Sailing: Penalty fails to halt Law's progress

Demonstrating masterful tactics and boat handling, Chris Law of Great Britain won the inaugural Marriott Frenchman's Reef International Match Race by defeating the Virgin Islands' Peter Holmberg 3-0 in Charlotte Amalie Harbor for his fourth major match-racing win of the year.

Law's path to the finals was almost upset by Luc Pillot, who pushed the British boat to a 2-2 tie in the semi-final, while Holmberg beat Italy's Francesco de Angelis 3-1.

Ranked just two places behind Holmberg, Law came to St Thomas with his usual crew of James Stagg, Andy Hemmings, and Julian Salter, and local sailors Phillip Shannon and Lorenzo Hodge joined the team.

In the first race of the final, Holmberg got the jump on Law in light winds, but after two crosses, the British went ahead on a windshift and kept the lead throughout. Race two brought ferocious pre-start manoeuvering with Law getting the best of Holmberg. He then extended the lead and recorded his second victory in the best of five contest.

Needing just one more win, Law continued his aggressive starting attack, but this time was penalised. Usually spelling doom in match-race sailing, a penalty must be absolved by turning the boat 270 degrees sometime during the race before the finish.

Law's mastery of the pre-start came into play as he forced his opponent into several tactical errors and won the start convincingly. Law stretched his lead enough to perform his penalty turn and maintain his lead to win the championship.

In Lankawi, John Kostecki, who joins George Collins' Chessie Racing for the next leg of the Whitbread on Saturday, won the Malaysian Match Racing Challenge, beating fellow American Ed Baird 3-1 in the best of five final.