The Official
Website of the
International
Sailing Federation

After an action packed day on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour, three America's Cup teams have made the cut to the semi-finals of the Steinlager Line 7 Cup. The Cup holders, Team New Zealand, have two skippers through, Bertrand Pace and Cameron Appleton, while Magnus Holmberg of Sweden's Victory Challenge, and Prada's Gavin Brady also qualify.

First to secure a place in the semi-finals was Bertrand Pace, who ends up as the top qualifier, earning himself the right to choose his opponent in the best of three race semis. He commented at the end of the day, "it was difficult today, we were leading in every race, but we lost two." The right to choose his opponent is not something that Pace relishes, "I don't like making this decision, it is always bad for me," he said.

Gavin Brady ensured his place in Saturday's semi-final action with a race to spare, finishing level with Pace on sixteen wins, but losing the topspot on a tie-break. The battle for the other two places went to the wire, with Denmark's Jesper Radich beating Magnus Holmberg in the last race of the day, to create a three way tie for the other two places. Holmberg, Appleton and Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker all had fourteen wins, with Barker losing out on the countback.

The tension had built throughout the day on the Waitemata Harbour, with up to seven skippers starting the day with a chance of making the cut, and the field narrowing as the rounds progressed. A good north easterly breeze from 10 to 15 knots, enabled the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron to keep the event on schedule, leaving just the semi-finals and finals to be sailed on Saturday.

Both the semi-finals and the finals, are first to win three races series.

Round Robin Results

Bertrand Pace	NZL	16 - 6
Gavin Brady	ITA	16 - 6
Magnus Holmberg	SWE	14 - 8
Cameron Appleton	NZL	14 - 8
Dean Barker	NZL	14 - 8
Rod Davis	ITA	13 - 9
Chris Dickson	USA	10 - 12
Jesper Radich	DEN	10 - 12
Andy Green	GBR	8 - 14
Jes Gram-Hansen	DEN	7 - 15
Nicola Celon	ITA	6 - 16
Bjorn Hansen	SWE	4 - 18