Chris Poole and Johnie Berntsson stand a single win from the Congressional Cup final after both raced into 2-0 semi-final leads on a day that began with a scramble for the last spot in the knockout stage.
That final berth went to Cole Tapper, the Sydney sailor whose Kairos Racing squad needed two wins in the last round robin matches to guarantee qualification. Instead, Tapper lost both. That opened a door for Denmark's Jeppe Borch, who duly beat defending champion Eric Monnin of Switzerland to set up a shot at forcing a tiebreak with Tapper.
Borch needed one more win. He didn't get it. French skipper Aurélien Pierroz denied him in the deciding race, sealing Tapper's passage to the semi-finals.
Three former champions were already through before the day started. Poole, Berntsson and Monnin had all sewn up their places the previous day, leaving Tapper as the fourth man standing at Long Beach.
As winner of the qualifying series, Poole had the pick of opponents for the semi-final draw. He chose Tapper, leaving Monnin to face Berntsson in the other pairing.
Racing resumed in a clean sea breeze under Principal Race Officer Randy Smith, and Berntsson made the early running against Monnin. He won race one, then extended his advantage in race two after Monnin's crew suffered a costly spinnaker issue at the leeward gate. Race over, effectively.
"It was a hard race and we had to push hard," Berntsson said. "We had a tough tacking duel with Eric and managed to force a penalty before their spinnaker problem. From there, it was fortunately our race to win."
Poole was just as ruthless. He took the opening match against Tapper, then pounced when the Australian crew made a careless spinnaker drop in race two. Two-nil, and one win from the final.
Both semi-finals now sit at the same knife-edge score. Tapper and Monnin each need back-to-back wins tomorrow just to stay alive, let alone force a decider against two of the most accomplished skippers in the regatta's history.
Semi-final racing resumes at 11.30am local time tomorrow at Belmont Pier, followed by the petit-final and final. All four crews will also sail in a separate fleet race and parade of sail, with free spectator viewing at the Congressional Cup Stadium.
