CONGRESSIONAL CUP : Leading Three Are Taking It Very Seriously

Harold Cudmore, Henry Sprague and Dave Perry share first place going into the last three races of the 31st Congressional Cup’s Masters regatta today, but it’s the also-rans who are smiling.

“We continue to have a lot of fun,” said 1974 winner Bill Ficker of Newport Beach after losing all three of his races Thursday and remaining locked in next-to-last place with Ted Turner at 2-13. “This is the hand-to-hand combat of yacht racing.”

Tom Pickard, the ’71 winner from Seattle who finally won his first race and knocked Sprague out of sole possession of the lead, said with a laugh, “We were almost the real spoilers. We beat Sprague and then were leading Perry (before losing for the 14th time).”

Life is more serious at the top. Cudmore, the ’86 winner, swept Thursday’s races, and Perry, ’83 and ’84 champion, joined the tie by beating Turner by 12 seconds at the end of the day. That was a re-sail of their race Wednesday, when the race committee erred in calling Perry instead of Turner for a premature start in a race that Turner went on to win.

Sprague recovered from losing to Pickard and stayed on the pace when he came from behind in the last 100 yards to beat Dennis Durgan, ’79 and ‘80, by 10 feet.