Nick Egnot-Johnson, Sam Barnett, Zak Merton & Bradley McLaughlin, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have been crowned 2022 Open Match Racing World Champions after an epic five days of racing on Sydney Harbour in strong conditions. USA’s Chris Poole, Joachim Aschenbrenner, Malcolm Parker & Graeme Spence finished in second place with Australia’s Harry Price, Taylor Balogh, Niall Morrow & Josh Wijohn secured third place.

Spectacular conditions and a fresh breeze once again graced the competitors for the final day of the 2022 World Match Racing Tour Final on Sydney Harbour, co-hosted with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA). The final four teams completed the semi-final stage of the regatta in the morning with USA’s Riptide Racing, skippered by Chris Poole, despatching Denmark’s Borch Racing with Jeppe Borch as skipper, 3 – 1 to secure the American their place in the final.

In the other semi-final match, Nick Egnot-Johnson, KNOTS Racing team, defeated local Sydney team, DownUnder Racing skippered by Harry Price, 3 – 1 to secure their berth in the Finals.

As the morning rain cleared, a fresh southerly breeze took over the harbour, peaking at 23 knots during the Finals Series. Joining the sailors on the water was a flurry of spectator vessels including the official spectator vessel, the “Royale” Rosman Ferry donated by Noakes Group for the Finals Series. The 60+ guests onboard then witnessed one of the toughest fought Finals series.

Nick Egnot-Johnson’s KNOTS Racing were first to score in the first-to-three-point final. However, Chris Poole’s Riptide Racing, who had only lost one race to date then levelled out the series in the second race.

The Kiwis bounced back in Race 3, showing a dominate display of speed and boat handling. Riptide Racing then came storming back yet again to level the match 2 – 2 and take the Final to a winner-takes-all decider.

After winning the start, KNOTS Racing tore up the initial three legs of the race, with the American team looking out of touch. However the difficult breeze saw Poole gain take an advantage for the final run, with only two boat lengths separating the finalists, metres from the finish. In the end, the Kiwis were able to hold onto their lead, to cross the finish line as World Champions. Sydney Harbour Port Authority were in position to shower the racecourse with a water display and christen the new Open Match Racing World Champions.

“We are just stoked to win, it’s a dream come true for us” commented Egnot-Johnson. “Chris and the Riptide team have been a rival for such a long time so it was awesome to come up against them in the finals, you can’t get any closer than that to finish – Sydney really turned it on for us today, it’s an amazing feeling.”

Tight racing at the 2022 Open Match Racing World Champions after an epic five days of racing on Sydney Harbour Photo: Andrea Francolini/WMRT

As teams gathered in the CYCA’s Sydney Village, special guest Vice President of the Australian Olympic Committee Matt Allen AM presented the Bronze medals to the Australian team followed by Vice President of World Sailing Sarah Kenny who presented the Silver medals to the American team. CYCA Commodore Arthur Lane and WMRT Executive Director, James Pleasance completed the podium presentation, with Gold medals and WMRT Trophy respectively for the new Open Match Racing World Champions.

Over the five days, 106 races were completed with Sydney serving up an average wind strength of 22 knots over the series.

The line-up for the World Match Racing Tour Final 2022 has been confirmed, with ten teams invited for the inaugural Tour event to be sailed on Sydney Harbour.

In just under a week, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, home of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, will welcome the teams to Sydney for five scheduled race days from Wednesday, 14 to Sunday, 18 December 2022.

Seven countries will be represented at this year’s World Championship. Denmark, Estonia, France and Italy each have one entry, whilst hosts Australia, New Zealand and the United States will field two teams for the event.

Sailing on one of the world's most beautiful waterways, the race course will be situated just off one of the Harbour's islands, enabling close spectator access as well as the stunning backdrop of Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

"We are very excited to see racing get underway next week on beautiful Sydney Harbour. The regatta will feature some of the world’s best match racers and a new World Champion will be crowned," WMRT Executive Director James Pleasance said.

American Chris Poole heads into the Championship as one of the favourites. Poole currently tops the overall Tour leaderboard after finishing third at the Long Beach Yacht Club’s 57th Congressional Cup in April, followed by a regatta win at the Chicago Grand Slam WMRT Qualifier event in August.

