(London, England)- The Cumberland Cup, the international 2-on-2 team
racing contest sailed in J/80s and hosted by the Royal Thames Yacht Club
in London, started the three-day event in windy conditions on the Queen
Mary Reservoir. As the only major international keelboat event
regularly hosted in the UK's capital, the Cup attracts global
competition. This year, teams came from Royal Northern & Clyde YC
(Glasgow, Scotland), Eastern YC (Marblehead, MA), Southern YC (New
Orleans, LA), Island Royals (London, UK), Seawanhaka Corinthian YC (New
York, NY), New York Yacht Club (Newport, RI/ New York, NY), Royal Perth
YC (Perth, Australia) and Royal Thames YC (London, UK).
Principal
Race Officer, Gillian Smith, took the decision to run a round-robin
format of racing to give all teams the maximum amount of time on the
water. With races lasting around ten minutes, and with speedy crew
changes, the momentum was maintained throughout each day of sailing.
The short, box-shaped course enabled teams to put their team-racing
knowledge to good use producing exciting starts, tight mark roundings,
neck and neck finishes and even a few man overboard situations. Stu
Saffer, team captain of the New York YC team, commented, “The race
against Royal Perth YC was particularly exciting. The vigorous
pre-start, resulting in one boat being OCS and a man overboard, meant
the NYYC got lucky! We are looking forward to meeting a fully-manned
RPYC boat next time around!”
With
racers of international experience, the standard of team racing was
understandably high as Mark Lees, helm of one of the RTYC boats, said,
“We’ve had our first three races, which have all been very close as the
standard of team-racing is exceptionally high. We’re frustrated because
we’ve only taken one win, but remain positive as we know where we’ve
gone wrong, and we’re looking forward to getting some wins under our
belt.”By the end of racing on Day One, 19 races, out of a round-robin of 28 races, had been completed with the New York YC leading with a 4-0 record, followed by Seawanhaka Corinthian YC (3-1) in second and Royal Northern & Clyde YC (3-2) in third.
The second day dawned warm and sunny with a gentle northerly breeze of 10 knots – ideal team-racing conditions. Having completed 19 out of 28 races on day 1, the Race Committee started racing as soon as possible, completing the first round-robin before moving on to a second, complete round-robin, the aim being to maximize the amount of racing time for all teams.
The
lighter breeze enabled teams to engage in some very competitive team
racing. Eastern YC's team captain Larry Ehrhardt said, “The lead
changes four or five times in a race with the finishes being pretty nail
biting in most instances. The light air is really giving us a chance to
race aggressively, which we love”. Remember, in 2-on-2 team racing,
last place loses-- a very difficult scenario to control while team
racing!The Race Committee took the decision not to use spinnakers, giving teams a further opportunity to focus on team tactics. The teams were unanimous in agreeing that this really added to the team-racing element of the competition as opposed to focusing efforts on boat-handling skills. At the end of the first round-robin, NYYC and Seawanhaka YC were tied with 6 pts apiece, third was Eastern YC, fourth Southern YC and fifth Royal Northern & Clyde YC.
The third and final day was greeted with glass-like water and zephyrs of breeze – ideal conditions for allowing sailors a chance to recuperate from an enthusiastic evening program the night before. Racing continued as soon as a southerly breeze filled in and round-robin 2 was resumed. Using a box-shaped course, with starboard mark roundings and no spinnakers, enabled teams to focus on tactics and produced some aggressive – and very competitive racing.
At the end of racing on Saturday, New York YC was dominating the event with ten wins out of 11 races. However, hot on their heels was Seawanhaka Corinthian YC with eight wins out of nine races, closely followed by Eastern YC. With another 16 races to go to complete round-robin 2, the lead was very much up for grabs and racing started on Sunday with a vengeance.
New York YC continued with their run of top results and, by race #45 had only dropped one result. The Race Committee, led by Gillian Smith, stopped the second round-robin at race 45 which represented a clean break in the program with all teams having completed the majority of their races. Race 45 itself saw Seawanhaka Corinthian YC take on Eastern YC – a match that would find a finalist to go up against the team from New York.
The race took around 25 mins with frequent lead changes, luffing matches and very tactical mark roundings. The team from Seawanhaka grabbed victory on the final leg and thus earned their place in the final against New York YC. Eastern YC therefore claimed 3rd place in the Cumberland Cup.
The final was a best-of-three match between New York YC and Seawanhaka Corinthian YC with the first victory going to NYYC. It was all to come down to the next race and it proved a worthy battle. NYYC clinched another victory on the finish line and thus sealed their overall win and claimed the title of winner of The Cumberland Cup 2012.
Stu Saffer, team captain of NYYC, commented, “The race was intense. We had a hard time against the boys from Seawanhaka. They raced well and got us into some tight corners. However, we pulled the two races out of the bag in the end and are really pleased with our win”.
After three days of competitive, intense racing all the teams were keen to thank the hosts, Royal Thames YC and their race officer team and Queen Mary Sailing Club for providing a fantastic race venue. Gorgeous Sailing photo credits- Claire Matches For more J/80 Cumberland Cup sailing information
