Prince Alfred rallies for win

Natalie Venegas

The winds picked up Saturday at Balboa Yacht Club as the final day of

racing in the Governor’s Cup crowned Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club

of Australia champions for the second straight year.

The team, which was in fourth place going into the semifinals,

defeated Nylandska Jaktklubben from Finland, which only lost one

match in the round robin and three at the conclusion of the

competition.

Royal Prince Alfred and Balboa Yacht Club each had six wins in the

round robin, but a tiebreaker gave the Australian team the last

position in the top four.

In the semifinals, Murray Gordon, Hamish Roughley and Thomas

Spithill of Prince Alfred fell to Southern Yacht Club in the first

match, but came back to win the next two, advancing the team to the

finals.

It was a similar story in the finals after the team gave up the

first match to Nylandska, but battled for the victory in the final

two matches.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Gordon. “It was looking like it

was going to be a tough regatta, but not going in as favorites was a

good thing for us. The pressure wasn’t really on us, it was on the

team that was ahead.”

Gordon, who along with Spithill is a veteran to the event, became

the sixth sailor in Governor’s Cup history to win two events in a

row.

“They had complete control,” said Prince Alfred Coach Murray

Walters. “It was character that made them win those last two, not

just skill.”

Southern and Balboa, which finished in fifth place after defeating

Newport Harbor Yacht Club, were the top two U.S. finishers and will

compete in the International Youth Match Race Series in Auckland, New

Zealand in February, and also the Cowes Youth Week Match Race Regatta

in England next year.

“It was looking pretty grim after that first day,” said Christian

Emsieck from Balboa. “But we worked hard and held our own against

them.”

Newport Harbor ended in sixth place while Royal New Zealand Yacht

Squadron was in seventh, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia captured

eighth, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron finished ninth, King Harbor Yacht

Club from Redondo Beach took 10th, San Francisco ended in 11th and

Seattle Yacht Club was in 12th.

The Dead of Gift for the Governor’s Cup was granted in 1967 by

then California Governor and later President Ronald Reagan.

World-class sailors Paul Cayard, John Kostecki and Gavin Brady, among

many throughout the world, have emerged from this race to dominate

the America’s Cup and many other international competitions.

The sailboats used were 21-foot sloops, designed by Alan Andrews,

an internationally recognized yacht designer, and sails by Dave

Ullman. Both are Balboa Yacht Club members.