Fellow Americans David Hood and his DH3 Racing team complete the USA line-up, having had strong results at events in Los Angeles and Italy this year.

Using the CYCA’s fleet of Elliott 7m keelboats, with crews of four or five, the strongest challengers to Poole will come from the home Club, with Cole Tapper and Harry Price representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

Price’s DownUnder Racing has been a regular on the World Match Racing Tour for the past three seasons and was the 2017 Youth Match Racing World Champion. Whilst for Cole, this will be his first appearance at a World Championship-level event.

Nick Egnot-Johnson & Megan Thomson from New Zealand will also feel right at home in the Elliott 7s, with their home Club, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, also owning a fleet. For Egnot-Johnson, this will be his first open World Championship, representing New Zealand at the 2019 & 2020 Youth World Championships.

Thomson will be the only female skipper in the event and will also be a strong contender, having won a bronze medal at the 2022 Women’s Match Racing World Championship last month.

Estonian Mati Sepp, Denmark’s Jeppe Borch and Frenchman Jean Baptiste-Bernaz complete the line-up. All skippers are new to the World Match Racing Tour in 2022, having qualified for the WMRT Congressional Cup as well as putting in strong performances in WMRT qualifiers throughout the year.

The event format will include a qualifying round-robin on Wednesday and Thursday, where the top two will gain automatic entry to the Quarter Finals. The remaining eight teams will then sail a repechage round on Friday for the final six Quarter Final positions.

The weekend will then see the knockout stages begin, all culminating with a new World Champion being crowned on Sunday afternoon. Racing is scheduled from 1200hrs AEDT, with live results available throughout the week.

Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink match racing team from France have successfully defended their world title, winning the 2022 Barfoot & Thompson World Women’s Match Racing Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. The team were also crowned champions of the inaugural 2022 Women’s World Match Racing Tour after scoring the highest points over the four-event world tour.

Four days of match racing with the world’s best female sailors, all vying for the title of Women’s Match Racing World Champions, drew to a close, but not before delivering all of the excitement that comes with match racing to spectators. The global fleet of female sailors has been battling it out on the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland’s changeable and challenging conditions. Fog, squalls, sun and rain have kept sailors on their toes with four days of tight match racing right in front of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and next to Auckland’s iconic Harbour Bridge.

The winning skipper of the Barfoot & Thompson 2022 Women’s Match Racing World Championship is a 33-year-old sports teacher from Brest and the helm of ‘Match in Pink’ (FRA), Pauline Courtois. Courtois started sailing at seven and racing at nine, and has been in match racing in different positions since 2011. Her favourite boat for match racing is the Elliott 6m, so racing in Elliot 7m this week saw her years of experience pay off at the end of the day when Courtois became champion of the event, taking a clean sweep 2-0 win against 24 year old Celia Willison’s Edge Women’s Match (NZL) in the finals match. The win comes just one week after also taking out the New Zealand Women’s Match Racing title, with the same two teams head to head and Courtois taking the top New Zealand spot from Willison.

The five-strong Match in Pink team held on tight at the top of the pack throughout the round-robin flights, landing themselves in a fiercely competitive three-way tie for first place after the round-robin was completed. Courtois held strong into the semi-finals before finishing with an astonishing win today.

Courtois and her team, consisting of Maelenn Lemaitre, Louise Acker, Thea Khelif and Clara Bayou, stood proudly onstage as the prize-giving guests gave them a hearty Kiwi congratulations and a standing ovation before Courtois delivered her short acceptance speech.

“A big thanks to the organisers and umpires. We had two amazing weeks here. To all the teams we thank you!”

Pauline Courtois and Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team (FRA) of Maelenn Lemaitre, Louise Acker, Thea Khelif, Clara Bayou. Photo: Adam Mustill / Live Sail Die

Celia Willisons’ New Zealand team, Edge Women’s Match, which is made up of Willison and her longtime teammates Charlotte Porter, Serena Woodall, Paige Cook and Alison Kent, proudly took second place on the podium after an enjoyable competition sailing on home waters. Willison thanked the race sponsors, race committee and the umpires before congratulating her team and finally making special note of her tough competitor Courtois.

“Thank you to Pauline for just giving us ‘heaps’ in that final, it was a repeat of last week, and we can't wait to race again!”

