NHYC goes for three straight

Out of the 170 boys and girls in the Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s junior program, Mac Mace, Andrew Mason and Brooks Clark are the lucky ones to be competing in this year’s 43rd annual Governor’s Cup International Junior Match Racing Championship.

Starting today, Newport Harbor will be competing in the “Gov Cup,” where the yacht club is the two-time defending champ.

“It’s definitely the biggest junior, trophy event that’s held here [in Southern California],” Newport Harbor’s Coach Zander Kirkland said. “Obviously we want to be one of the top yacht clubs in the bay so we are supportive and excited when our kids do well.”

Mace and Mason have raced for Newport Harbor for the 2006 Gov Cup, but this is Clark’s first time in the tournament. All three are not considered as sailing rookies, but they are fairly new to match racing — a format which involves one-on-one racing that can last about 45 minutes.

However, Kirkland seems confident about their chances.

“They’ve been only sailing since the beginning of June,” he said. “We have kind of a younger team, but they are very good sailors in their own right and it’ll be a case of getting their boat handling down and adjusting to the match racing. They’ll definitely be ready.”

The 2009 Newport Harbor crew has been practicing boat handling with Michael Menniger, who was a member on the last two teams that won the Gov Cup.

He said that improving boat handling will make the boat run smoother and in a faster time. He added some boats win by just seconds even though the races can take 30 to 45 minutes.

“They’ve been trying to race everyday,” Menniger said. “[They’ve been] practicing a lot of starting, because starting is really important in match racing ... a few seconds in this type of race can really count.”

Kirkland said that one of the reasons for Newport Harbor’s success remains the club’s dedication to the juniors.

“We have such a big program and the club puts so much emphasis on the junior program and invests in a lot of money,” he said. “We have a lot of talent every year and that talent grows up because teenagers, some of them start to take it really serious, and go onto Olympic sailing, high-level college sailing.”

Kirkland added that it’s special for the young sailors to race against the best juniors from all across the world.

The Gov Cup will feature 12 teams, featuring clubs from New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia.

The boat Mace, Mason and Clark will be racing in starting today is named the Governor’s Cup 21, a boat designed by Alan Andrews, who is the Commodore of Balboa Yacht Club.

“I wish the team good luck,” Menninger said. “Hopefully winning it three times in a row would be great.”