Congressional Cup : Ireland’s Cudmore Has a Good Chance to Win It All

A foreign sailor has never won the Congressional Cup, and Ireland’s Harold Cudmore has been trying longer than any.

He’s been in seven of the 22 events, but the only time he came close to winning was on St. Patrick’s Day two years ago when he took champion Dave Perry all the way into the protest room after the last race, only to lose again.

But this may be the year for a foreigner to break through, and Cudmore could be the one.

“Why not?” he said Friday after sweeping his four races off Long Beach to post a 6-1 record going into the last two rounds of racing today. “It’s about time.”

There is a three-way tie for second at 5-2 among Dave Dellenbaugh, Perry and New Zealand’s Chris Dickson, and Cudmore is scheduled to race Dellenbaugh in the final round today. Cudmore already has beaten Perry and Dickson, so he would have to lose both races today for them to have a chance to win. Cudmore races young Steve Flam (2-5) before meeting Dellenbaugh.

The only problem on Cudmore’s horizon was a protest filed against him by Australia’s Colin Beashel (2-5) over an incident before their start. Beashel, on starboard tack, claimed that Cudmore, coming from port, tacked so close on his leeward bow that he had to change course to avoid a collision.

But even if Cudmore were to lose the protest, he probably would have to beat Dellenbaugh to win the title, anyway.

Cudmore’s only loss was on Wednesday to defending champion Rod Davis, the skipper for Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s America’s Cup Eagle syndicate who lost his first two races Friday to Flam and Dellenbaugh and stands 4-3, virtually out of contention.

Other key races today match Dickson against Davis in the first round and Davis against Perry in the second.