Team New Zealand's Dean Barker, American Ed Baird of Team Musto and independent amateur Jesper Radich of Denmark have scored three wins and a loss each to lead the Swedish Match Tour's Match Cup yachting regatta at Marstrand.
Despite placid conditions, the quarterfinal races got off to an exciting start, with
Barker making a statement against his former boss Russell Coutts.
The young Kiwi skipper easily dispatched the Alinghi Team.
Likewise, Oracle Racing's Peter Holmberg demonstrated why he's the world's best match racer, in any condition, by sailing away from Baird, handing Team Musto their only loss on the day.
Coutts, Victory Challenge's Magnus Holmberg and his SeaLife Match Race Team and Gram-Hansen of Victory Lane Racing all sit at the bottom of the leaderboard with one win each.The Swedish Match Tour comprises nine of the world's leading professional sailing events.
Prizemoney for each event is over $US400,000 ($833,850) and $US200,000 is awarded to the top eight sailors on the tour, with the winner netting another $US60,000.
Flight 5 of the round-robin quarterfinals is scheduled for tomorrow.
Quarterfinal leaderboard:
Skipper Wins Losses
1 Ed Baird, USA/Team Musto 3
12 Dean Barker, Team New Zealand 3
13 Jesper Radich, Denmark 3
14 Bertrand Pace, Team New Zealand 2
25 Peter Holmberg, Oracle Racing 2
26 Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Victory Lan 1 3
7 Magnus Holmberg, SWE/Team SeaLife 1
38 Russell Coutts, Alinghi Team 1 3
Quarterfinal Results
Flight 1
Radich bt Pace
P Holmberg bt Baird
Gram-Hansen bt Holmberg
Barker bt Coutts
Flight 2
Baird bt Pace
Barker bt M Holmberg
Radich bt P Holmberg
Coutts bt Gram-Hansen
Flight 3
M Holmberg bt P Holmberg
Barker bt Radich
Pace bt Coutts
Baird bt Gram-Hansen
Flight 4
P Holmberg bt Coutts
Radich bt Gram-Hansen
Baird bt Barker
Pace bt Holmberg
- NZPA
