Fourteen teams for 2024 Governor’s Cup

Fourteen skippers from five countries have been invited to the 57th Governor’s Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship hosted by the Balboa Yacht Club on July 22-27 in Newport Beach, CA.

The Governor’s Cup will feature all four of last year’s semi-finalists led by returning champion, Jeffrey Petersen, 22, (USA) from the host club. The 2023 runner-up Cole Tapper, 21, (AUS) will also return as will third place finisher Morgan Pinckney, 19, (USA) and Justin Callahan, 21, (USA) who placed fourth.

“This year was the toughest we’ve ever had in the Selection Committee,” said Christine Gribben, Regatta Chair. “We would have loved to invite everyone but that wasn’t possible.” The Committee did decide, however, to invite fourteen, rather than the usual twelve, given the quality of the Requests for Invitation (RFIs).

In addition to Tapper, two other Australian skippers and three skippers from New Zealand will compete. Marcello Torre, 22, another returning veteran from Western Australia will be joined by Daniel Kemp, 20, from Sydney in representing the Aussies. For New Zealand, 2022 veteran Robbie McCutcheon, 22, will return this year along with Jack Frewin, 21, and Josh Hyde, 20.

The latter two, plus four of the six Australian and New Zealand teams represent something of a “changing of the guard” as they all have at least one year of eligibility in the event after this year contestants must be under 23 as of the last day of the regatta.

A Danish team returns to the event after historical success with the invitation of Matias Rossing, 20. Nicolas Bernal, 22, (BRA) will return for his second and last year, after an impressive year of match racing since the last Cup.

The U.S. skippers will be led by Petersen who will be trying to make history by being the first skipper to win three Governor’s Cups, having won in 2021 and 2023. Petersen was also the Youth Match Racing World Champion in 2022. He and Callahan will be joined by Floridian and first-time competitor Liam O’Keefe, 21, (USA) who received his invitation by winning the U.S. Intercollegiate Match Racing Championship in 2023 for Brown University — beating Petersen’s Georgetown University in the process.

The youngest-ever competitor, Siena Nichols, 15, (USA) received an invitation based on her already distinguished match racing record, including a win in the women’s Mayor’s Cup in Long Beach, CA. In that event she beat the fourth-ranked female match racer in the world, among others.

The fourteenth competitor will be the winner of the U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup which will be held late June in Marblehead, MA. Since former Rose Cup champ Morgan Pinckney has already been invited to the GovCup, if he wins Rose Cup, the Selection Committee will pick an alternate.

The Selection Committee received more than three times the number of Requests for Invitation (RFIs) this year than there were places in the event.

Details: https://www.govcupracing.com/

Source: Susan Kenney