end of the seemingly never-ending first round, with Orn flying from behind trying to run down regatta favourites Alinghi on the final leg of their race -- only for a torn spinnaker to stop the chase.

The Swedish syndicate has the luxury of having two of the world's best helmsman on their team, with Bank a double Olympic gold medallist and seven time world champion while Holmberg is a world match racing champion and former world number one ranked match racer.

Who would helm the boats in both the first and second rounds has been watched closely in Scandinavia, and this week Holmberg said a final decision was still to be made.

Asked if Bank would be sailing, he said he could not say.

"We don't start racing until Thursday, so the crew selection is still to come.

"So I don't have any information at this time."

However Victory Challenge issued a statement from syndicate skipper Mats Johansson today saying Bank would be kept on as helmsman for now, with Holmberg again as strategist.

"Jesper is a world class performer in sailing," Johansson said.

"Jesper was impressive in the first round and we are counting on his world class showing in the first matches of the second round too. At the same time, we have the security of Magnus Holmberg as a backup, he's also world class."

Victory has selected its second boat for racing this round, with SWE73 replacing SWE63. Holmberg said Orm was thought to be a quicker boat than Orn.

"We believe it's a faster boat, we have pretty good confidence in it. There are some quite big differences in both boats."

Victory, with three points from its first eight races, is one of four teams needing a good run of wins in the second round if they want to qualify among the top four challengers for the quarter finals.

The first four teams get a second life in the quarter final series, with the teams ranked five to eight in knockout racing.

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