Congressional Cup

After winning 15 of his 18 round robin contests, Brady drove through the sailoffs with a steady and steely determination in sweeping local pride Scott Dickson and Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson--who was coming off seven consecutive wins—in two straight races each in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

Berntsson had swept France’s Philippe Presti, 2-0, in the other semifinal, and Presti took the measure of Dickson in the consolation final.

Brady, a New Zealand native who has lived in Annapolis, Md., since the mid-90s, won his first two Congressional Cups in 1996 and ‘97 when he was only 22 and 23, then his third in 2006 after building a professional sailing career of America’s Cups and various ocean races.

Brady collected $10,000 of the $41,000 prize pot. Simon Minoprio won $1,000 for winning the fleet race for those who didn’t reach the sailoffs.

The 10 six-man crews are sailing Catalina 37s owned by the Long Beach Yacht Club Sailing Foundation, rotating boats daily.

Final standings

1. Gavin Brady, New Zealand, 15-3 (14.5 points)
2. Johnie Berntsson, Sweden, 13-5.
3. Scott Dickson, U.S., 12-6
4. Philippe Presti, France, 10-8
5. Simon Minoprio, New Zealand, 10-8
6. Damien Iehl, France, 8-10
7. Dave Perry, U.S., 8-10
8. Andrew Arbuzov, Russia, 6-12
9. Pierre-Antoine Morvan, France, 6-12
10. Chris VanTol, U.S., 2-16 (.75 points)
*—-Deduction for causing excess damage.

44th Congressional Cup

For a day that opened with what his opponent called "a big crash," Gavin Brady's Wednesday turned out fine in the Long Beach Yacht Club's 44th Congressional Cup presented by Acura.

In fact, the three New Zealand sailors in the fleet have no complaints after the first of two round-robins leading to Saturday's championship sailoffs. Brady, rolling with eight consecutive wins after an opening loss, leads the Kiwi clan at 8-1, followed by local resident Scott Dickson (6-3) alone in second place and Simon Minoprio in a three-way tie for third at 5-4.

But Brady's win against Antoine-Pierre Morvan wasn't pretty. In the pre-start sequence he rammed the Frenchman's transom and his spinnaker pole hooked onto the rival's luff line, leaving the boats temporarily inseparable. Brady drew a penalty, but built enough of a lead to erase it with a turn at the end of the race.

It was a lively day with unusually strong southeast winds of 15 knots that shifted 60 degrees right and faded to 6 in mid-afternoon---the opposite pattern of normal Long Beach sea breezes.

Dickson, the leader coming in at 5-0, lost three of his four races, although he was in position to win two of them. Dickson saved a lead when Morvan carried him a couple of hundred yards past the windward mark, but then lost it, and the race, when he momentarily lost control while leading Morvan downwind.

43rd Congressional Cup

ISAF Grade 1 match race event, Congressional Cup, will start today in California, while most of the world's famous match racing sailors are busy in Europe. This week several are sailing in the Louis Vuitton semi-finals for the America's Cup in Valencia, Spain.

The Long Beach Yacht Club's 43rd Congressional Cup, presented by Acura, runs Tuesday 15 May through Saturday 19, but biggest stars are currently in Louis Vuitton Cup challenger Semi Finals for the America's Cup.

New favourites are merging like France's Mathieu RICHARD – #2 in the latest release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings – and Eugeniy NEUGODNIKOV (RUS) and Andrew ARBUZOV (RUS), the event's first Russian competitors since Andrei NIKOLAYEV in 1998. The picture completes France's Damien IEHL (world #10), Sweden's Johnie BERNTSSON (#14), New Zealand's Simon MINOPRIO (#21), Sweden's Martin ANGSELL (#19), the USA's Brian ANGEL (#35) of nearby Redondo Beach and Poland's Przemek TARNACKI (#42).

The total purse will be $41,000, including $10,000 to the winner. The event will be managed by about 300 volunteers from the local Long Beach Yacht Club. The competitors, six to a crew, will sail ten Catalina 37s, rotating boats each day. Each team will race every other team twice. The six that fail to reach Saturday's semi-finals will sail a 10-mile fleet race on the final championship day.