The Govenor’s Cup is one of the showcase events for youth match racing. Due to its ability to accept more than one team per nation, many regard it as more prestigious than Youth Match Racing Worlds. Hosted by Balboa Yacht Club each year in custom made “Gov Cup 22s,” acceptance is by application only and entries are capped at 12. This past July, I was fortunate enough to participate in this event for the second time.
Due to all COVID restrictions being lifted, the 2022 field was very competitive. Over half of the field were internationals, representing Sweden, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Going into the event I was excited for my team, which included Jack Plavan, Kalea Woodard, and Christophe Chaumont, to use the knowledge accrued from the first time around. I was both excited and curious, as I had never competed against most of the field due to my relative match racing inexperience. Gov Cup is akin to many other prestigious events, as there are dinners, plenty of parading of the sailors, and lots of media throughout the event. By the time racing began we were well informed of our competitors' accolades, including two youth world champions and the second place finisher at youth worlds the week before Gov Cup.
Unsure how we would stack up, we entered the first race of the two round robin schedule. Although it felt like we were sailing well, races were not going our way. We ended the day with a 2-5 record, putting us in 9th/12. We kept our inner belief and held onto the positives from day one, along with learning from the losses. Going into day two, we knew there were plenty of races left to turn the regatta around and make the semifinals by the end of two round robins. In terms of “sailing voodoo,” it felt the exact opposite of day one, shifts and umpire calls were going our way and races were adding to our win column. We finished the day 7-0, and found ourselves tied for 3rd overall. The next day we had half of the second round robin left which would lead into the first three races of the semi-finals. We kept our winning ways going and finished 3rd overall after two round robins, and began the semi-final series with Jordan Stevenson of NZL. Each of the races were all out battles, with our first one being described by the chief umpire as “the most beautiful match race he has seen in 10 years” (the archived live streams are available on Balboa Yacht Club’s YouTube for anyone curious.)
We went into the last day cautiously confident, needing only one win to move on. Unfortunately, after two good starts, Stevenson’s superior downwind boat speed and boat handling in the light air came out on top, and he won the series 3-2. Next we had the 3rd/4th sail off, which was first to two wins. After splitting the first two races, we came out on top securing 3rd place. Stevenson went on to win the final series 3-1, with his only loss coming due to snagging a large clump of kelp. Getting to compete against these powerhouse match racing programs and against kids with major sponsors such as Mastercard is a very cool experience for a bunch of kids who grew up sailing sabots. I hope with the next two years of my eligibility one of them will result with San Diego on top!