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SAILING CONGRESSIONAL CUP : Davis Looks to Overtake No. 1 Dickson

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The 27th Congressional Cup starting at Long Beach today is a crossroads of sailing for 10 of the world’s best skippers, eight of whom have an America’s Cup connection or an Olympic aspiration.

Two--three-time winner Rod Davis and France’s Marc Bouet--have both.

New Zealand’s Chris Dickson, the defending champion, is ranked No. 1 in the world.

Davis, the Coronado native who lives in New Zealand, is No. 2 and sees a chance to close in. “It’s taken the rest of the match-racing world about a year to grind him down until he’s strikeable,” Davis said of Dickson.

Dickson said, “Rod likes to think that others are thinking about him--’Head to head, Chris and me’--and that’s not the case.”

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Congressional Cup Notes

There will be nine rounds of matches through Friday, followed by sailoffs among the top four Saturday. Chris Dickson and Rod Davis are not scheduled to meet today. Other entries are Russell Coutts, New Zealand, No. 5; Peter Isler, San Diego, No. 6; Jim Brady, Annapolis; Marc Bouet, France; Tommaso Chieffi, Italy; Olle Johansson, Sweden; Ross MacDonald, Canada, and Steve Steiner, Long Beach. . . . The races will be run inside the breakwater, visible from shore off Belmont Pier.

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