The action was plentiful yesterday on a rain-soaked second day of the Nippon Cup 2003, the third event on Swedish Match Tour 2003/2004.

Thirty-three matches were raced on Shinjuku Bay as the Hayama Marina Yacht Club race committee compensated for an abbreviated first day of racing in an effort to get the programme back on schedule.

Seven-time event winner Peter Gilmour of the Pizza-La Sailing Team was impervious to the conditions, finishing the day with a record of 6-1, the only blemish coming at the hands of Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and his Omega Match Racing Team. Gilmour, going for his fifth consecutive Nippon Cup title, now sits at 7-1 overall and in good position to advance.

Oracle BMW Racing’s Gavin Brady, with John Kostecki among his crew this week, posted a record of 5-1 on the day to finish the round robin portion of the regatta at 7-4. Brady now has to wait and see if his seven wins are enough to advance to Saturday’s semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Italy’s Paolo Cian of the Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team and Dean Barker of Team New Zealand’s Omega Match Racing Team were one step behind Gilmour and Brady, posting records of 5-2. Cian and Barker share similar scorelines of 6-2 overall.

Cian commented: “We had a couple of small mistakes against Peter Gilmour and Gavin Brady that cost us, but overall the crew did an amazing job in the starts and on the first beats, putting us in good position to win.” The three local skippers competing in Nippon Cup 2003 had frustrating days. Yasutaka Funazawa, a four-time Japanese national match racing champion was 2-5, while both of his countrymen Eiichiro Hamazaki and Takao Ninomiya were 0-6. Hamazaki and Ninomiya’s regattas are over, with records of 2-9 and 0-11 respectively, eliminating them from the next round.

Round robin action resumes this morning at 0900 local time. The top four skippers will advance to Saturday’s first-to-three points semi-finals. Semi-final winners advance to Sunday’s first-to-three wins finals, while the losers square off in the petit finals.

Round Robin Standings

1.Magnus Holmberg, SWE/SeaLife Rangers 5 wins 0 losses

2.Peter Gilmour, AUS/Pizza-La Sailing Team 7 wins 1 losses

3rd equal Dean Barker, NZ/Omega Match Racing Team 6 wins 2 losses

3rd equal Paolo Cian, ITA/Riviera di Rimini Sailing Team 6 wins 2 losses

5 equal Jesper Radich, Denmark 3 wins 2 losses

5th equal Luc Pillot, FRA/Team Pillot 3 wins 2 losses

7.Gavin Brady, Oracle BMW Racing 7 wins 4 losses

8.Staffan Lindberg, FIN/Team Henri Lloyd 4 wins 4 losses

9.Andy Green, GBR/Team Racing Green 3 wins 5 losses

10.Yautaka Funazawa, Japan 2 wins 6 losses

11.Eiichiro Hamazaki, Japan 2 wins 9 losses

12.Takao Ninomiya, Japan 0 wins 11 losses