Team SDYC went undefeated through four days of challenging racing on the waters off Rapallo, Italy, dominating the 2010 Italiana Cup junior match racing event. The team of Nevin Snow, Jake La Dow, Max Hutcheson, and Jake Reynolds, along with coach Austin Dias, have been training for several months and all their hard work certainly showed as they systematically bested all opponents in a variety of conditions.
The efforts began in early spring when S/C Dennis Conner helped Team SDYC gain an invitation to the fourth running of the Italiana Cup, an international match racing event for sailors aged 18 and under. The invitation was certainly exciting as the event sponsors generously handled all aspects of travel and hospitality while in Italy! Team SDYC was long on talent, but relatively new to the match racing game, with just one Governor’s Cup under their belt. A training schedule was quickly established which included a spring match racing event at Balboa Yacht Club, another Governor’s Cup, and many excellent practices utilizing SDYC’s J/22 fleet and receiving input from several of the Club’s experienced match racers. Coach Austin Dias also spent much of his summer in Chicago, match racing with SDYC rock star Bill Hardesty, and deepening his expertise in the discipline.
After arriving in Rapallo, the sailors were greeted with a nice opening ceremony and were introduced to the boats, Judel/Vrolijk designed Portobello 28s. Luckily Team SDYC is in good shape, as these boats are larger than many match racing platforms, and the breeze would be on for much of the regatta. After a practice day, the first round-robin began. Team SDYC went undefeated on day one, and readied itself mentally overnight for a morning meeting with the defending champion British team. After dispatching the defending champs and remaining undefeated, the Team waited out some stormy weather before triumphing over an Italian team 2-0 in the gusty semi-finals.
The final day of racing saw lighter breeze, but increased challenges, as Team SDYC once again faced the Brits, this time in best of three series. The racing was tight, with constant tacking duels upwind. Team SDYC even had to deal with a lost spinnaker halyard, but thought quickly to employ the masthead topping lift as a halyard, sailing the rest of the race with no spinnaker pole option! They won race two of the finals in a photo finish to capture the match racing championship. Finally, as the top foreign team, Team SDYC was once again pitted against the top Italian team for the Italia Cup. The Italians put up their best effort yet, attacking doggedly before the start, but in the end Team SDYC retained their winning form and prevailed.
Congratulations to Nevin, Jake, Max, Jake, and Austin for taking match racing at SDYC to the next level!