Thank you so much for your help to send Team SDYC to this year’s Governor’s Cup. The team consisted of skipper Nevin Snow, trimmer AJ Reiter and bowman Jake Reynolds.
The team met up in Balboa, CA at Balboa Yacht Club on Monday July 14 for the practice day and some press/event publicity time. The practice day was extremely important for the team because while AJ sailed the Governor’s Cup 21s last summer at the Gov Cup, it had been two years since Jake or Nevin had sailed a GC21. We knew that in order to finish at the top a week later we would need every practice and race day to prepare ourselves to be in prime Gov Cup sailing form by the end of the event.
The first three days of the regatta were long and relatively breezy days, with winds in the 10-14 knot range all day. These days were used to complete the twelve-team round robin as well as the top-8 quarterfinal round robin. Team SDYC finished the quarterfinals with 13 points, enough to put us in second place going into the semifinal matchups.
Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, the quarterfinal leaders chose to race Chicago Yacht Club in the semifinals, which pitted Team SDYC against home favorites Balboa Yacht Club. The breeze was up for Friday’s semifinals matches and Team SDYC felt fresh and fast while beating BYC 3-1 in full hiking conditions.
Saturday was reserved for the finals matchup between Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and San Diego Yacht Club, as well as the petit finals. Saturday was also the lightest day of the regatta with winds a mere 3-6 knots all day. Nonetheless the first race was taken by RFBYC, which led to the teams switching boats. The next two races were tight tactical races with Team SDYC winning both. The fourth race was another tight race with approximately 15-20 tacks in an epic tacking duel between the two teams. RFBYC won the left side in a building lefty and pulled ahead for the win.
In the fifth and final race Team SDYC was able to coffin corner RFBYC above the race committee and force RFBYC to start dead astern of Team SDYC by half of a boat length. An even longer tacking duel ensued with the boats meeting bow-to-bow at the weather mark, with Team SDYC on starboard. RFBYC pulled off a tight port tack duck and was able to get room at the weather mark with the starboard rounding. RFBYC held on the rest of the way around the course by two lengths for the race win and the championship win. Team SDYC would place second in quite possible the deepest Gov Cup fleet in some time.
Thank you to the San Diego Yacht Club Competition Syndicate Fund for all of your help in sending us to this prestigious event. The competition, camaraderie and fun are certainly unparalleled in youth match racing in comparison to the Gov Cup.
- Nevin Snow