Christopher Poole celebrates winning the Congressional Cup in Long Beach on Sunday,. April 28. Photo: Jo Murray, for SCNG
New Yorker Chris Poole completed a dynamic double off the wind-whipped coast of Long Beach on Sunday, April 28, winning his second consecutive Congressional Cup in the 59th edition of the world’s longest-running annual match-race regatta.
Sunday’s finish was a classic, waged under bright blue, postcard-caliber skies. The offshore action delighted 200-plus fans who watched the races from Congressional Cup Stadium, the waters in front of Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier.
“Winning the second time in a row is absolutely incredible,” said Poole. “I don’t stop and I won’t stop. You know hard work pays and that’s what we are showing here every year.”
An excited Poole added: “I just want to be the best sailor in the world and I’m not there yet. I want to be in the America’s Cup. I think that I can be a an America’s Cup winner.”
Poole and runner-up Ian Williams of Great Britain split the first two races in Sunday’s five-race final series but Poole went on to win the next two points and the Congressional Cup.
Hosted by the Long Beach Yacht Club, the Congressional Cup is a high-intensity contest of sailing strategy pitting the world’s top skippers against one another in Catalina 37 boats. This year boasting a total purse of $75,000, the stalwart five-day event is part of the World Match Tour, which has doled out more than $24 million in prize money since its founding in 2000.
Veteran helmsman Poole, who’s competed in eight Congressional Cups, races out of Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Poole’s Riptide Racing team, from the Seawanhaka Yacht Club, includes Joachim Aschenbrenner, Bernardo Freitas, Mal Parker, Luke Payne and Harry West.
Poole’s crew held off a team helmed by perennial Congressional Cup all-star Williams, who just missed snaring his sixth Crimson blazer
The 46-year-old from Lymington, England, ranks 11th on the World Open Match standings. Williams’ crew, sponsored by the Gladstone’s Long Beach restaurant, was composed of Richard Sydenham, Gerry Mitchell, Ricky McGarvie, Ted Hackney and Oisin McClelland.
Ironically, Williams was initially not invited to Long Beach’s big dance. Gladstone’s Managing Partner John Sangmeister lobbied for the Brit’s inclusion after his seventh World Match Racing Tour Championship win earlier this year. (Sangmeister really knows sailing — his Rock N’ Roll crew was the first to cross the line in the Newport-to-San Diego fleet during the 76th annual N2E race on Friday.)
Regatta organizers originally invited a field of 10 teams based on their world rankings — and added two additional berths to be filled by feeder regattas. Williams’s squad snagged one of those prime “plus” positions.
“The 59th Congressional Cup expanded from 10 teams to 12 teams to accommodate the overwhelming growth yacht racing has experienced coming out of the COVID (pandemic),” Vice Chairman Steve Meyer said during an interview.
Third place on Sunday went to Eric Monnin of Switzerland, who ranks second in the World Open Match Race standings.
Monnin, a 48-year-old with a PhD in physics, said his goal this year was to “change his momentum.’’ And he did just that, improving from last year’s fifth-place finish. His crew included Simon Brügger, Maxime Mesnil, Julien Falxa, Ute Monnin-Wagner, Mathieü Renault and Jean-Claude Monnin.
Racing is a family affair for Monnin, whose crew includes two brothers and his wife. His family made the trek from Switzerland, with his 3-year-old son and his mother-in-law anchoring his cheering section.
Fourth place went to Nick Egnot-Johnson from Auckland, New Zealand. The 25-year-old’s crew included Sam Barnett, Zak Merton, Alastair Gifford, Taylor Balogh and Jorden Van Rooijen.
Sunday’s racing also included a short fleet race comprised of six skippers’ teams who fell short of the final four.
Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson, third-ranked in Open Match Race Rankings, won the six-way scramble. Berntsson, racing for the 14th time at the Long Beach event, won the Congressional Cup in 2009.
“May the speeches be light, and the winds be strong,” declared Dick Miller, 2013 Long Beach Yacht Club Commodore and club chaplain, offered in prayer as activities kicked off during Tuesday’s “Meet the Skippers” dinner.
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson echoed those sentiments — “In the spirit of sportsmanship – may the winds carry you,” he said during a video presentation at the event.
As if on cue, strong winds did indeed arrive off Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier and they endured through the end of the competition.
Saturday’s Junior Congressional Cup was won by Olivia Corzine. The regatta is contested in two-person CFJ sailboats off Alamitos Beach. The club’s youth sailors are the skippers with Congressional Cup skippers — or their designees — serving as their crews.
During Saturday’s press conference, New Zealand’s Megan Thomson was presented with the traditional last-place trophy — a copy of the book “Sail Your Boat Right” by Arthur Knapp.
Thomson, who rates14th in the World Sailing rankings, accepted the trophy in the spirit with which it was intended, with a smile.
Meanwhile, her competitors applauded her performance. “You may have won the book — but you have won our respect,” four-time winner Gavin Brady told Thomson.