Johnie vann Congressional!!!

Johnie, Wallberg, Barne, Bäckman, Björn L och Carlzon vann Congressional Cup. Längre ned i resultatlistan finns bl.a. Hutchinson, Col, Ainslie, Richard…

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Många svenska framgångar den här veckan!

Swedes claim 1st Congressional Cup

Berntsson overcomes slow start to down Richard and Bruni in a tight finish.

LONG BEACH – They hugged and slapped high-fives, sprayed champagne all over the boat and smiled like the Northern Lights.

So much for Swedish reserve, and why not let it all go? Johnie Berntsson and his crew are the first team from Sweden – or all of Scandinavia for that matter – to win the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Congressional Cup in its 45 years as a traditional match racing classic.

“We are very happy,” Berntsson said. “We were very lucky, too.”

In truth, they made most of their own luck in a remarkable recovery from a mediocre start climaxed by a 2-0 sweep of Italy’s Francesco Bruni in the best-of-3 finals Saturday.

That followed a 2-1 win over France’s Mathieu Richard in the semifinals after what appeared to be the Swedes’ clinching 24-second victory was tossed out on a damage penalty on Berntsson’s pre-start foul. He canceled the foul while drawing one off Richard before the start, but later learned he’d have to do it all over again.

“I knew there was a collision,” Berntsson said, “but I couldn’t see anything.”

Apparently, both Catalina 37s suffered when Berntsson’s bow bashed Richard’s hull.

Chief umpire Alfredo Ricci said, “Berntsson turned to bow-down at 90 degrees. It was a T-bone (collision).”

Unfazed and cool, the Swedes came right back to win again by 33 seconds, as Bruni dispatched the USA’s Terry Hutchinson in two straight.

That dropped both of the former winners – Hutchinson in 1992, Richard in 2007 – out of contention and opened the door for a new nationality on the historic list of winners.

Berntsson, 36, won 11 of his last 13 races after starting 4-7, and the most dramatic was his first win over Bruni, who had led almost the entire two laps around the half-mile windward-leeward course as they approached the finish line, spinnakers straining full of a brisk 15 knots of southwest Long Beach sea breeze.

Then Berntsson jibed away to aim for the nearer pin end of the line, while Bruni continued toward the committee boat end.

Berntsson’s bow crossed a couple of feet ahead by a single second. The next clinching race was an almost anti-climactic 24-second victory as Berntsson controlled the favored right side of the course.

Berntsson, who won last year’s Bermuda Gold Cup on the World Match Racing Tour and was second in the last two Congressional Cups, gave all credit to his crew of tactician Daniel Wallberg, trimmer Johan Backman, main sail trimmer Johan Barne, pitman Niklas Calzon and bowman Bjorn Lundgren.

“The guys made me grow and didn’t blame me when I made the mistakes,” he said. “If you have that confidence you can come back and do better. My plan was to make some aggressive starts.”

Bruni, 27, was glum but gracious at the dock.

“It’s been a good regatta,” said the leader of the Joe Fly Sailing Team. “With the competition, the organization and the hospitality, (of all) the events I’ve sailed in my life I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Berntsson won $10,000 and watches for his crew. Bruni won $6,000.

Stenungsundseglare vann prestigefylld
USA-tävling som förste skandinav

För Stenungsunds stolthet Johnie Berntsson var det tredje gången gillt när han och besättningen som första skandinaver någonsin lyckades vinna det prestigefyllda matchracet Congressional Cup i Long Beach i Californien den 28 mars.

– Det känns väldigt bra att vinna mot så här tufft motstånd, berättar Johnie Berntsson, som är en av få amatörseglare som är med och slåss i seglingens absoluta elitskikt.

Johnie och hans besättning vann 11 av 13 seglingar i ett startfält bestående av bl a dubble OS-guld-medaljören Ben Ainslie, världsrankingledaren Sebastian Col och Americas Cup-skepparen Francesco Bruni. Tuffaste motståndet under inledande seglingarna bjöd dock fransmannen Mathieu Richard.

Finalen gick mot italienaren Francseco Bruni, som länge ledde den första delfinalen. Johnie Bernstson lyckades dock till slut vinna med minsta möjliga marginal och den goda formen höll i sig till den avslutande seglingen som man vann med bred marginal. Utöver prispengarna fick Johnie även motta den åtråvärda röda kavajen, ”the Crimson Blazer”, som tillfallit segraren varje år under de 45 år Congressional Cup har genomförts – denna trofé kommer att finnas att beskåda på Stenungsbaden Yacht Club.

För Johnie Berntsson med Stenungsbaden Yacht Club som en av sina huvudsponsorer, var det här en välkommen seger, efter att ha kommit tvåa i samma tävling två år i rad. Den segrande besättningen bestod av Daniel Wallberg, Johan Barne, Niklas Carlzon, Björn Lundgren och Johan Bäckman.

Johnie, som förra året vann klassiska King Edward VII Gold Cup på Bermuda, har övertygat starkt i den internationella matchracingen på senare tid. Den fortsatta säsongen för teamet handlar mycket om kvalificeringen inför sommarens stora begivenhet på hemmaplan – Match Cup Sweden i Marstrand i månadsskiftet juni-juli, där världseliten samlas för att göra upp. Närmast på programmet står uppvisningsseglingen Spring Regatta 09 under Valborgshelgen hemma på Stenungsbaden Yacht Club.