Will Holz Wins 2012 Rose Cup

by Dave Perry on 25 Jun 2012 Will Holz from the Chicago Yacht Club has won the 2012 Rose Cup, a U.S. youth national match racing event sanctioned by US Sailing, hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in St. Petersburg, Florida, and sponsored by its founder the Newport-Balboa Sailing & Seamanship Association, Line Honors Yacht Racing Outfitters and North U.

Holz’s team included Wheeler Morris, Madeleine Cooney and Alex Woloshyn. This qualifies Holz for the Governor’s Cup, an international youth match racing event held at the Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach, California, July 17-22, 2012. Charlie Lalumiere from the Portland Yacht Club in Falmouth, Maine and his team of Myles Everitt, Chase Quinn and Mac Agnese were awarded the Nick Scandone Sportsmanship Award based on a vote by the competitors and umpires.

Holz and Lalumiere faced off in the Finals in which every race was tight, and which took all five races to decide, with Holz winning 3-2. In the Petit-Finals, the teams of Nick Valente from Charleston Community Sailing and Philip Bendon from the Chicago Match Racing Center also needed all five races to settle the series, with Valente winning 3-2. In the Consolation Series, the team of Harrison Hawk from Annapolis Yacht Club defeated the team of Ethan Lounsbury from the Lauderdale Yacht Club 4-1.

'What impressed me the most,' said Dave Perry, US Sailing Match Racing Committee Chairman and current National Match Racing Champion, who actively coached the teams throughout the event, 'was the tremendous improvement in the match racing and small keelboat racing skill of all six teams. Most had very little, experience in either coming into the event. By the last day, it looked like a Grade 3 match racing regatta with multiple lead changes and boats overlapped at the finishing line.'

Perry continued 'many of us are working hard on introducing the 16-22 year old sailors in the U.S. to competitive match racing, and the Rose Cup is our pinnacle event. We are pleased to announce that next year’s event will be hosted by the Sheboygan Yacht Club and the U.S. Sailing Center of Sheboygan (dates and boat to be announced). Sheboygan is integral to the running of the Match Racing event at the 2012 Olympic Games, and it will be exciting to have them hosting the 2013 Rose Cup.'