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The Wellington Spirit Sailing Team has won the 2012 Detroit Cup. In light and shifty conditions, an epic final was won by our team, who came out on top of Taylor Canfield's US Virgin Islands team 3-2.
The second leg of the US Grand Slam series was the Detroit Cup which was held out of the Bayview Yacht Club in 20ft yachts with asymmetric spinnakers. A large high pressure system was sitting over Detroit producing light and shifty conditions throughout the whole week. Our team sailed consistently well all week. "We built momentum throughout the whole week, and we were continually striving to be better" explains bowman and tactician James Sandall.
Taylor had gone through the round robin undefeated and is currently ranked number 11 in the world. “If we sail to our strengths, sail fast, sail smart and simple we can win this event” explained Josh Junior in the press conference the night before the finals, and that is what the team came out and did, taking the first 2 races straight.
Taylor built form and won the next two matches before the Wellington Spirit Sailing Team took control once more in the prestart of the final race of the regatta and lead from start to finish to take the 2012 Detroit Cup. “We are so happy to come away with the win” mainsheet hand Matthew Steven explains, “it has been tough all week, and there has been some very strong competitors so to come away with the cup is just fantastic”.
From here the team heads to Saint Moritz for their first ever World Match Racing Tour Event. This will be very exciting, so make sure you stay tuned to see how our team progresses.
