Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Morgan Pinckney wins Governor’s Cup

Morgan Pinckney’s week didn’t begin as he hoped, but it ended with his taking a victory plunge off of a rival’s dock.

After a riveting regatta, Pinckney and his crew, sailing for the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, were towed back into shore at the Balboa Yacht Club.

Almost immediately, their competitors converged on them, throwing them back into the water and jumping in to join the celebration on Saturday in Newport Beach.

Pinckney picked up his first win in six attempts as a skipper in the Governor’s Cup, the 21-year-old triumphant after scraping by to make the semifinals the day prior.

The Governor’s Cup, the oldest international youth match racing championship — which invites top sailors under the age of 23 — completed the 59th running of the event.

Pinckney defeated host Balboa Yacht Club’s Siena Nichols, 3-0, in the finals, becoming the first champion from the Newport Harbor Yacht Club since Michael Menninger won back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008.

“It means the world,” he said of ending the club’s championship drought. “The club’s pretty supportive of me, and I have a lot of great friends and people that I almost consider family over there. To be able to win that for our yacht club, it means a lot.”

Pinckney became the second American to win the “Triple Crown” of youth match racing, which also includes the Rose Cup and the Youth Match Racing World Championship. The other member of that short list is Balboa Yacht Club’s Jeffrey Petersen.

The four-person team, which also included Sabrina Anderson, Cam Spriggs and Kelly Holthus, notched wins over New Zealand’s Sam Scott and Ethan Fong, Denmark’s Victor Melchior and Nichols on Friday to force their way into the semifinal round.

Their position improved immensely going into Saturday, with Pinckney taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five series over Australia’s James Hayhoe. He won the series, 3-1, to advance to the final.

“We were pretty deep in the regatta early on,” Pinckney said. “We made a couple adjustments, kind of got our hopes up when we saw we had a chance left and carried that momentum all the way through.”

Nichols’ path to the final was equally heart-stopping, as she completed a backdoor sweep for a 3-2 series win over New Zealand’s Josh Hyde in the semifinals. Hyde, in his last year of eligibility to compete in the regatta, had earned the top seed and choice of semifinals opponent by going 17-5 (a three-flight margin of victory) in the double round robin.

“Coming into it, I was like, ‘We’re down two. That doesn’t mean anything,’” Nichols said. “I was just thinking about the day before, how there were so many people that couldn’t make the semifinals, and we ended up being the ones that were able to get that done.

“I didn’t really think much about, ‘Oh, we [didn’t do] this, we did that, whatever.’ I think we were just looking forward. We know that if we’re 100%, then we can go and get it done.”

Nichols, 17, was joined in the boat by twin sister, Maddie, as well as Eddie Kliem and Kai Brennan. The siblings are rising seniors at Corona del Mar High.

“It’s so special,” Maddie said of representing the host club. “I remember the first year that we made Gov Cup. It was such a big moment for me, especially because I’ve grown up at this club, and I’ve idolized all the Gov Cup sailors, especially [Balboa Yacht Club regatta winners] Jeffrey [Petersen] and Christophe Killian.

“I’ve always wanted to be in the Gov Cup, and especially to do it with my sister, we have such a good bond. It’s such a great moment. I’m going to remember this day forever. And hopefully, we have many more good years.”

Hyde (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron) righted his ship for a 2-1 come-from-behind series win over Hayhoe (Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron) to take third place in the petit final.