Congressional Cup returns to Long Beach after 18-month hiatus

Sunshine and bully winds disconnected the seashore of Long Beach greeted sailors and spectators during the archetypal time of the 56th yearly Congressional Cup Wednesday, Sept. 15 — marking the instrumentality of the granddaddy of lucifer racing aft an 18-month coronavirus-induced hiatus.

Taylor Canfield — skipper for the Stars + Stripes, which is portion of the America’s Cup conglomerate — finished competition’s opening time successful archetypal place, with six wins. Canfield, successful his 10th Congressional Cup appearance, is trying to go the lone five-time victor of the prestigious cup.

Johnie Berntsson, 2009 Congressional Cup victor from Sweden, was successful 2nd with 5 wins and Australia’s Sam Gilmour (son of Peter Gilmour, the Congressional Cup victor successful 1988) was 3rd with 4 wins.

“I’m excited that Stars + Stripes has 2 teams here,” Canfield said, referring to Youth Match Racing World Champion David Wood’s Stars + Stripes improvement team. “This year, the young up-and-coming sailors are connected the pathway to turn the sport.”

The Congressional Cup is the lone World Match Racing Tour lawsuit connected the West Coast — and determination were immoderate breathtaking moments connected the h2o Wednesday.

Early on, for example, French skipper Maxime Mesnil (the French Match Racing champion successful 2018 and 2019) and Denmark’s Emil Kjaer touched boats, requiring the squad of on-the-water umpires to marque a speedy ruling.  LBYC pioneered the thought of on-the-water rulings successful 1988; it’s present a worldwide standard.

The competition’s existent standings, though, are successful immoderate ways little important than the Congressional Cup happening astatine all.

Last year’s Congressional Cup was canceled due to the fact that of the coronavirus pandemic and the 2021 iteration was delayed from April to September.

Long Beach Yacht Club Commodore Jon Schull said the big nine has stepped up.

“Everyone has rallied to marque this happen,” helium said. “Over 300 volunteers contributed to the regatta’s occurrence by providing housing, provisioning the boats, serving connected the contention committee and different tasks. The Schull household is lodging the French team.”

Volunteers seemed arsenic excited to beryllium backmost arsenic the competitors.

“I’m blessed to beryllium backmost astatine the club,” Joan Knight, who was volunteered dockside Wednesday by providing java for the teams, said.

Knight started volunteering arsenic a vessel hostess successful 1973. She volunteered arsenic media king Robert “Ted” Turner’s vessel hostess successful 1977, erstwhile helium won the Congressional Cup.

“It’s bully to spot everyone back,” said Dorothy Jacobi, who plays the soft each greeting astatine the yacht nine for breakfast. “I had COVID during the shutdown and it is large to person america unneurotic again.”

Tom Shadden, a Long Beach sailing patriarch, said helium was blessed with the bully upwind conditions and information precautions.

Safety and extortion of nine members and competitors is key, according to contention organizers. The organizing authorization for the regatta required each skippers and unit to beryllium afloat vaccinated and screened with a COVID-19 self-test to support each the participants.

In past years, boats came truthful adjacent to the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier they astir knocked implicit the spectators’ drinks — and 1 year, a vessel clipped a pier airy stanchion, sending it into the water below. So this year, 3 buoys are 1 vessel magnitude distant from the pier, making for a safer race. Principal Race Officer Randy Smith warned the skippers to instrumentality attraction astir the pier earlier racing began.

Racing continues done Sunday, Sept. 19. The semifinals volition beryllium Saturday and the finals — on with a trophy presumption and enactment — volition instrumentality spot Sunday.

Belmont Pier, 15 39th Place, is spectator central, with unrecorded commentary, bleacher seating and play cart shuttles.

For those who can’t get to the pier, unrecorded streaming contention enactment is connected the Congressional Cup’s Facebook page.

Editor’s note: Jo Murray is simply a subordinate of and the historiographer for the Long Beach Yacht Club.

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