Governor’s Cup: Pinckney wins alumni race

Mike Pinckney, head sailing coach at Balboa Yacht Club, beat a group of twelve sailing legends in the 50th Anniversary Governor’s Cup Alumni Regatta at Balboa Yacht Club on Saturday in the waters off Newport Beach.

The event marked the debut of new Governor’s Cup 22 sloops which will are being used in the Governor’s Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship regatta that began Tuesday.

Included in the field of 12 boats, one skipper and two crew members age 23-and-under, is Balboa Yacht Club skipper Christophe Killian and BYC crew members Harrison Vandervort and Jack Martin.

There was no age limit for the Alumni Regatta and the skippers ranged from 67-year-old Argyle Campbell (two-time Congressional Cup winner and victor in the first two Governor’s Cups in 1967 and 1968) to Chris Steele of New Zealand, 23, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the World Sailing match racing rankings.

In a victory of experience, three of the top four finishers in the regatta were older than 50, including Pinckney.

Numerous spectator boats and Facebook users were treated to live commentary and video from Gary Jobson, an Emmy winning film producer and America’s Cup winning tactician; Andy Rose, two-time Governor’s Cup winner and tactician on Gary’s America’s Cup opponent in the 1977 match; and Tom Ehman, long time America’s Cup manager.

The three fleet races and “sudden death” third-place and final races were held in winds ranging from 6-11 knots and competitors reported that the new boats performed very well.

“The boats are absolutely flawless,” said third-place finisher Dennis Durgan.

After three fleet races, the top four scorers in that phase sailed for first and third place in “sudden-death” races.

Durgan, third in the fleet-race portion, sailed against 1980 Governor’s Cup winner Jack Franco.

The final matched Pinckney against Taylor Canfield, the No. 1-ranked match racer in the world. Canfield made a couple of effective charges while behind. Canfield ultimately incurred two penalties in the race, and while one penalty can be absolved by doing a complete circle sometime before the finish, having two penalties requires one penalty to be “killed” immediately by doing the required circle. That allowed Pinckney to build a four- to five-boat-length lead with Canfield still having to absolve his second penalty.

That was not to be as Pinckney held off Canfield to claim victory.

“Taylor’s fast,” Pinkney said after the race. “I am happy we had only one race.”

Before racing, each skipper drew for his crew from the pool of this year’s Governor’s Cup competitors and Pinckney fortuitously picked his own BYC crew out of the hat.

The alumni, event fans and competitors also enjoyed a post-event reception followed by the premier of a 50-minute feature film retrospective of the 50-year history of the Cup by Jobson at Newport Beach’s historic Lido Theater.

The film includes action photos from past racing, including on-board and drone footage as well as interviews with the prominent Gov Cup alumni including alumni regatta participants and notables such as two-time America’s Cup winner James Spithill.

Jobson’s film crew will be on hand for the last two days of this year’s Governor’s Cup Regatta, Friday and Saturday, and Gary and his team will update and re-edit the film which will then be shown on ESPN Classic on Friday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m.

— From staff reports

— From staff reports