2015 Governor's Cup – Close races on Day 3

by Jay Griffin on 26 Jul 2015 2015 Governor's Cup – After deciding the places for the quarter-finals, the CYCA team of Harry price, Angus Williams and Tara Blanc-Ramos came out with eight wins putting them in a five-way tie for first place.

Sailing off Newport Pier, conditions were perfect for match racing with the breeze filling in with eight to ten knots. Quarterfinals got underway with the top eight teams sailing a second round robin with all but two flights completed. There were a number of close races in which the lead changed several times throughout. The CYCA team upped their game and won most of their pre-starts which were converted to four wins and one loss by the end of the day.

Unfortunately, it was a late drop that denied them a perfect record for the day sailing against the Del Ray Yacht Club. Having a nice lead at the top mark the LA team sailed well on the building swell to bring the gap back to three lengths. CYCA pushed the drop and with the jib being pulled up as the kite was getting dropped, one of the luff tapes became caught up the rig. This let DRYC sail around their stalled opponent and extend to a comfortable lead.

The final race of the day saw the CYCA take on the Royal Southern Yacht Club from England. At the start, the advantage went to Price sitting in a wide right position. The two boats sailed all the way to the starboard layline with CYCA getting pinched off in the end. The race stayed close for the downwind and following upwind with boats never being separated by more than a few lengths. At the top of the course, RSYC came back from the favoured right-hand side and dialled the Australian team to make them tack. The CYCA team responded quickly and managed to duck the other team, sailing free to the side they wanted. As the boats came back together at the top mark another dial down was put in play, this time with CYCA in control and getting a penalty on RSYC, handing them the final win of the day.

Two more races of the quarterfinals are to be completed which will decide the top four teams going through to the semifinals scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.