Classic Yacht Association Journal

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SUPPORTERS

Squadron crew score nailbiting win at prestigious Governors Cup

With the lifting of pandemic travel restrictions, Jordan Stevenson (NZL) won the 2022 Governor’s Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship presented at Newport Beach, California, by DISC Sports and Spine Centre.

After last appearing at the Cup in 2019, Stevenson was rusty in the qualifying stage and turned in an average performance in the first round. But, with his crew of Mitch Jackson and George Angus, he dominated the second round, and stayed on a roll through the semi-finals and finals to sit atop the 12 teams from five nations in the 55th edition of the prestigious event.

On the final day, Stevenson won the first and second races against defending champion and newly-crowned World Youth Match Racing Champs Jeffrey Petersen, Max Brennan, and Scott Mais to go up 2-0 in the first-to-three points series.

Sailing GC22s in the 4-6 knot wind conditions, Stevenson had exceptional boat speed, both upwind and downwind. His starts were never disastrous, and he often had a slight advantage. As the boats started the last downwind leg of the third and deciding race, Stevenson had a comfortable lead about halfway down the leg.

At that point, the Race Committee started to move one of the leeward gate marks to square the course to the wind. Since the move couldn’t be done by the time the boats were approaching the mark, that left a single mark, which needed to be rounded in a clockwise direction.

Stevenson did so and started up the course. Petersen then rounded in the other direction, and once he realized his mistake, he returned to round again. Even then he did not unwind the string of his first incorrect rounding and therefore had still not rounded the mark. By then, Stevenson had sailed so far away that the Cup was in the bag. However, when Petersen protested the race, the umpires called for a re-sail, with the score remaining at a 2-0 in Stevenson’s favour.

Stevenson could not have been pleased, but both boats prepared for another start and a crucial race. Stevenson and crew put that “almost win” behind them, and although the boats were never more than two lengths apart, eked out another lead on the second and final downwind leg.

By mid-leg, Stevenson had increased his lead, and with all the marks in their proper place, looked to complete a sweep. But suddenly Stevenson notably slowed down, snagging what he described as “40 kilos of kelp on the keel.” Petersen forged ahead to win, and with the score now 2-1, he was back in the hunt.

Hoping to even the score in the next race, Petersen at first incurred a penalty before the start, but hounded Stevenson down the line forcing him over the line when the gun went off. As Stevenson returned to the line with no rights, he committed a double penalty for an intentional foul, which meant he had to do his penalty turn immediately.

This erased Petersen’s penalty, but left Stevenson with one penalty turn to do. His boatspeed and tactics were again sufficient to establish a lead, but it was unclear whether he had enough distance to finish his turn before the hard-charging Petersen finished.

Stevenson and crew did an excellent job with the turn, but Petersen picked up a puff, established an overlap, and was surging past Stevenson. The large spectator fleet had to wait for the Race Committee to at last raise a yellow flag indicating that the New Zealand team had narrowly claimed the title.

MASTERCARD YOUTH TRAINING PROGRAMME

Current and graduate YTP revel in return to international competition

The RNZYS Mastercard Youth Training Programme has had several current and graduate teams overseas for events over the past month or so.

Maeve White and her team of Jack Manning, Henry Angus, Max McLachlan, George Angus and YTP graduate Robbie McCutcheon with his team of Sam Street, Chester Duffett, Sofia Higgott and Jack Frewin both headed off to France to compete in the Youth Match Racing World Championships in July.

Although both teams’ placings in the regatta did not go the way they would have liked, the teams have learned some valuable lessons from their time on the water in international competition. We are sure that they will be able to take the skills forward into the next events they have lined up.

Jordan Stevenson another YTP graduate has been hugely successful at the Balboa Yacht Club, winning the 55th Governor’s Cup. Massive congratulations to Jordan and his team of Mitch Jackson and George Angus.

YTP graduate Megan Thomson and her 2.0 Racing team are heading overseas to compete in the Gran Slam events shortly, we wish them good luck with all their racing.

Looking forward to the next few months on the calendar, YTP has many events to get excited about. Firstly, we have the Auckland Match Racing Championships, for which five YTP teams have entered. This is shaping up to be a good event with Reuben Corbett jumping back on the helm with a YTP crew. Following on from this, three teams from the programme are heading off to Noumea to sail J70s in the Aircalin 2022 Match Racing Cup from the 17th to the 23rd of August.

Between the 5th and 9th of October is the Harken New Zealand Match Racing Championship. There are currently four entries in this event. If you know of anyone keen to compete in this championship, expressions of interest are still open.

At the beginning of November, we have the New Zealand Women’s Match Race Championship. Two current YTP teams are entered into this event, in addition to YTP graduates Celia Wilison and Megan Thomson. One week later are the Women’s Match Racing World Championships. Both of these events are being held here on home waters.

Since the beginning of the season, YTP members have been training hard each weekend. So far, several harbour courses and fleet races have been completed while the first-year members get the hang of sailing a keelboat.

In addition, an in-house match racing regatta was completed, which has given the newer members a good taste of the events to come this season. We have also completed a range of different off-water learning, including a theory test, speeches about the next America’s Cup, and fitness testing. All of which, contribute to improving the sailors on and off-water skills for the future.

All in all, 2022 is shaping up to be a cracker of a season, with many national and international events coming up that we have not been able to contest in a while.

Training Manager Reuben Corbett.