Kiwis en masse for Congressional Cup

by Rich Roberts on 11 Mar 2005 The lineup for the 41st Congressional Cup, presented by Acura, sends an ominous message - here come the Kiwis!

Russell Coutts, Chris Dickson and Dean Barker, three of the best talents spawned by New Zealand's cradle of world-class match racers over two decades, will be among those going head to head in the Long Beach Yacht Club classic April 12-16.

Their rivals, listed alphabetically with current ISAF international rankings and their clubs noted:

Scott Dickson (No. 37), Chris Dickson's younger brother who is representing the host club as a Long Beach resident for the past 10 years;

Chris Larson (No. 256), Annapolis, Md., Annapolis YC;

Chris Law (No. 51), U.K., the 1994 winner, representing South Africa's Royal Cape YC;

Staffan Lindberg (No. 12), Finland, Aaland Islands Yachting Club, winner of last week's JPMorgan Fleming Winter Challenge Cup in England;

Lars Nordbjerg, (No. 9), Denmark, Skovshoved Sejlklub;

Philippe Presti (No. 6), France, Union Nationale pour la Course au Large;

Mathieu Richard (No. 4), France, APCC-Voile Sportive.

Coutts ranks No. 8 after winning three of four events on the Swedish Match Tour, where he ranks second to Ed Baird. He has been sailing with a Danish crew since his disassociation with Alinghi, the Swiss team that he led to an America's Cup victory in 2003 following his two triumphant campaigns with New Zealand. He'll represent Denmark's Aarhus Sejlklub.

Baird, the 2004 Congressional Cup winner and current Swedish Match Tour leader, and Gavin Brady, a two-time winner plus a semifinalist the last three years, will not be competing because of their commitments to the America's Cup campaigns of Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing, respectively.

Chris Dickson, the latter team's CEO, will represent Larry Ellison's San Francisco-based team instead.

Coutts has never sailed in the Congressional Cup but won the World Match Racing Championship event in the same Catalina 37 sloops on the same waters in 1996.

Dickson, 42, is returning as a skipper long after his back-to-back Congressional Cup wins in 1990-91. He ranks only 235th but has competed in only two events during the current ranking period. He and five crew members from the America's Cup team will represent the Golden Gate YC.

Dickson said, 'The Congressional Cup is a long-standing match race event that always offers a competitive field. As one of the first match race events on our schedule this year, it is a great tune-up for [our] intense racing season in 2005.'

Dickson's only Congressional Cup appearances in recent years have been as tactician for his brother Scott, who again qualified by winning the Ficker Cup over a tough domestic field last September.

Barker, sailing for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, ranks 97th with only four events but won the Congressional Cup in 2000, a few weeks after Coutts stepped aside to let his protégé drive in the Cup-clinching race against Prada before thousands of hometown fans in Auckland.

Coutts and Barker met as opponents in 2003 when Alinghi ran off a 5-0 victory over a Team New Zealand team beset by a series of boat breakdowns. Barker has remained as helmsman for the restructured Emirates Team New Zealand, now rated as one of the stronger challengers for 2007 at Valencia.

Presti is helmsman for France's Le Defí 2007 America's Cup team, which is reported to be joining forces with Chinese businessman Wang Chaoyong in a joint bid for the Cup.

Racing will be a double round robin followed by four-team sail offs. The 10 teams will rotate boats daily. The races will be run on a short windward-leeward course set off the end of the Belmont Pier, where close-up spectator viewing and commentary will be provided at no charge.

After a three-year involvement the Congressional Cup is no longer part of the Swedish Match Tour. As the new presenting sponsor, Acura will raise the purse to $40,000, up from $25,000 last year.

The Long Beach Yacht Club continues to be an innovator in match racing. It is the first club to have live commentary on an AM radio station and daily streaming video of the race highlights on a website: www.LBYC.org/concup.

Previous Congressional Cup Winners

1965 Gerry Driscoll

1966 Gerry Driscoll

1967 Scott Allan

1968 Skip Allan

1969 Henry Sprague III

1970 Argyle Campbell

1971 Tom Pickard

1972 Argyle Campbell

1973 Dennis Conner

1974 Bill Ficker

1975 Dennis Conner

1976 Dick Deaver

1977 Ted Turner

1978 Dick Deaver

1979 Dennis Durgan

1980 Dennis Durgan

1981 Rod Davis

1982 Scott Perry

1983 Dave Perry

1984 Dave Perry

1985 Rod Davis

1986 Harold Cudmore

1987 Eddie Warden-Owen

1988 Peter Gilmour

1989 Rod Davis

1990 Chris Dickson

1991 Chris Dickson

1992 Terry Hutchinson

1993 Rod Davis

1994 Chris Law

1995* Harold Cudmore

1996 Gavin Brady

1997 Gavin Brady

1998 Peter Holmberg

1999 Peter Holmberg

2000 Dean Barker

2001 Peter Holmberg

2002 Peter Holmberg

2003 Ken Read

2004 Ed Baird

*'Masters' event (former winners).

For all information: www.lbyc.org
www.lbyc.org/concup/