BY TONY LEE
The word regatta is associated with admiral’s caps, blue blazers, white pants and drinks at the yacht club, but the 43rd annual Governor’s Cup was much more than that.
The eclectic mix of 12 teams from all over the world participated in a top-notch sailing tournament and enjoyed tons of social activities provided by the host Balboa Yacht Club.
But as the saying goes, all good things have to come to an end, and after the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron defeated the two-time Gov Cup champions Newport Harbor Yacht Club Sunday, the regatta was over.
“I’ve sailed a lot of regattas, but this was one of the most memorable ones I’ve ever sailed,” NHYC skipper Andrew Mason said.
Royal New Zealand, led by skipper William Tiller, middleman Harry Thurston and bowman Shaun Mason, had the highest point total (21) going into Sunday’s semifinals.
The Gov Cup rules state the highest point total team could pick any team in the final four to compete against on Sunday and Royal New Zealand picked and defeated King Harbor Yacht Club to advance to the finals.
NHYC, led by skipper Andrew Mason, middleman Peter Kinney and bowman Brooks Clark, raced against arguably the hottest team going into Sunday by default — Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, who went undefeated in the second round robin.
“I think we had the mindset, ‘Hey, if we want to win this thing, we got to turn it up now,’ ” Clark said. “And we did.”
NHYC responded and held a lead in the semifinals, but a foul at the pre-start proved costly.
“We led the entire race but had to do a penalty turn at the end, which cost us the race by about a boat length,” Andrew Mason said. “But that race showed we had better boat speed and control than them on the course.”
NHYC won the next two races and moved on to the finals despite losing both the matches to Cruising Yacht Club in the round robins.
“I think the reason we beat the Australians was that our light-air boat speed was a lot better,” Clark said. “Because it’s never really windy here in Newport and we had a lot of practice in that light stuff.”
However, the win wasn’t as fulfilling since Andrew Mason said he defeated one of his friends at the Gov Cup.
