The Pelle P-branded boat was shining in the Marstrand sun in the men’s Open Class in Match Cup Sweden, not only from the silver letters on the hull, but from the handling of Gothenburg skipper Mattias Rahm and his team. He won with great security over three of the best sailors on World Match Racing Tour, Björn Hansen, Sébastien Col and Paolo Cian in his three first matches on Tuesday.

- It was a good day and we got off to a good start here at Marstrand. Now it’s all about keeping up the shape throughout the week, Mattias Rahm commented.

In his first match, he met last year’s winner of Match Cup Sweden and number four in the world championship series, Björn Hansen, who he left behind already in the start, and kept a good distance all the way to the finish line.

The next two scalps to take were Sébastien Col, France, and Paolo Cian, Italy, who is number two and three in the World Match Racing Tour.

Björn Hansen may have lost to Rahm, through a bad start, but he surely repaired that against Jes Gram-Hansen in the second match, where he collected a convenient victory with 3-4 boat lengths. In his third match, though, he challenged legendary, six time Marstrand winner, and four time world champion Australian Peter Gilmour.

- We know he is aggressive, so we decided to sail our own terms, said Björn Hansen, who had a very tough prestart with Gilmour, who several times were close to collide with each other.

After a number of turns to get the best starting line, Gilmour was penalised, and Hansen got away to the best start of the two. The dramatic challenge continued at the top mark, where the two tacked back and fourth to get to the mark first. Hansen won that battle, and after a spinnaker downwind sail, when Gilmour tried to tack in front of him, the Australian was penalised twice by the umpires, and therefore disqualified in the match.

Peter Gilmour wasn’t too happy about the decision, but said:
- We had a good battle with Björn, always sailing well, and created a lot of adrenalin. Let’s hope we can keep it till tomorrow, Gilmour joked.

The conditions at Match Cup Sweden was just perfect, bright sunshine on a hot summer day, and 5-9 knots of wind, dying out slightly in the afternoon, which might explain why the world championship sailing event drew unusual big crowds that occupied the shores and cliffs.

- When we came out from lunch, we just laughed, sun, waves, wind, sailing can’t be more fun on a day like this, Björn Hansen said

Results Open Class, Match Cup Sweden, July 1, 2008

Mattias Rahm, Stena Bulk Team, 3-0

Magnus Holmberg, Victory Challenge, 2-1

Björn Hansen, Alandia Sailing Team, 2-1

Peter Gilmour, PST, 2-1

Jes Gram-Hansen, Trifork Racing, 2-1

Torvar Mirsky, Mirsky Racing Team, 1,5-1

Ben Ainslie, Team Origin, 1-2

Sébastien Col, French Team/K-Challenge, 1-2

Paolo Cian, Team Shosholoza, 0-3

Damien Iehl, French Team, 0-3