(Berlin, Germany)- Gorgeous autumn sailing conditions. Picturesque lake in one of Europe's most historically significant cities. Exciting match racing with some of the worlds best sailors on J/80s throwing the boats around the cans just a few feet from shore with thousands of screaming spectators cheering you on. Throw an Australian match racer into the den of wolves and hope he comes out alive? Maybe, maybe not. This past weekend was one of the top match-racing tour events around the world. Coveted for many sailors for being an extremely well-run event, in a fabulous location with extraordinary hospitality. Supported by BMW Yachtsport, replete with some famous German Hollywood A-Listers, actresses, actors and sporting types.
With that as a backdrop at the BMW Sailing Facility on the "Wannsee", the "golden boy" sailing off into the golden autumn sun was none other than Australia's Keith Swinton! Perhaps the latest generation version of "the cardiac kids"! Keith's team beat Alvaro Morinho's team from Portugal by the skinniest of margins- just 3-2 in the finals. Germany's Markus Wieser won bronze, all sailing in front of nearly 5,000 spectators.
"We are very happy and completely satisfied to be able to prevail against this high-class competition," said Keith Swinton, helmsman of the Australian Black Swan Racing team, as he was greeted with applause and champagne at the dock. In the best-of-five final, the two teams kept the competition open until the last minute. Only the fifth race decided victory over defeat, the prize money totaling nearly 20,000 Euro and valuable ranking points on the World Match Race Tour. "If this continues, we’ll need defibrillators," said sports presenter Nils Kaben as it came to a showdown at the last down-wind course. The Australian team secured overall victory at around 3pm with a lead of only one boat length.The jubilant crew, winners of the 20th BMW Berlin Match Race, hugged each other, fists pumping in the air-- like the famous "boxing kangaroo" on Australia II in Newport. They were a popular winner, with around 750 spectators on the escort ships "MS Schöneberg" and "MS Kreuzberg" and the many volunteers and visitors on land applauding.
"To be honest my money was on Morinho. He was pretty strong," said Markus Wieser (a top German match racer with multiple World and European titles), who was defeated in the semi-finals by the Portuguese sailor. Wieser gave everything once again in the Petite Final and won 2-0, he said, "The young Australian has really surprised us with his victory - congratulations." The other surprise was that not only Wieser did not make it to the Grand Finale, but nor did top German sailor Jochen Schumann, twice winner of the America´s Cup and Olympic Games.
In the afternoon the well-known German sports-casters Nils Kaben (ZDF) and Andre Keil (NDR) paid tribute to the winners at the BMW Sailing Cup Base (along with a few "sailing starlets/ groupies" from Germany's film and fashion world- seen above). Andreas Pochhammer, Chairman of the Sailing Club House on the Wannsee (VSaW), and Oliver Witte, Chairman of the Berlin Yacht Club closed the 20th Edition of the BMW Berlin Match Race with heartfelt thanks to organisers, sponsors and especially to the many volunteers. "We’ve all come together to make this event possible. We are delighted with the event and we are now looking forward to 2012. " BMW Match Race Sailing Photos For more BMW Match Race Cup sailing information
