Gilmour beats Gilmour in Warren Jones Youth Match Racing Regatta

Perth, Australia (January 31, 2014) – It was an all Gilmour final in the Warren Jones Youth Match Racing Regatta on the Swan River on Friday afternoon.

David Gilmour, who is 14th on the ISAF world rankings, earned the right to compete in the final by despatching New South Welshman Andy Green, two-nil in their best of three quarter final, was then able to select his semi final opponent and immediately selected Matt Jerwood, whom he defeated in two straight races to earn his spot as a finalist.

Sam Gilmour, ranked well below David at 33, had a more traumatic journey into the final. During the first round he was involved in a “T-Bone” collision with Matt Jerwood, leaving Jerwood’s boat with a large triangular hole in the side. Sam’s tactics were unpredictable but at times, brilliant. Having qualified in the final eight for the quarter finals, he moved into the semis, where he accounted for Chris Steele 2-1 in the best of three, bringing about the first ever final between brothers in the 12 year history of the Warren Jones Regatta.

The final was decided in three straight races, all of them close, but all of them decisive as David showed his younger brother why he is ranked in the world’s top 20 in the sport.

The win gives David the title for the second successive year, an invitation to compete in the UK, plus a $7,000 allowance from the Warren Jones Foundation towards competing overseas. There was a poignant moment in the acknowledgements, when David handed the microphone to his bowman Peter Nicholas, who has competed in 11 of the 12 Warren Jones regattas and has now reached the age limit.

The petit final, to decide third and fourth, was best of three, while the final itself was best of 5 matches. The first flight was a single match of the petit final, thus ensuring that the last races would (in theory) put the finalists on show.

Unfortunately, in the second match between Matt Jerwood and Chris Steele, there was contact between the boats, Steele’s boat was damaged, and Jerwood was penalised a point for having caused the incident.

In the end, time beat the petit finalists, with the scores locked on 1 point each. Steele was awarded third place by virtue of a countback, an anticlimax to an exciting week of match racing in conditions which ranged from very light to the solid “Fremantle Doctor” which came in right on cue at more than 20 knots for the finals. Chris Steele, as the top overseas skipper in the regatta, won the Traveller’s Trophy and vowed to return next year to improve on the third place he has now won for two years in a row.

Result:
Final: David Gilmour (3) defeated Sam Gilmour (0)
Petit Final: Chris Steele (1) defeated Matt Jerwood (1) on a countback.

Click here for complete results.

Esteemed match racer Peter Gilmour, having watched his two sons fight out the final of this year’s regatta.

Report and photos by Bernie Kaaks.