2021 Governor's Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship at Balboa Yacht Club - Day 2
by Susan Kenney 29 Jul 2021 08:19 BST
July 26-31, 2021
Jeffrey Petersen (USA, Balboa Yacht Club) and David Wood (USA, Balboa Yacht Club) on day 2 of the Governor's Cup 2021 © Tom Walker
Jeffrey Petersen (USA, Balboa Yacht Club) continued his winning ways today, Day 2 of the 54th Annual Governor's Cup Youth International Match Racing Championship, sponsored by DISC Sports and Spine Center.
While Petersen ended today with another perfect record, he did receive a one-point penalty for a collision on Day 1, but that didn't faze the newly crowned U.S. Youth Match Racing Champion for the Rose Cup, which was held in June.
The last race of the day featured Petersen and another top competitor, Emil Kjaer (DEN, Royal Danish YC), Petersen sailing to a relatively easy win. That gives him a two-point lead over Kjaer, and on Thursday, Petersen can virtually wrap up the double round-robin stage—an automatic berth in the semi-finals—with a win in the planned first race on Day 3 between the two to make up for their Day 1 match postponement due to a minor breakdown of one of the boats.
Even if Kjaer prevails, it is unlikely to change the current expectation which would put both in the semi-finals as the top two round-robin finishers.
If so, the two would sit out the next stage of the competition, a single round-robin repechage for the other eight teams. The top two of the repechage round will join the other two semi-finalists for "first to three" matches, and the winners of the two semis will advance to the finals on Day 5 (Saturday).
Today, in ideal 12-15 knot conditions in the Pacific Ocean off a seasonably warm Newport Beach, the balance of the leaderboard was marked by inconsistency. Due to travel restrictions in parts of the world affected by Covid, this year's competitors are somewhat less experienced than a typical "GovCup" regatta. However, many veteran BYC observers believe that overall, it is the most competitive field in memory.
The repechage round starts Thursday afternoon. Going into this next phase the favorites appear to be Thimoté Polet (FRA, Sport Nautique et Plaisance du Havre), Porter Kavle (USA, Annapolis YC) and 16-year-old Morgan Pinckney (USA, Newport Harbor Yacht Club) who are tied on eight points. Only one point behind are Jack Egan (USA, San Diego YC), pre-regatta favorite David Wood (USA, Balboa Yacht Club), and Ansgar Jordan (USA, Coronado Yacht Club) tied on seven points.
In the past, GovCup has been given a Grade 1 status by World Sailing based on the quality of the skippers, umpires, and the event. The only higher grade is an official World Championship. On the heels of GovCup, Balboa Yacht Club will host its second Youth Match Racing World Championship commencing Monday, August 9 with most of the same teams.
The Governor's Cup is the oldest youth match racing event in the world and twelve identical "Governor's Cup 22s", are provided to the teams for the event. They were designed by BYC Staff Commodore Alan Andrews. Built in 2016 for the 50th anniversary of the GovCup, they proved exciting for spectators to watch in today's great conditions, with the breeze somewhat stronger than usual for Newport Beach. And, as the teams learned to sail them effectively, the races became closer. Several to last races were decided by a matter of a few feet.
"GovCup TV" will broadcast all the racing live on Friday and Saturday starting at 11:30a PDT (GMT-7) on www.fb.com/bycgovcup. A press conference with the semi-finalists will be broadcast live on Friday at 6:45p PDT, as will the final press conference and awards presentation on Saturday beginning at 4:30p PDT.
www.govcupracing.com