US Qualifying Series for New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup Day 2

Day two of the 2012 New York Yacht Club U.S. Qualifying Series for the 2013 NYYC Invitational Cup © Billy Black / New York Yacht Club

The story of day two at the U.S. Qualifying Series was not the dominant performances put in by the Florida Yacht Club and Seattle Yacht Club but more the way the last Championship series qualifiers clawed their way back from poor starts and bad breaks to maintain a chance at attending the 2013 Invitational Cup.

Today’s results split the fleet into a Championship and Consolation series. When protests were resolved after sunset, the scores showed two points separating fourth through sixth in the red fleet. A third place in the last race of the day allowed Larchmont to squeak into the Championship series after a day that typified the tooth-and-nail competition seen throughout both fleets.

“Half way down the run of race 10 we were pretty depressed thinking we were in the consolation series,” said Larchmont tactician Clay Bischoff. He said that the team needed the first day to get used to their individual roles on the boat. And though they had few shifts go their way, the team is working to keep their confidence after the last race. “We were over-thinking it yesterday,” said Cardwell Potts, “and today we just kept things simple.”

The race committee waited until a seven-knot, shifty sea-breeze filled in at 2 p.m. to start the first race of the day. As it turned out, shifts did go some teams’ way. Florida was over the line in a race, came back, had to make a penalty circle and wound up second. Youngstown Yacht Club, a team that narrowly missed qualifying for the Championship series, was over in two races in a row and ended up with a 1,2 score line.

Pequot Yacht Club ended up four points out of qualifying but their coach, two-time Olympian Stuart McNay, testified to the complexity of the race course on Narragansett Bay. “The breeze was very uncertain today,” he said, adding that that the shifts were rarely seen on the water. The strong current going upwind and shallows on both sides of the course added to the challenge, but McNay said that the competition was top notch. “Everyone was sailing as hard as they could, and it was fun to watch.”

In the blue fleet, Fort Worth Boat Club made a run after a last in the first race today with a series of top-three finishes to move up one place to fourth overall, two points ahead of Indian Harbor Yacht Club. A highlight of the day for spectators was watching the other position changes around Fort Worth live on the online Trac Trac while the racing was unfolding on the water.

With two more days of racing, the Championship series will be sailed in the new fleet of J/70s while the Consolation series will be run in concert using the Sonars. The winner of the Championship series will not only hold a berth along with second- and third-place finishers for the 2013 Invitational Cup but will also win the Resolute Cup.

Top Six in each fleet (after 11 races and one throw-out) moving to the Championship Series:

Red Fleet

1 Seattle Yacht Club 27 pts
2 San Francisco Yacht Club 32 pts
3 Newport Harbor Yacht Club 46 pts
4 California Yacht Club 55 pts
5 Texas Corinthian Yacht Club 55 pts
6 Larchmont Yacht Club 57 pts

Blue Fleet

1 The Florida Yacht Club 32 pts
2 Eastern Yacht Club 36 pts
3 Carolina Yacht Club 41 pts
4 Ft. Worth Boat Club 52 pts
5 Indian Harbor Yacht Club 54 pts
6 Saint Francis Yacht Club 54 pts

The 2012 U.S. Qualifying Series is sponsored by Atlantis WeatherGear and J Boats: