On June 18th, two teams from BYC travelled to Sheboygan, Wisconsin to compete for the 2013 Rose Cup. Ryan Davidson, Brandon Folkman, and Gregg Kent of Golden State Match Racing, formed one of the teams while Christophe Killian, Harrison Vandervort, and Jack Martin formed the second.
This event began 4 years ago at BYC to help boost youth match racing in the States. Today, the Rose Cup travels around the country and has become the premier national youth match racing regatta in the US. Not only is it a big regatta, but it starts with a two day clinic to help everyone try to get on the same level in the boats chosen each year. This year, the Elliott 6 Meter was the chosen boat. And who better to coach the clinic was Sally Barkow. Sally not only is currently the highest ranked match racer in the US according to ISAF’s rankings, but has also spent countless hours and years training in Sheboygan’s own Elliotts. Also leading the entire event was Dave Perry. Dave is the number one supporter of youth match racing in the US. Without him, many of us juniors would not be as into match racing as we are now. On top of that, he is also Sally’s personal match racing coach. Between Dave and Sally, if there were any tricks to the boats, no matter how small or big, they knew them all.
On June 19th, we got our first taste of the boats. We tried to sail the boats like the Governor’s Cup 21, boats we have spent the past few years training in. We found small similarities between the two boats but also big differences. Sally and Dave came around to each boat to critique each of us while we sailed around the course. We spent the day mainly working on boat handling and a few starting maneuvers. We felt great at the end of the day and knew the things we wanted to work on the next day.
June 20th was the official clinic day. Dave led a bunch of drills and starts while Sally coached us on the water. Video was also taken to give us an outside perspective and to see the bigger picture. Each day after the clinic and after race days we all reviewed video as an entire group. The video was a great help.
June 21st was the first day of racing. The day started off at about 20 knots. We sailed out to the course and practiced a few tacks upwind. We soon realized how far away from the starting line we were so we set our kite and turned back. What we did not realize until after the kite was flying, was that the breeze had built to a steady 30+ knots. With that said…we had the most fun sailing downwind in a keel boat we have ever had. We made it down to the line without broaching, unlike many others to try to set their kites, and waited for the RC to start a race. Unfortunately, but fortunately, they called off racing for the morning and sent us back to the docks. Three hours later, we were sent back out when the breeze had died down to about 15 knots. We were able to get off four races before finishing late that evening. After day one, we were in second place with a 2-2 record.
June 22nd was a completely different day. After leaving the dock, it was a very slow sail out in barely five knots of breeze. They postponed racing again, this time due to lack of breeze. Soon after, very dense fog rolled in to the course. The RC, desperate to get off more races, decided to start us in fog that did not allow us to see the windward mark until half way up the windward beat. We sailed the first upwind and downwind beat in close racing. The second upwind beat was a bit different. After sailing upwind and searching for a mark, it was nowhere to be found. The race was called off and we were lead back to the starting line by the umpire boat. As it turned out, we had sailed half a mile past the windward mark and had missed it all together. They towed us back to the docks and waited for the fog to clear. Luckily it did and we were able to finish off the round robin. We finished 4th in the round robin which was enough to make semi-finals. In the semi’s, we raced against Scott Buckstaff from San Francisco. Unfortunately, the conditions were very frustrating and consisted of 90 degree wind shifts that did not go our way. We lost to Scott and his team 0-2 and were sent to the Petit Finals which were to be sailed the next day.
June 23rd was reserved for the Finals and Petit Finals. As it ended up, we were racing Christophe and his team for 3rd place. This became a very important series for us and BYC. Decided before the event, Rose Cup would be the sail-off for the BYC Governor’s Cup berth. In other words, whoever beat who overall, would represent BYC in the 2013 Governor’s Cup. The day started out with absolutely no breeze whatsoever. The RC decided to tow us up the coast of Lake Michigan in search of breeze. Soon, we found some and were able to get off a race. Our first race was very close from the start to the finish but we were able to get the all-important right side of the course. We won the first race and went up 1-0. After that, the breeze died again and we were forced to wait. Again, the RC moved to find breeze, this time closer to shore. We were able to find enough breeze to get off the second race. This race was closer than the first. Christophe was able to get to the right before us which gave him a four boat length lead at the windward mark. Downwind we were able to catch up and force him around the left gate and sent him to the left while we took the right. In doing that we took the lead upwind and were ahead by four boat lengths and the top mark. Downwind Christophe was able to gybe on our breeze, forcing us to gybe multiple times before the finish. Ultimately, we won the race by half a boat length which gave us the second point in the petit finals and gave us 3rd place overall.
Since we finished 3rd place ahead of Christophe and his team, we won the BYC berth to Governor’s Cup. Christophe and his team ended up 4th place overall, and also won the Nick Scandone Sportsmanship Trophy, voted on by all of the competitors at the regatta. Congrats to Christophe, Harrison, and Jack for winning such a prestigious award.
We would like to thank BYC and BYC Maritime Sciences & Seamanship Foundation for their support in sending us to this regatta. Without them, we would not have been able to compete against Christophe and his team and ultimately have the opportunity to represent BYC at this year’s Governor’s Cup. We look forward to the summer to come with Governor’s Cup, and a trip to Vancouver to compete in the Kinect Summer Match Racing Regatta at the Vancouver Yacht Club.
By Ryan Davidson