Plans set for youth match racing champs

It’s all systems go at Balboa Yacht Club as they prepare to host the 54th Governor’s Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship (July 26-31, 2021) and the 2021 Youth Match Racing World Championship (August 9-14). Both events will be held on the ocean venue off Newport Beach, CA.

“After the cancellation of the Cup last year for the first time in 54 years due to COVID concerns and travel restrictions, we look forward to the best ever GovCup this year,” said Christine Robertson Gribben, Chair of both events.

The Governor’s Cup is an invitational event for sailors that have not reached their 23rd birthday by the last day of the regatta. This year, a special exception to that rule was made by BYC to allow skippers invited to the 2020 Cup before it was cancelled to request an invitation to the 2021 regatta and, if invited, they may sail even if they don’t meet the age qualifications by the July 31, 2021 date.

Crews are not included in this exception and must still be no more than age 22 on that date. There are only three potential skippers of the twelve invited last year that could take advantage of this one-time rule change, but all are still within only a few weeks of qualifying without the exception.

“We expect a ‘Grade 1’ quality fleet and perhaps the toughest year ever for gaining an invitation,” said Selection Committee member Andy Rose, referring to World Sailing’s grading system. “At present, the second and fourth ranked skippers in the Open Rankings (not age limited) are the two most recent winners of the Governor’s Cup, Harry Price (AUS), who won in 2018, and Nick Egnot-Johnson, the winner in 2019.

‘Although Harry has ‘aged out’ of both GovCup and Worlds, hopefully we’ll see Nick back this summer to try to join eleven other sailors over the years that have won twice.”

Grade 1 is generally only granted to regattas in which most, if not all of whose entrants are professional sailors but the Governor’s Cup was the first age-limited event to ever receive Grade 1 status in 2018. The 2021 Governor’s Cup has initially applied as a Grade 3 regatta so if World Sailing wishes to modify that grading, it would happen retroactively as was the case in 2018.

Additional details:
Governor’s Cup: https://www.govcupracing.com/
Youth Match Racing Worlds: https://www.sailing.org/events/youthmatchworlds/index.php

Source: Susan Kenney