Nesbitt wins Butler Cup 2009 Match Race Championship Series

by Rick Roberts on 8 Jun 2009
Chris Nesbitt and his team from Balboa Yacht Club Sunday won the 2009 Butler Cup, an ISAF Grade 5 match race hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, in dominating fashion with only one loss through the 10-race double round robins and are going on to the Ficker Cup next weekend.

'Today we pushed ourselves more than we ever have,' Nesbitt said, 'and the full credit goes to my team. They were unbelievable.'

Nesbitt’s team was Erik Berzins, bow; Gunnar Toale/Eric Aakhus, mast; Max Moosmann, pit; Dave Oborn, trimmer; Preben Nielsen, main and Christian Ensiek, tactician.

Losing only one of the 10 races, Nesbitt commented on that loss.

'It was actually the best thing that happened to us. Annie [Gardner Nelson] beat us in the first race of the day [Sunday] and learned from it. They were the only team to beat us, and [the success was] because of Dave Perry.'

The Butler Cup is a match race training platform, and over the weekend the skippers and their teams had the benefit of clinics, de-briefs and on-the-water coaching from Dave Perry, two-time Congressional Cup winner.

'Through the classroom time, the structure, the validation on the water… all the pieces came together,' Nesbitt said.

Annie Gardner Nelson, San Diego Yacht Club, finished second, beating out third-place finisher John Gresham of LBYC by one-half point. The top two skippers competing in the April 4-5 event were awarded points to carry over into the June event. Gresham was second in April and given one-half point. Nelson did not compete in April and so needed to set her sights high.

'We had only two goals for the event,' Nelson said, 'one, to beat Nesbitt---and we did---and two, to get second in the regatta…. which we did.

'This was a huge learning experience for all of us, and Dave [Perry] was so good with feedback between races. I probably learned more this weekend about match racing than at any other time in my life.'

Gresham said, 'This is only the second time this team has worked together. The first time [in April] we were below average. But this weekend we were really on our game. Dave Perry is really a great coach and we owe it all to him.'

Looking toward the Ficker Cup in one week and reflecting on this weekend, Nesbitt said, 'We really had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Perry is someone that knows what to look for in coaching others and helped prepare us for the Ficker Cup.'

The event is named for Frank Butler, founder of Catalina Yachts, who in 1990 designed, built and donated the 11 Catalina 37s used for all of the ISAF match races held at LBYC. These same boats are also used throughout the year for fleet race events and are available for charter through the Long Beach Yacht Club Sailing Foundation.

al Results

Chris Nesbit, BYC, 1 point from April race + 9 wins=10 – 1 loss
Annie Gardner Nelson, SDYC, 6-4
John Gresham, LBYC, 5.5- 5
Liz Hjorth, CYC, 4-6 (won tiebreaker)
Casey Shilling, BYC, 4-6
David Robertson, LBYC, 2-8
Dustin Durant, LBYC, (did not race in June event) 0-10

www.lbyc.org