Sweden’s Mattias Rahm of Team Stena Bulk overcame the uncomfortable conditions to post a perfect day of 4-0 to take the early lead in Group 2.  For Rahm the weather wasn’t really much of a distraction and actually may have aided in his result.

“I don’t like it when there’s no wind and it’s raining, but today it was OK because there was enough of a breeze to see the wind on the water,” explained Rahm.  “We had flat water and it was a bit shifty, much like sailing in Gothenberg (his hometown).”

Rahm did however have to overcome some trepidation early in today’s racing to cruise to the top of the leaderboard.  “In our first two races against the Swedes (Mikael Lindqvist and Johnnie Berntsson) we were nervous and focused too much on them and not enough on the course.  After we won both those races we felt we could sail more relaxed even though we were sailing two of the best skippers in the world (Jesper Radich and Paolo Cian).”

Swedish Match Tour Rankings Leader Jesper Radich finished the day 3-1, dropping his only match of the day to Rahm.  Three skippers, Jesper Bank of Denmark, Staffan Lindberg and Berntsson, all finished even at 2-2.  Bank, former helmsman for the Victory Challenge, overcame DNFs in his first two matches, after failing to take his penalty turns, to balance his record.

The three remaining skippers, Italy’s Paolo Cian of the Riviara di Rimini Sailing Team, Sweden’s Mikael Lindqvist and Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen of Team Victory Lane are all knotted at 1-3.

Group 2 racing resumes on Wednesday morning with all three remaining flights in the round robin scheduled.  Wednesday’s forecast calls for another day of rain.

Swedish Match Cup Women’s Class

Four skippers went 2-1 on the second day of the Swedish Match Cup women’s class as the first round came to a conclusion and semifinalists were determined.  Leading the way into the semifinals as top-qualifier is Sweden’s Malin Kallstrom, with a record of 5-2.  Three skippers tied on 4-3 round out the semifinalists, Sweden’s Marie Bjorling the world’s number one ranked female match racer, Denmark’s Annette Strom and Malin Millbourn the recently crowned women’s match racing world champion.

The best-of-three semifinals are set to begin after lunch, tomorrow, Wednesday, July 2.

Swedish Match Cup Open Class Standings – Group 2

Skipper                                                                                    Wins            Losses

1.Mattias Rahm, SWE/Team Stena Bulk                               4            0

2.Jesper Radich, Denmark                                                         3            1

3.Jesper Bank, Denmark                                                             2            2

  Staffan Lindberg, Finland                                                        2            2

  Johnie Berntsson, Sweden                                                       2            2

6.Paolo Cian, ITA/Riviera di Rimin di Sailing Team            1            3

  Mikael Lindqvist, Sweden                                                        1            3

  Jes Gram-Hansen, DEN/Team Victory Lane                       1            3

Group 2

Flight 1

Radich def. Bank – DNF

Rahm def. Lindqvist

Cian def. Lindberg

Berntsson def. Gram-Hansen

Flight 2

Lindberg def. Bank-DNF

Rahm def. Berntsson

Radich def. Cian

Lindqvist def. Gram-Hansen

Flight 3

Rahm def. Radich

Berntsson def. Cian

Gram-Hansen def. Lindberg

Bank def. Lindqvist

Flight 4

Swedish Match Cup Women’s Class Results

Flight 5

Anette Strom def. Betsy Alison

Paula Lewin def. Claire Leroy

Kallstrom def. Bjorling

Millbourn def. Lotte Meldgarrd-Pedersen

Flight 6

Bjorling def. Leroy

Lewin def. Kallstrom

Millbourn def. Alison

Medlgaard-Pedersen def. Strom

Flight 7

Kallstrom def. Leroy

Strom def. Millbourn

Alison def. Meldgaard-Pedersen

Bjorling def. Lewin

Source: Shawn McBride