 Celia Willison and the Edge Womens Match Team of Alison Kent, Charlotte Porter, Paige Cook, Serena Woodall. Photo: Adam Mustill / Live Sail Die

Sweden's Anna Östling and her team ‘Wings’ have ventured across the world alongside their supporters and have held on tightly to the top of the pack. Today they were paired with New Zealand’s Megan Thomson and her team ‘2.0 Racing’. The teams went head-to-head today in the petit final, which was a sudden death, with Thompson ultimately taking out third place for the Kiwis on 2.0 Racing.

“Thanks very much to Pauline and her team. That semi-final was… Crazy,” said Östling.

Anna Östling, WINGS (SWE) Anna Holmdal, Annika Carlunger, Annie Wennergren, Linnéa Wennergren Photo: Adam Mustill / Live Sail Die

Auckland delivered light, shifty and frustrating conditions for the final day of racing, with the outgoing tide also providing another element for the sailors to deal with. However, there was enough wind for racing to get underway, and only a few short breaks were required due to changeable conditions.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Commodore, Andrew Aitken, said Auckland lived up to its reputation as the City of Sails.

“We’ve seen Auckland deliver every sort of weather possible, today, we had four seasons in half an hour! But the various teams, particularly the race management volunteers, pulled through to make the event a true success,” said Aitken.

“We’ve seen some great racing, some really close racing, and in fact, all 14 teams were just right up there, which is just tremendous for women's sailing.” he continued.

“It’s magic to have a world-class event hosted here at the RNZYS and in Auckland, it's the sort of thing we like to do, and we probably don't do it enough. It’s great to see yachting happening at this level in little New Zealand, competitors travelled from Australia, Great Britain, France, Sweden and the USA - it's really cool. I’d like to say well done to the competitors and we can’t wait to have you back racing with the Squadron again!” said Aitken.

2022 Women’s World Match Racing Tour Results

2022 Women’s World Match Racing Tour Results

Dun Laoghaire's National Yacht Club will host a match racing series in the club's own fleet of Elliott 6m one-design keelboats.

The series will run for a period of four weeks, beginning the weekend of 5th-6th November.

The series is open to members and non-members, with preference given to members if demand is high.

The Dun Laoghaire Harbour-based match racing series will be held in the NYC's own fleet of Elliott 6m one-design keelboats Photo: Afloat

There is an option to join as a team or as individual sailors where NYC will endeavour to match sailors to make up teams.

If you are interested in competing, please complete the Google form here

Organisers of the World Match Racing Tour have announced the 2022 WMRT Final has been re-scheduled to 13-18 December in Sydney, Australia. The event will be co-hosted with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) and the winner will be crowned the official 2022 Match Racing World Champion.

The change of venue for the 2022 WMRT Final follows the ongoing border closures in China, where the WMRT Final was previously scheduled to take place in Shenzhen from 6-11 December. Strict travel restrictions for international visitors to China have been in place since the start of the global pandemic in 2020

“It is unfortunate we have been unable to host the WMRT Final in Shenzhen again this year due to the continued travel restrictions to China” commented WMRT Executive Director James Pleasance “however, to ensure we can still host the tour final this year, we are very pleased to partner with the CYCA to host the event in Sydney - the club has a great deal of experience in running world-class match racing events and sailing conditions in Sydney in December should be ideal as well.”

The Elliott 7m match racing fleet at the CYCA in Sydney

Up to 12 teams are being invited to the event, including defending match racing world champion Taylor Canfield (Stars + Stripes Team USA) and six-time world champion Ian Williams from Great Britain. The event will be sailed in the CYCA fleet of Elliott 7m keelboats with crews of 4 or 5. Racing will take place over five days with a single round robin stage followed by a repechage, Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Final on Sunday, 18 December.

The CYCA is also home to the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race and the club will be busy in late December preparing for the 77th edition of the iconic race starting on 26 December as CYCA Commodore Arthur Lane explains;

“It is extremely exciting for us to partner with the World Match Racing Tour to bring the Finals to the southern hemisphere for the very first time. The Club has a strong history in hosting world-class sailing events, so adding the World Match Racing Tour to our calendar this December will be very special. We look forward to welcoming all the teams to Sydney and to the CYCA.”

