Another beautiful day in Southern California brought different conditions for the racers. It was quite a contrast to yesterday’s strong winds and cool conditions. The wind changed to SSE with four to six knots. The temperature is up a bit from yesterday, reading 73 degrees at one pm. Racing got off to a good start with Flight 7 of the Round Robin completed by one pm. Paul Blank, Fleet Captain of Balboa Yacht Club, is providing Tweets from the race course. Racing can be seen from the Balboa Pier and nearby beaches.
Racing continued throughout the afternoon despite the light winds. After the completion of the eleventh flight, the defending champions from San Diego Yacht Club, with Nevin Snow at the helm, leads with nine wins, losing only to CYCA and RFBYC. SDYC is closely followed by CYCA and RSYS, each with eight wins. BYC, RFBYC, RNZYS and RPNYC all have seven wins so there are seven strong teams going into the semifinals. Mission Bay Yacht Club is next in line with five wins so they will be racing on Day 3 against the first seven. There will be additional racing for the other teams as well.
When you look at the photos, to know which team is which, the spinnaker color will stay the same all week. The spinnaker is the large balloon sail that is used downwind. Those colors are listed below. Each day the skipper draws a number to choose which boat they will use the next day. Most of the photos will be named with the teams shown in the photos.
The racers will come in early today so they can go out on some of the Beer Can racers this evening. The Beer Cans is a long standing tradition at BYC. Boats racing in Newport Harbor are keel boats up to forty feet in length. Many of them are ocean racers who also do the TransPac and the Ensenada race. It is exciting to watch, even tho they are not allowed to use their spinnakers.
Visitors from Australia include Paul Ingle who has come to drive Mary Longpre’s photo boat this weekend. Driving the boat close enough for Mary to take her beautiful action photos and still stay out of the way of the racers takes skill and tenacity. Paul is a member of Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne Australia. He is also a busy and talented jazz trombone player and is here in that role as well. Mary’s photos are available on our web site and at LongprePhotos.Smugmug.com
Each of the teams have raced every other team in the first Round Robin format. Additional pairings will depend on the standing of the teams to choose the ultimate winner. Racing will continue through Sunday. Complete results and reports will be available at balboayachtclub.com/GovCup and on Facebook and Twitter. Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings video Highlight Shows will be available on-demand on t2p.tv!
TEAM SKIPPER SPINNAKER COLOR
Balboa Yacht Club Ryan Davidson Pink
Chicago Yacht Club Will Holz Yellow
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Ashlen Rooklyn Red
Göteborgs Kungliga Segel Sällskap Jakob Klitte Green
Mission Bay Yacht Club Scott Hoffmann Yellow/green
Newport Harbor Yacht Club Michael Madigan Red/yellow
Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club Sam Gilmour Grey (Looks White)
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron David Hazard Black
Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club Tim Coltman Blue
Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron Jordan Reece Lt. grey/grey
San Diego Yacht Club Nevin Snow Red/blue
San Francisco Yacht Club Antoine Serere Aqua
For further information, visit balboayachtclub.com/GovCup.
