SAILING : Committee’s Error Costly for Gilmour

The officials and Chris Dickson ruined Peter Gilmour’s perfect day, but it was so much better than any of his days at the America’s Cup that he was more than happy to settle for it.

Because of a race committee error, the former Spirit of Australia skipper finished the first day of the Mazda World Championship of Match Race Sailing at Long Beach Tuesday tied with New Zealand’s Dickson and San Diego’s Paul Cayard at 3-1 instead of alone at 4-0.

Still, after his coaxing his slow Cup entry around Point Loma earlier this year, Gilmour appreciated simply being competitive with one of the equalized Catalina 37s.

“It certainly is different,” he said, smiling.

Gilmour beat the Netherlands’ Roy Heiner, Wales’ Eddie Warden-Owen and Cayard in the first three rounds off the beach near the Queen Mary, then had Dickson well in hand until three shotgun blasts sounded from the committee boat as he crossed the finish line.

They weren’t celebrating his success but meant that the race would be re-sailed.

Gilmour, the 1990 world champion, had forced three-time champion Dickson over the line before the starting gun. Dickson returned to restart, then protested that the committee had kept his card posted too long after he had cleared the line.

As the race continued, the committee conferred and finally agreed. In the re-run, Dickson got the better start, found better wind toward the sea as Gilmour went for the beach and won by 29 seconds.

Gilmour conceded that Dickson “definitely had a (legitimate) complaint, but it should have been a redress situation”--meaning, some sort of adjustment in the scoring.