 Taylor Canfield (centre) and Stars+Stripes Team USA, WMRT Champions 2020

WMRT Match Racing World Championship Trophy by Garrard & Co.

Pauline Courtois and her ‘Match in Pink’ Normandie team from France have won the 2022 EUROSAF Women’s European Match Racing Championship in Corfu, Greece.

The event is stage 3 of the 2022 Women’s World Match Racing Tour.

Courtois and team beat Dutch skipper Renee Groeneveld 2-0 in a close first-to-two-points final in light winds.

After a wait ashore yesterday morning at the Corfu Sailing Club, the race committee doubted if there would be any breeze at all for the final day. Fortunately a light 2-4 knot southerly filled over the bay under the Old Fortress of Corfu to start the final and a shortened first-to-one-point Petit-Final.

Pauline Courtois and her ‘Match in Pink’ Normandie team from France have won the 2022 EUROSAF Women’s European Match Racing Championship in Corfu

Meeting in the Petit-Final were New Zealand’s Celia Willison/ Edge Racing and Margot Vennin/ Match Moiselles from France. After a near photo finish, Margot Vennin held the lead to clinch the single point, and 3rd place for the regatta.

As the quarter-finals and semi-finals had to be cut from the format due to the typically light winds on Saturday, the final standings for 5th -12th position were taken from the round robin qualifying stage; 

EUROSAF Women’s European Championship 2022 – Final Standings

1. Pauline Courtois (FRA) - Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team
2. Renee Groenevel (NED) - Dutch Match Racing Team
3. Margot Vennin (FRA) - Matchmoiselles
4. Celia Willison (NZL) - Edge Womens Match
5. Lea Vogelius (DEN) - Team Kattnakken
6. Sophie Otter (GBR) - Otter Racing
7. Juliet Costanzo (AUS) - Easy Tiger Racing
8. Ali Morrish (GBR) - Five by Five
9. Margot Riou (FRA) - APCC Women’s Sailing Team
10.  Laurane Mettraux (SUI) - CER – Ville de Genève
11. Sofia Matsikidou (GRE)
12. Sara Edholm (SWE) - Team Sparkling Unicorns

A storm front over the Mediterranean island of Corfu presented challenging conditions today for the 12 teams competing in the 2022 EUROSAF Women’s European Championship, stage 3 of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour.

Fickle winds between 2-12knots and a consistent rain graced the second day of the EUROSAF Women’s Championship as the teams swapped shorts for wet weather gear to complete the qualifying round robin stage of the regatta. 

Finishing the day with 16 of 22 flights completed, just three teams completed their qualifying matches – Denmark’s Lea Richter Vogelius (7-4), Great Britain’s Sophie Otter (6-5) and Greece’s Sofia Matsikidou (1-10).

Normal Mediterranean conditions are forecast for the next two days with sunny skies and light winds.

Current results of Round robin of the Women's European Match Racing Championships

The World Match Racing Tour is pleased to announce the launch of the first Women’s World Match Racing Tour, a global professional series designed to promote and grow female participation in sailing and match racing around the world. The inaugural 2022 Tour features four events in France, Denmark, Greece and the 2022 Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Women’s World Match Racing Tour has been created with the support of WIMRA (Women’s International Match Racing Association) to continue the legacy of the long-running WIM Series founded by WIMRA in 2013 following the success of women’s match racing at the London 2012 Olympics. There are currently over 200 female match racing sailors on the World Sailing global ranking.

The WIM Series title was last awarded in 2019 to Pauline Courtois from France, the current world no.1 on the World Sailing women’s match race rankings. After a break in 2020 and 2021 due to the global pandemic, the series has been re-launched as the Women’s World Match Racing Tour and will be managed by the WMRT organisation in London, UK.

“We are delighted to support the launch of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour” commented WIMRA Executive Director Liz Baylis. “The Tour is a fantastic opportunity for women sailors and will continue build on the success of the WIM Series. We look forward to working closely with the team at WMRT to help expand the Tour for the future.”

Commenting on the announcement, WMRT Executive Director James Pleasance added;

“We are excited to launch the Women’s World Match Racing Tour today after many months of planning. Historically, opportunities have been limited for women in professional sailing and match racing – this new tour will provide a valuable platform and pathway for women to compete in their own championship series.”

