Sailing: Beadsworth brilliance at start fires British win

Andy Beadsworth, the new starting helmsman on GBR Challenge, played a crucial part in launching the British boat to their second win in the Louis Vuitton Cup as they defeated their dockside neighbours, Sweden's Victory Challenge, here yesterday.

Beadsworth, Britain's representative in the Soling at both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, won a battle of wits against the man who has won two gold medals in that class and with whom he trained for over two years in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics, Jesper Bank.

Having established control in the pre-start manoeuvres, GBR grabbed the right side of the course. But, as the wind shifted direction and strength constantly, Beadsworth astutely chased Bank out to the left side of the start line and hooked underneath him as he ran out of room still having time to kill. The Swedes were thus pushed over the line two seconds early and had to restart as Beadsworth handed over to his skipper, Ian Walker, with a 25-second lead. In difficult conditions, great care was still needed, but GBR ran out the winners by 48sec.

LOUIS VUITTON CUP (Auckland): Stars and Stripes (US) bt Mascalzone (It) 1min 36sec; OneWorld (US) bt Le Defi (Fr) 0:21, Alinghi (Swit) bt Oracle BMW (US) 1:43, GBR Challenge (GB) bt Victory (Swe) 0:48. Standings: 1 Alinghi (W6 L1 Pts6); 2 *OneWorld (W6 L0 Pts5); 3 Oracle BMW (W4 L1 Pts4); 4= Victory W3 L3 Pts3; 4= Prada (It) W3 L3 Pts3; 4= Stars & Stripes W3 L4 Pts3; 7 GBR Challenge W2 L4 Pts2; 8 Le Defi W0 L6 Pts0; 8 Mascalzone Latino (It) W0 L5 Pts0.

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