Brian Angel wins Ficker Cup

by Rick Roberts on 1 Sep 2008
Brian Angel, Redondo Beach, Calif., and his crew from Team King Harbor Match Racing conquered seven other teams and fluky winds to win the 2008 Ficker Cup Sunday hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club.

It has been a long three years (2005) since Angel last held the cup alongside trophy namesake Bill Ficker.

'Considering we were a little rusty, not having raced on these [Catalina 37s] in over a year,' Angel said, 'I think we did well. Our team was able to shake off the rust… and proved to be unflappable.'

The three-day event, Friday-Sunday, was plagued by atypical shifty, light winds which caused the race committee to abandon racing Friday when the breeze dropped below three knots after only three of the expected seven flights of the day had been run.

Fortunately, Saturday and Sunday saw a bit more wind of 6-8 knots each day allowing the double round robin to be completed, giving the win to Angel.

'I was really impressed the race committee was able to get the 14 flights off,' Angel said, 'despite the conditions.'

Second place honors went to Phil Robertson, Auckland, New Zealand, who was tied with Angel going into the final day of racing.

'We are pretty happy with the way it went,' Robertson said, 'but it was the second to the last match of the day [Sunday] that lost us the regatta.

'We were racing Angel and we both jumped the start. After we jibed down across the line and came up, Brian came up and we couldn’t get to the right side of the course. We fought the whole way around the course but he managed to hold his lead.'

A very close third and fourth place was decided on the last flight of the event when 11-time Ficker Cup winner Scott Dickson, Long Beach, Calif., beat Don Wilson, Chicago, Ill. to get the tie-breaker. Both finished with eight points for the regatta.

'This was a great regatta,' Dickson said. Jokingly he added, 'I think they were getting ready to change the name to the ‘Dickson Cup’. I’m happy for Brian and his team. They deserved it.'

With final thoughts on the event, Angel said, 'No mistakes were made forward of the traveler [referring to his entire team]. I think I had the five best guys I could have had.'

The Ficker Cup was established by LBYC in 1980 to honor Bill Ficker, world class Star champion in the 50s and winner of the 1970 American’s Cup as skipper of the 12-meter class yacht Intrepid. During Intrepid’s 1970 America’s Cup campaign, the phrase 'Ficker is quicker' was coined --- later changed to 'Ficker was quicker' when he beat Gretel II to win the cup.

Results and standings

FIRST FLIGHT
Don Wilson, Chicago, Illinois, def Dave Perry, Southport, Conn.; Phil Robertson, Auckland, New Zealand, def. Scott Dickson, Long Beach, Calif.; Brian Angel, Redondo Beach, Calif., def Chuck Simmons, Balboa, Calif.; Chris VanTol, Illinois, def. Bruce Stone, San Francisco, Calif.

SECOND FLIGHT
Perry d. Dickson; VanTol d. Simmons; Stone d. Angel; Wilson d. Robertson

THIRD FLIGHT
Wilson d. VanTol; Stone d. Perry; Robertson d. Simmons; Dickson d. Angel

FOURTH FLIGHT
Robertson d. Stone; Angel d. Wilson; Dickson d. VanTol; Simmons d. Perry

FIFTH FLIGHT
Robertson d. VanTol; Wilson d. Simmons; Angel d. Perry; Dickson d. Stone

SIXTH FLIGHT
Dickson d. Simmons; Wilson d. Stone; Perry d. VanTol; Angel d. Robertson

SEVENTH FLIGHT (Completed first round robin)
Simmons d. Stone; Dickson d. Wilson; Robertson d. Perry; Angel d. VanTol

EIGHTH FLIGHT
Perry d. Wilson; Robertson d. Dickson; Angel d. Simmons; VanTol d. Stone

NINTH FLIGHT
Perry d. Dickson; Simmons d VanTol; Angel d. Stone; Robertson d. Wilson

TENTH FLIGHT
Wilson d. VanTol; Perry d. Stone; Robertson d. Simmons; Angel d. Dickson

ELEVENTH FLIGHT
Robertson d. Stone; Wilson d. Angel; Dickson d. VanTol; Perry d. Simmons

TWELVTH FLIGHT
VanTol d. Robertson; Wilson d. Simmons; Angel d. Perry; Dickson d. Stone

THIRTEENTH FLIGHT
Simmons d. Dickson; Stone d. Wilson; VanTol d. Perry; Angel d. Robertson

FOURTEENTH FLIGHT
Simmons d. Stone; Dickson d. Wilson; Robertson d. Perry; Angel d. VanTol

FINAL STANDINGS: Angel, 11-3; Robertson, 10-4; Dickson, 8-6; Wilson, 8-6; Perry, 6-8; Simmons, 5-9; VanTol, 5-9; Stone, 3-11

Full final results available at:
www.lbyc.org