Pipped at the post

Ian Williams reports on his team's progress at the final of the Congressional Cup match racing in Long Beach

The Williams Sail Racing Team of Mark Williams, Matt Ciesicki, Gerry Mitchell, Bill Hardesty, Chad Hough and Ian Williams completed their first Congressional Cup in second place on Saturday after being defeated in the finals by Gavin Brady from New Zealand.

After the double round-robin we were tied for first place with Brady with a 15-3 record. France’s Mathieu Richard was in third place on 13-5 and amazingly the fourth spot for the semi-finals was won with an 8-10 record, the coveted spot being taken by local favourite Scott Dickson. Brady took first place by virtue of the fact that he had won the races between us and unsurprisingly chose Dickson to race in the semi-finals.

That left us with a semi-final tie against Richard, a team that we had been very even with all week. Things were no different in the semi-finals. Off the line in the first race in the first-to-two series, Richard started with better speed and on the right and the obligatory tacking duel ensued. Each time we came back from the left, Richard would tack ahead and to leeward of us, protecting the right, but each time we were a little further forward. Eventually, we got far enough forward that Richard chose to carry on and force us to duck. Unfortunately, we did this poorly, allowing Richard to re-establish his lead which this time he never relinquished.

Race 2 saw us come off the line to leeward of Richard but bow forward and close enough to force the Frenchman to tack. We then carried on for a couple of lengths and put in the cover tack. Slightly better speed allowed us to slowly pull forward, and when Richard tacked we were crossing. However, he slowly luffed his boat to the point that we were no longer crossing, and then tacked below to avoid us with a loud protest. A few anxious moments went by as the umpires had to decide whether our best option to keep clear would have been to tack or whether Richard was already too close when he luffed for us to tack away. Much to Richard’s evident disappointment, the umpires sided with us and although Richard closed to within a length of us up the second beat, good downwind speed allowed us to finish ahead relatively comfortably.

Race 3 finally saw us nail a start in the way that has brought us success in the past. Coming back to the line on port tack with Richard to windward, a sharp luff by us forced the Frenchman into a tack and over start line. We extended away on port and when we came back together had a two boat length lead. Richard did an excellent job of minimizing losses up the first beat and rounded exactly that distance behind, but with the solid 12-knot breeze and a right favoured beat, it was always going to be a hard day to get past anybody and so it proved too hard for Richard and his team.

This set up a final against Brady who had beaten Dickson 2-0, although not without some drama as Dickson had led the second race for three of the four legs. With the right side of the course heavily favoured for pressure, the committee set a port-biased line which left us with the difficult decision - do you take the bias on the line and give away the right or suffer the early loss to get the favoured side of the beat? Having seen Richard cross Dickson from the port end in the petit-final, we led back to the line in the first race in order to take the bias at the pin. We tacked at start time, as did Brady at the starboard end and as the boats came together we were crossing. However, Brady slowly luffed his boat, this time early enough for us to be able to tack and keep clear which we did. After about 6 lengths, both boats tacked again and this time Brady did not require a luff to prevent us crossing. This pattern continued up the beat - each time we came back together Brady had gained another eighth of a boat length until eventually we could not make the lee-bow tack. We tried to duck to get to the right but Brady executed a well-timed tack underneath forcing us again to the left and into the lighter pressure. By the top mark Brady had stretched the lead to three lengths and although we closed down the run, we never looked like passing and he was able to stretch away to an insurmountable lead up the second beat.

Race 2 again saw us in control of the start at 30 seconds to go and, having learned our lesson from the first race, we peeled off towards the committee boat and forced Brady towards the port end. As start time came however, we were a little close to the committee boat and had to luff to clear the anchor chain. This error, combined with more pressure at Brady’s end of the line left us unable to catch Brady on starboard. We continued out to the right below Brady but never got enough of a shift to reach Brady and eventually tacked behind to try to force him into an error. Working the left, we managed to make small gains but at the top Brady was able to do two less tacks which gave him enough of a lead to be comfortable down the run and on to the finish to take his third Congressional Cup win.

Richard won the petit-final 2-1.

It’s always disappointing not to win an event when you come so close but in the end Brady was a little sharper off the start line and deserved the victory. Having lost in the final four times since his last win here in ’98, I guess that he is pretty relieved to have finally won again. Considering it was our first time in Long Beach and our first time in the slightly idiosyncratic Catalina 37s, we are pleased to have come through in second place and plan to return stronger next year with a decent point to start from.