Two-time Women’s Match Racing World Champion Anna Östling from Sweden;

“It is such an inspiration for young women sailors to see the best teams in the world competing on a world stage, so it is great to have a platform like the Women’s World Match Racing Tour to create a strong pathway and opportunities for professional women in our sport.”

The 2022 Women’s WMRT features four stages starting at the Normandie Match Cup 2-6 June with the final event hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in November, also host of the 2022 Women’s Match Racing World Championship.

• Stage 1 – Normandie Match Cup, 2-6 June, Le Havre, France (Beneteau First Class 7.5m)
• Stage 2 – Women’s Match Race, 23-25 September, Royal Danish Yacht Club, Skovshoved, Denmark (DS37)
• Stage 3 – EUROSAF Women’s European Championship, 12-15 October, Corfu Sailing Club, Greece (Platu 25)
• Stage 4 – Women’s Match Racing World Championship, 9-13 November, RNZYS, Auckland, New Zealand (Elliot 7m)

The Women’s WMRT will award skipper points at each event with the best three results to count towards the 2022 WWMRT title.

The skippers invited to the 55th Governor’s Cup International Youth Match Racing this week make this event more like a traditional, pre-COVID “GovCup” lineup after the Cup’s cancellation in 2020 and last year’s event which featured a U.S. vs. Europe lineup. The 2020/2021 travel restrictions on the teams from the British Commonwealth have been lifted and the host Balboa Yacht Club looks forward to having them back!

Selection Committee Chair Brian Bissell (USA, Newport Harbor YC) noted that “our job is always difficult in choosing from among anywhere from two to three times the number of requests for Invitation received as compared to the twelve spots in the Governor’s Cup”. “We believe that we have selected a great and very evenly matched group of skippers with five Americans, three Australians, two teams from New Zealand, and one team each from Sweden and the United Kingdom”, he continued.

Jeffrey Petersen (USA) from the host Balboa Yacht Club leads the list as defending champion. He is also the reigning U.S. Youth Match Racing Champion and placed second in the 2021 Youth Match Racing World Championships. He is ranked 20th in the world in the Open Match Race Rankings (non-age limited) maintained by the governing body of the sport, World Sailing. Petersen was also selected by U.S. Sailing to represent the United States in the 2022 Youth Match Racing World Championship to be held in Pornichet, France just before the Governor’s Cup.

Another pre-race favorite is Jordan Stevenson (NZL) ranked number twelve in those ranking who has won, among other things, the U.S. Grand Slam series, and the two of the three most important youth match racing regattas in the southern hemisphere, the Harken and Musto Youth International regattas.

Jordan will be joined by his countryman, Robbie McCutcheon, who won the New Zealand Youth Trials for the World Championship in France and will join Petersen at that event. McCutcheon also won the Centreport Youth International Regatta in New Zealand, the Auckland MR Championship and was 3rd in the New Zealand MR Championship which is not age limited.

Australia will send two teams from New South Wales and one from Western Australia. Will Sargent from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (“CYCA”) will continue a long line of “GovCup” competitors from that club including two winners. Sargent has won the Bollé Australia Match Cup and the Harken Youth MR Championships. He will be joined by Cole Tapper, also of CYCA. Interestingly, one of Tapper’s crew will be his older brother, Finn Tapper, who is a GovCup veteran having finished just out of the semi-finals in 2019.

Western Australia lifted its COVID travel restrictions in March, which allowed Marcello Torre to be invited. Although those restrictions effectively prevented travel by WA citizens for the last two years, Torre has won most match racing events in that state during the period. Two-time United Kingdom Youth Match Racing Champion Robbie King also received an invitation after being unable to accept his 2021 invitation due to COVID restrictions.

Morgan Pinckney of Newport Harbor Yacht Club will again be the youngest competitor at 17 but this will be his second Governor’s Cup. Morgan started his match racing career last year after winning multiple U.S. championships in dinghies and placed third overall in the 2021 Cup, ahead of all but two of the much more experienced skippers. This exceptionally talented sailor will be a force in the Governor’s Cup for five more years.

