Governor’s Cup – Day 1

Corona del Mar (July 17, 2013) Twelve teams began the round robin segment of the Governor’s Cup, the 47th Annual International Junior Match Race Championship. Undefeated at 7-0 are Balboa Yacht Club and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, led respectively by skippers Ryan Davidson and Chris Steele. – Event details

More: Three teams are unbeaten at the end of the first day of racing. Each has yet to compete against any of the other two in the first round robin. There are four more rounds to be held tomorrow before moving on to the quarter finals. The top teams include the host team of Balboa Yacht Club, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s men’s team, and Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club. Each of those teams also did well in 2012 with RNZYS placing second, while Sam Gilmour of RFBYC placed 5th and Ryan Davidson of NHYC placed 6th. RNZYS has a new skipper this year with Chris Steele at the helm.

The Teams arrived in Newport Beach by Tuesday. After registering and an afternoon of practice in the matching Gov Cup 21s, they prepared to attend the opening banquet. Each team was introduced to the sell-out crowd, first by the skipper of each team, then by MC Andy Rose. Armed with information provided by their applications and extensive research, Andy put them at ease (or not) by insightful questions and quips. The audience included host families, sponsors, coaches, volunteers and lovers of the event.

On Wednesday morning, the Principal Race Officer, the fourteen umpires and other officials met with the teams. They reviewed the procedures and the rules, then went out to prepare their boats for towing out to the race course in the ocean near the Newport Pier. Racing started at noon in ideal conditions with winds of nine knots out of the west. By the end of the day the winds increased to about 18 knots with heavy chop. The temperature was in the low 70’s. Seven of the Round Robin series were completed.

In the initial Round Robin each team will race every other team in match racing – two boats at a time. Each race will have two umpires in a boat nearby. The umpires make quick decisions about any infractions or protests, keeping all penalties immediate and on the water and out of protest rooms. Racing includes pre-start maneuvers, windward, leeward legs, and back across the finish line. The start for each pair of teams is separated by about 5 minutes. Signals come from the Race Committee boat at one end of the start/finish line. Spectator, photo and press boats are nearby but must stay out of the way. In addition there are Mark Set and repair boats available.

The identifying colors on the spinnakers for each team can be seen as they come down wind. The boat number changes each day as the boats are rotated so each team has a different boat for each day of racing. Those numbers are available on the balboayachtclub.com web site on the Pairing List for each day. Photos are posted on the web site and on Facebook as well.

Balboa Yacht Club, Ryan Davidson -7/0
Chicago Yacht Club, Will Holz -4/3
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Henry Kernot – 2/5
Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Jack Thompson -3/4
Portland Yacht Club, Charlie LaLumiere -3/4
Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, Sam Gilmour -7/0
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Claudia Pierce- 1/6
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Chris Steele -4/3
Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, Adam Middleton -4/3
Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Malcolm Parker -1/6
San Diego Yacht Club, A J Reiter -0/7
San Francisco Yacht Club, Scott Buckstaff – 3/4