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A Kiwi team that went over to Long Beach with "zero expectations" nearly snatched the oldest prize in American sailing recently.
A team representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron lost the final of the Seawanhaka International Challenge Cup 3-1 to Chris Poole, who sits eighth in the match racing world rankings and who finished third at last month's Congressional Cup.
It was an impressive result for the team of Harry Dodson, Will Tiller, Mark Christensen, Ian Darby, Dallas Bennett, Niall Malone and Sam Hume, especially as they were a makeshift team who had never sailed the Catalina 37s used for the event. They qualified for the the Seawanhaka International Challenge Cup by winning the CBRE Club Championships in New Zealand, earning a $10,000 travel allowance.
"We were stoked to get second and had a lot of fun," Darby said. "It was a great place to sail and the club were great hosts.
"We really did it as a bit of fun with some good competition thrown in there. None of us took it too seriously. We went over there with zero expectations because we had no idea how we were going to go."
The New Zealand team made an impression even before racing got under way. They lined up some practice racing with Poole, who soon put in a protest to race officials.
The Kiwis planned to use Tiller on the helm in the pre-starts and then hand over to Dodson but Poole argued that it was against the rules to have two people take the helm.
"They wouldn't let Will do the pre-starts, which didn't really add up because in match racing everyone changes positions throughout the race anyway," Darby explained. "There wasn't anything we could do about it.
"Match racing is one of those things that is instinctive. You have to turn the boat or make a move at exactly the right time. You can’t really wait for someone to tell you what to do. That’s really what got us in the end against Chris, who is very strong at starting and had been sailing those boats for about six weeks."
The Squadron team finished the double round robin with 12 wins and four losses and then beat Peter Holz 3-1 in their semifinal.
They found themselves level 1-1 with Poole in the final but copped pre-start penalties in the next two races and, with passing lanes at a premium, couldn't find a way past on the short course.
The next Seawanhaka International Challenge Cup will be sailed at Rhode Island in New York in 2024 and Darby said the team were keen to tackle the event again if they qualified.
"It would be a good one to collect because it’s an impressive trophy," he said.
