Stars + Stripes Team USA skippered by Taylor Canfield has triumphed in the 56th Congressional Cup at Long Beach Yacht Club, capping five-days of high-test competition in this World Match Racing Tour championship event: and making Canfield the winningest skipper in the 56-year history of the Cup.
Said Canfield, of his fifth Congressional Cup victory, “It’s incredible, but it feels just like every other win. Fantastic! And to win with the Stars+Stripes Team again: I’m on top of the world.” Racing with Canfield was Mike Buckley, CEO of Stars+Stripes, plus Mac Agnese, Leo Boucher, Victor Diaz De Leon, George Peet and Erik Shampain.
Canfield attributed the victory to sticking to the team plan. “Our goal is to always get better throughout the week. We had some difficult moments and some tough debriefs about how we could continue to get better, and that makes us stronger in the end. And we like to keep the umpires out of the game, I think we had only one penalty over the week.”
Aggressive manoeuvers and resultant penalties oft proved to be the demise of Canfield’s rivals. Advancing to the semi-final round for the first time in his eight Congressional Cup history, Eric Monnin (SUI) won his initial match against Canfield. But the CAPVIS Swiss Match Race Team bowed to Canfield in the next three bouts, including one black flagged match.
In the petite finals, Monnin beat Chris Poole (USA) in the best-of-three series, to capture his first podium finish in his Congressional Cup career. Members noted Monnin and his bride Ute Wagner are probably the first husband-wife team to podium in the Cup. |