2021 U.S. Intercollegiate Champion and Governor’s Cup veteran Jack Egan of San Diego Yacht Club will sail in his second GovCup and will be joined by 2021 semi-finalist Porter Kavle of Annapolis, Maryland. Both will try to move up the leaderboard this year.

One of the most popular of recent Governor’s Cup teams with local fans and fellow competitors is led by Marius Westerlind (SWE), who is a two-time Swedish Youth MR Champion. Marius will return to the Governor’s Cup after his first event last year. The twelfth spot in the Cup will be filled by the winner of June’s U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup. Pinckney will be a favorite in that event and since the winner receives an automatic invitation to the Governor’s Cup, should he win GovCup and Worlds veteran Ansgar Jordan of San Diego, California will receive an invitation moving him from his first alternate status by the Selection Committee.

“We are excited to have the Commonwealth teams back and the Governor’s Cup Committee and BYC members can hardly wait until July,” said Christine Gribben, GovCup Chair. “It is the Club’s centennial year and the Cup has been part of more than one half of our history. So, we are perhaps even more excited to again host the world’s best young match racers.”

Ian Williams (GBR) and Team Gladstone’s Long Beach have won the 57th Congressional Cup – and a fifth iconic Crimson Blazer – toppling defending champion Taylor Canfield (USA) and Stars+Stripes Team USA 3-1 in the final matches of this thrilling five-day regatta. Sailing with Williams were Matt Cornwell, Andrew Estcourt, Jon Gunderson, Steve Mitchell and Richard Sydenham.

The final stage of the regatta took place beneath sunny skies with moderate breeze that built throughout the afternoon, unlike the previous four days that had seen a brisk westerly sweep through the Congressional Cup Stadium.

In the first-to-three points final, Canfield and crew captured the first match with Williams levelling out the score 1-1 in the second race. In the last downwind leg of the race, Canfield was leading and needing to shake a penalty before reaching the line. Slowing his boat to lure Williams into an error, Canfield went to execute their penalty turn right at the finish line but Williams was able to stay clear and cross the line ahead.

In race 3, the tables turned and it was Williams that found himself needing to shake a penalty which he had been given by the umpires for being too aggressive at the start. Williams left it until the very last minute to clear his penalty by planning his penalty turn at the finish line. Calculating just enough lead to do their turn, it was a photo finish with Williams just able to cross the line ahead of Canfield.

Confident with their 2-1 advantage over Canfield, Williams led his Gladstones Long Beach team to a well-deserved victory in the last race with a five boat length lead over his opponent.

“I wanted to try to be the first to five wins at the Congressional Cup so it feels fantastic now to have matched Taylor [Canfield]” commented Williams. “What a great competitor: to match him is fantastic; I guess now it’s a race to six!”

Williams applauded his crew adding “We hadn’t been here for three years and I hadn’t match raced for the last 18 months so we had a lot of work to do but we just kept improving every day. I can’t say enough about these guys.”

For Stars+Stripes Team USA, it was a disappointing result, said Canfield. “The team was pushing hard all through the end, but when you’re sailing against a really good team, any mistake is very costly: they are always going to capitalize on it. We were excited to face off in the finals and it’s obviously a disappointing finish, but it just makes us hungry to come back and win some more.”

2022 Congressional Cup Champions Ian Williams (GBR) Gladstones Long Beach Photo: Ian Roman/ WMRT

Stars + Stripes Team USA Photo: Ian Roman/WMRT

In the petit final to decide the third and fourth places, a collision between opponents Chris Poole and Johnie Berntsson in the first match gave the advantage to Berntsson for the win: and Poole a penalty of -.75 points, adding a twist to the series.

In this ‘first to two points’ series, Poole would need to win three matches, as he was starting with a deficit. With nothing to lose, Poole put the hammer down and won the next two races; putting the points at Berntsson 1 – Poole 1.25 and necessitating a fourth match. Victory in that duel earned Poole a deserved third place in this 2022 event, moving up from his fourth-place win in Congressional Cup 2021.

“My guys sailed really well, building off of last year,” said Poole. “How we sailed those last few races in the petit final was really the highlight of the week. We went against the best of the world and feel we can hold our head high.”

The prizegiving ceremony on the deck of the impressive Long Beach Yacht Club brought the 57th edition of the historic Congressional Cup regatta to an end.