Governor's Cup 43rd US Int'l Junior Match Racing Championship

by Nancy Mellon on 16 Jul 2009
On Wednesday, July 15, the Govenor's Cup teams met with the Race Committee and the fifteen Umpires as they prepared for the start of the official competiton. The umpires will be in small boats near each pair of racing teams, making immediate decisions whenever there are infraction of the rules. The umpires are crucial to the smooth completion of Match Racing Competitons.

The teams prepared their boats and were towed out to an area in the ocean between the Newport and Balboa Piers near the Newport Elementary School. The seas were fairly flat and the skies cloudy when they started racing about noon, but by two the skies were clear and the winds mild. Spectator boats maintained polite distances from the race course and added to the busy scene.

The Governor's Cup is an ISAF Grade 3 match race series that features a double round robin format providing that each team will sail against each other team twice. By 4pm, four flights of six races each had been held. Both Mission Bay Yacht Club and Royal New Zealand's Men's teams were undefeated. Only Long Beach Yacht Club was20winless. The two local teams, Newport Harbor Yacht Club and Balboa Yacht Club have each won two races and lost two. The first all girl team were also two to two, having lost to their team mates from Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Royal Yachting Association also split their first four races.

Final results will be on the govcupracing.com and balboayachtclub.com web sites.

The results for day 1 after four flights are as follows:

Yacht Club Wins Losses Spinaker Stripe Color

Balboa Yacht Club - 2 2 Aqua
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia - 3 1 Red/yellow
King Harbor Yacht Club - 2 2 Blue
Long Beach Yacht Club - 0 4 Yellow/green
Mission Bay Yacht Club - 4 0 Red/blue
Newport Harbor Yacht Club - 2 2 Green
Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club - 1 3 Pink
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron - 4 0 Black
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron(girls) - 2 2 Red
Royal Yachting Association - 2 2 Light yellow
San Francisco Yacht Club - 1 3 Grey
Southern Yacht Club - 1 3 Light grey

The teams can be recognized by the color of the stripe on their spinnaker sail. Each day they will be racing in a different boat with a number to match the boat but they will always have the same spinnaker. The boats are as identical as possible, but by changing boats, the racing becomes even more dependent on the skill of the racers.

The event is sponsored by The Yacht Barn, current builder of the Gov Cup 21 boats, CR&R, Inc. and the Newport Balboa Sailing & Seamanship Association (NBSSA), owner and manager of the Gov Cup 21 Fleet used in this event. Tommy Bahama’s Island Grille and Tommy Bahama Rum will sponsor the Friday evening reception while Hornblower Cruises will provide a harbor cruise on Saturday evening for competitors. Additional support will come from Ayres Hotel and Suites, Crevier BMW, Island Marine Fuel, Kaenon Polarized sunglasses, L. Gaylord Sportswear, Leading Edge Yacht Services, Ruby’s Diner, Taco Bell, Volcom and West Marine.'

http://govcupracing.com/