Sailing-Poole and Monnin seize control ahead of Congressional Cup finals

LONG BEACH, California, May 4 (Reuters) - Under leaden skies and the lightest of breeze, the 60th Congressional Cup served up high-stakes drama on Saturday as four skippers secured semi-final berths in contrasting style.

Chris Poole, of the U.S., and Switzerland's Eric Monnin advanced smoothly to the knockouts, while Long Beach's Dave Hood and Australia's Cole Tapper needed must-win races to reach the final four.

Poole and Monnin now lead their respective semi-finals 2-0 over Tapper and Hood going into Sunday's finale.

In Congressional Cup sailing, the skipper who finishes first in the round-robin stage can choose their semi-final opponent from three options, and Poole selected Tapper's Sydney crew before taking full advantage of pre-start chaos, with Tapper picking up multiple red-flag penalties.

"We're back to where we were last year," said Poole. "Our plan is to keep improving one race at a time. We've been here twice before and feel like all the pieces are there."

In the other semi, Monnin capitalised on light airs to secure a two-race cushion over Hood.

"We weren't locked into the semi-finals to start the day, so it was a relief to win against Johnie Berntsson and then Chris Poole," Monnin said. "Now we hope to keep the momentum up."

Hood remained undeterred: "We needed to come out and get it done and had a good race with Bjorn Hansen to make it through. We'll come out swinging against Eric tomorrow."

Sunday's final will decide the winner of the Crimson Blazer at a regatta that has shaped match racing since 1965. Crews of six or seven compete in identical Catalina 37s, with 10 teams from seven nations taking part this year.