Governor’s Cup day 2 - Different conditions

by Nancy Mellon on 20 Jul 2012 Govenor's Cup day 2 was another beautiful day in Southern California and brought different conditions for the racers.

It was quite a contrast to yesterday’s strong winds and cool conditions. The wind changed to SSE with four to six knots. The temperature is up a bit from yesterday, reading 73 degrees at one pm. Racing got off to a good start with Flight 7 of the Round Robin completed by one pm. Paul Blank, Fleet Captain of Balboa Yacht Club, is providing Tweets from the race course. Racing can be seen from the Balboa Pier and nearby beaches.

Racing continued throughout the afternoon despite the light winds. After the completion of the eleventh flight, the defending champions from San Diego Yacht Club, with Nevin Snow at the helm, leads with nine wins, losing only to CYCA and RFBYC. SDYC is closely followed by CYCA and RSYS, each with eight wins.

BYC, RFBYC, RNZYS and RPNYC all have seven wins so there are seven strong teams going into the semifinals. Mission Bay Yacht Club is next in line with five wins so they will be racing on Day 3 against the first seven. There will be additional racing for the other teams as well.

So there are two New Zealand teams, three Australian teams and two California teams in the top seven, all close together. RSYS lost only to BYC, GKSS, the Swedish team, and SDYC. CYCA lost only to
RNZYS, RPNYC and RSYS, but they did win against SDYC. Since the conditions have changed to light winds, that might make a difference in the outcome. Strategy will count and it will be fascinating to watch.

When you look at the photos, to know which team is which, the spinnaker color will stay the same all week. The spinnaker is the large balloon sail that is used downwind. Those colors are listed below. Each day the skipper draws a number to choose which boat they will use the next day. Most of the photos will be named with the teams shown in the photos.

The racers will come in early today so they can go out on some of the Beer Can racers this evening. The Beer Cans is a long standing tradition at BYC. Boats racing in Newport Harbor are keel boats up to forty feet in length. Many of them are ocean racers who also do the TransPac and the Ensenada race. It is exciting to watch, even tho they are not allowed to use their spinnakers.

Each of the teams have raced every other team in the first Round Robin format. Additional pairings will depend on the standing of the teams to choose the ultimate winner.

Racing will continue through Sunday.

Balboa Yacht Club - Ryan Davidson: Pink (spinnaker)
Chicago Yacht Club - Will Holz: Yellow
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia - Ashlen Rooklyn: Red
Göteborgs Kungliga Segel Sällskap - Jakob Klitte: Green
Mission Bay Yacht Club - Scott Hoffmann: Yellow/green
Newport Harbor Yacht Club - Michael Madigan: Red/yellow
Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club - Sam Gilmour: Grey (Looks White)
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron - David Hazard: Black
Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club - Tim Coltman: Blue
Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron - Jordan Reece: Lt. grey/grey
San Diego Yacht Club - Nevin Snow: Red/blue
San Francisco Yacht Club - Antoine Serere: Aqua

Governor’s Cup website: website

Mary’s Longpre photos are available here