Field set for 2025 Congressional Cup

Long Beach Yacht Club’s Congressional Cup, celebrating its 60th Anniversary in 2025, confirmed the ten skippers from seven countries to compete April 30-May 4. Defending champion USA’s Chris Poole and his Riptide Racing team will seek a third consecutive win of the event against strong competition from past winner Johnie Berntsson from Sweden and Switzerland’s Eric Monnin keen to secure his first Congressional Cup win.

“Our team is looking forward to returning to Long Beach for the 60th Congressional Cup,” said Poole. “We have a chance to go for a 3-peat which is an incredible opportunity at one of the toughest match racing events in the world.

“But we are mainly focused on our team philosophy of putting together a good team. As our late coach Dougie Pye would say, ‘Just keep on doing what you know how to do’ so with that in mind it’s just one event at a time, one day at a time, one race at a time.”

Joining the 2025 Congressional Cup roster is Italy’s Rocco Attili, Australia’s Cole Tapper and match racing veteran Sweden’s Bjorn Hansen. Also sailing his first Congressional Cup is France’s Ian Garreta who finished fourth at 2024 WMRT Final in Shenzhen in December. The Long Beach Yacht Club will be represented by Dave Hood.

The last two places in the Congressional Cup will be awarded to the top two finishers from the 2025 Ficker Cup which has eight teams competing April 25-27. The Ficker Cup is also an official stage of the World Match Racing Tour and awards points to the WMRT leaderboard.

A notable absence to this year’s Congressional Cup is five-time winner and current defending match racing world champion Ian Williams from Great Britain.

“It is a great shame my team and I are unable to make it to Long Beach this year,” commented Williams. “The Congressional Cup is one of our favorite events and venues on the tour and we are very sorry to be missing the 60th Anniversary of the event, I hope we can be back next year!”

Racing for the Ficker Cup and Congressional Cup will take in the Long Beach Yacht Club’s identical fleet of Catalina 37s with symmetrical spinnakers. Teams will consist of either six or seven crew providing they are within the maximum team weight limit of 525kg (1157.4 lbs).

Racing will also take place right in front of the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier where spectators can gain free access to watch the racing close up with live commentary. The event will be broadcast live from May 2 via YouTube and social media channels.

2025 Long Beach Yacht Club Congressional Cup Skippers
Chris Poole, USA (Riptide Racing)
Johnie Berntsson, SWE (Berntsson Sailing Team)
Eric Monnin, SUI (Capvis Swiss Match Racing)
Rocco Attili, ITA (RBYS Racing)
Ian Garreta, FRA (Team Garreta)
Cole Tapper, AUS (CYCA)
Dave Hood, USA (DH3 Racing)
Björn Hansen, SWE (Hansen Saiing Team)
Ficker Cup 1st Place
Ficker Cup 2nd Place

2025 Ficker Cup Skippers
Aurélien Pierroz, FRA
Maxime Mesnil, FRA
Pearson Potts, USA
Zac West, AUS
Peter Wickwire, CAN
Nicole Breault, USA
Ryan Seago, USA
TBC

Tour information – 2025 schedule – Event details – Facebook

The Congressional Cup is known as the ‘Grandfather of match racing’. Past winners read like a who’s who of the international sailing world: Ted Turner (USA), Dennis Conner (USA), Rod Davis (NZL), Harold Cudmore (GBR), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Chris Dickson (NZL), Terry Hutchinson (USA), GavinBrady (NZL), Dean Barker (NZL), Francesco Bruni (ITA), Taylor Canfield (USA), Johnie Berntsson (SWE), and Ian Williams (GBR).

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion.

Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL), and Ian Williams (GBR).

Since inception, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors.

Source: WMRT