42ND ANNUAL GOVERNOR’S CUP:

NEWPORT BEACH — Three crew members of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club began cleaning up their keelboat when one asked for some help.

No broom was nearby the docking area at Balboa Yacht Club.

There was no need for it Friday as the trio has swept the competition so far at the 42nd annual Governor’s Cup.

Newport Harbor is on its way to claiming the waters for the second straight year. For the second straight day, it won each of its five races to improve to 10-0 overall in round-robin action.

When racing resumes in the oldest youth match racing regatta in the country, Newport Harbor will have one more round-robin race today at noon.

A victory isn’t necessary as Newport Harbor has already clinched a spot in the semifinals. This makes things easier for skipper Michael Menninger, middleman Cole Hatton and bowman Chris Barnard.

“The pressure is kind of off a little bit right now,” said Hatton, a 2007 Newport Harbor High graduate now at Stanford. “We’re still going to try to, you know, win, of course. We [don’t] want to lose.”

Newport Harbor came close to suffering its first loss at the start of Friday’s action.

The first crew in the 11-team event to push Newport Harbor was Brazil’s Iate Clube Do Rio de Janeiro. Newport Harbor actually trailed. The lead changed twice in the downwind before Newport Harbor sailed ahead of Brazil before the finish.

“We won by a boat length,” Hatton said. “It’s the closest race we’ve had yet.”

In a couple of other races, Newport Harbor lost leads before turning it on.

The rest of the field has struggled keeping up with Newport Harbor. Only Cruising Yacht Club of Australia matched Newport Harbor’s 5-0 record on Day 2.

The Aussies are 9-1 overall and in second place, ahead of St. Thomas Yacht Club of the U.S. Virgin Islands at 7-3, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron at 6-4, and Southern Yacht Club of New Orleans and Royal Yachting Association of the United Kingdom are tied at 5-5.

The other local team competing, Balboa Yacht Club, the host of the regatta, hasn’t won a race.

After one round-robin race today, there will be a repechage for the teams finishing third through sixth. The top two from that event will join Newport Harbor and Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in the semifinals.

As a bonus for being the leader, Newport Harbor gets to pick which boat it wants to face in the semis. The crew has an idea of which team it will not choose.

“Not St. Thomas,” said Hatton said of the team led by skipper Taylor Canfield, who recently won the 420 North American Championships.

“We might pick that fourth team.”

Newport Harbor will have plenty of time to make a decision. The crew is planning on waiting at least two hours before the final four begins.

In the meantime, Menninger, a 2007 Newport Harbor graduate, will use the break to go over some things with Hatton and Barnard, an incoming senior at Newport Harbor.

“We had a few things we could’ve done better, we could’ve improve on,” said Menninger, who attends St. Mary’s College of Maryland. “But it’s a good day to get all the kinks out.”

The trio is not worried. There’s time to clean things up.

Newport Harbor plans on bringing out the broom when the Governor’s Cup ends Sunday.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.