Host Balboa Yacht Club in first at Governor’s Cup
Boats sail along the coast, north of Newport Pier, during opening day for Balboa Yacht Club’s Governor’s Cup.
The first day of the 51st Governor’s Cup started and ended ideally for host Balboa Yacht Club.
Balboa Yacht Club has two boats competing in the world’s oldest youth match racing regatta, and right away, they faced each other near the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach on Tuesday afternoon.
The older skipper got the better of the younger one.
Christophe Killian, 20, steered Balboa Yacht Club past 16-year-old David Wood’s Balboa Yacht Club crew.
Killian continued to be successful, turning in a perfect outing on Tuesday. Killian and his crew of Harrison Vandervort and Jack Martin went 7-0 during round-robin action.
Out of the competition, the youngest skipper in the 12-boat field gave Killian one of his closest races.
“They led us the first half,” Killian said. “[We] passed them at the second weather mark, and then kind of extended [the lead].
“When I was 16 and 17, I used to coach David in the sabot. It’s interesting to race against him. He’s very good right now. He’s very quick.”
Wood’s crew, which includes Max Brennan and Catherine Reynolds, is coming off an impressive win in June, when it claimed the U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup in Fort Worth, Texas.
Only one Balboa Yacht Club skipper finds himself in first place on the waters at home.
Killian’s Balboa Yacht Club shares the top spot with Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. Skipper Harry Price led his crew of Angus Williams and Cameron Seagreen to a 7-0 day.
Price, ranked No. 6 in the World Sailing open match racing poll, and Killian, who is No. 16, aren’t strangers to the prestigious regatta.
Price is in the competition for the third time, and this is the fourth go-around for Killian, a Corona del Mar High alumnus, with Vandervort and Martin, both Newport Harbor graduates. Price and Killian had their teams in contention to win the Governor’s Cup a year ago, as they made the semifinals. Killian led Balboa Yacht Club to a third-place finish by beating Price’s Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.
This year, Killian and Price, the 2015 Governor’s Cup champion, won’t compete against each other until their 11th round-robin race. Cruising Yacht Club of Australia is the top seed and Killian’s Balboa Yacht Club is No. 2.
Finishing No. 1 is Balboa Yacht Club’s goal. Killian, Vandervort and Martin have fallen short the last three years, coming in third each time.
The trio hopes to become the first Balboa Yacht Club crew to win the Governor’s Cup since 1980. Four more days remain in the competition, and Killian likes how things went on the opening day.
“You can’t do any better than that,” Killian said of winning every race so far.
Balboa Yacht Club also posted wins against the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Florida’s Davis Island Yacht Club, Australia’s Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, England’s Wessex Sailing Club, Newport Harbor Yacht Club and England’s Cambridge University Cruising Club.
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, with skipper George Anyon, is in third place with six wins, followed by five wins from Australia’s Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club (skipper Will Boulden). Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (Ryo Leonard Takahashi) and Marina del Rey Yacht Club (Christopher Weis) are tied for fifth with four wins.
Racing got underway just before noon. There probably wasn’t a better way to begin things than to have Balboa Yacht Club’s two crews go at it.
After the matchup, Wood and his crew won two of the next three races. Those were the only wins for Wood.
Twitter: @ByDCP
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