Congressional Cup - Long Beach, California

LONG BEACH, California - Scott Dickson says he was sizing up the opening day's scorecard in his Long Beach Yacht Club's 44th Congressional Cup when he thought, "There's no way Gavin [Brady] and I can catch these guys. We've got a score of about 300 already."

Pause.

"Oh, wait, that's our ISAF [international match racing] rankings."

Actually, Dickson and Brady , a pair of immigrant Kiwis living in the U.S., are ranked 137th and 89th but stand 5-0 and 4-1, respectively, after the first day of racing against several world tour regulars, which they are not. Brady, with his America's Cup duty with BMW Oracle, hadn’t sailed a tour event in more than a year, and this is one of only two events that Dickson does most years, along with the Ficker Cup qualifier that has been his ticket to enter.

Second place has been his best finish in 11 previous Congressionals, but Dickson, a Long Beach resident who has an older brother named Chris, said Tuesday, "I hope after 12 years I'd be getting the hang of it."

In succession, he reveled in the fresh but shifty south to southwest breezes that built from 6 to 14 knots through a sunny afternoon in the mid-60s (F.) and blew the scoreboard off the Belmont Pier, where spectators are often literally on top of the pre-start action.

Brady said, "The pier can be very much a part of the start. When you have that big an obstruction it dictates your tactics, and the people are part of the start. They're looking right down on us."

Team Dickson outsailed a U.N. lineup of New Zealand's Simon Minoprio, France's Philippe Presti and Damien Iehl, Russia's Andrew Arbuzov and Sweden's Johnnie Berntsson.

His crew of Mark Ivey, Matt McKinlay, Tony Stuart, Mark Strube and Chuck Stevens is all Southern California-grown talent. Ivey is the tactician. They had about a half-dozen practice sessions over the last few weeks.

"Today we enjoyed the fruits of all the practice we put in," Dickson said.

Brady, with another AC veteran, Eric Doyle, in his afterguard, lost his first match to Presti and then ran off wins against Iehl, Arbuzov, Berntsson and young Chris VanTol from Detroit. He owed Iehl a penalty turn for the whole two laps but had enough of a lead to erase it by circling the pin end of the finish line.

"It was good match racing," said Brady, an Annapolis resident who won in 1996, '97 and 2006. "These [Catalina 37] boats start clicking at about 8 knots [of wind]."

One member of Brady's crew was a true rookie: Jim Swartz, who is building one of the new STP 65 ocean racers that Brady will drive.

Swartz, a founding partner of ACCEL, a technical venture company in California's celebrated Silicone Valley, said, "I had a fantastic day."

Brady said Swartz's duties included "hiking and roll-tacking, keeping time for the starts, jibing the main downwind . . . "---not just along for the ride.

The event marks the 20th anniversary of the game’s standard on-water umpire officiating system that started in the 1988 Congressional Cup.

Chief umpire Jan Stage said there were 45 protest flags waved---"a few more than usual"---in the 25 matches, but only 10 penalties imposed.

Total prize money is $41,000 with $10,000 to the winner.

Racing is near the end of Belmont Pier. There is free seating for spectators, with snacks available.

Competition, starting at noon daily, conditions permitting, continues into best-of-three semifinals and finals Saturday scheduled around a fleet race for non-qualifiers.

The 10 six-man crews are sailing Catalina 37s owned by the Long Beach Yacht Club Sailing Foundation, rotating boats daily.

CONGRESSIONAL CUP - skippers and crews

Damien Iehl, France

Fred Guilmin, Philippe Mourniac, Mickael Merguy, Francois Verdier, Philippe Buchart

Pierre-Antoine Morvan, France

Nicolas Pauchet, Jean Francois Nevo, Steven Liorzou, Mathieu Renault, Devan Le Bihan

Andrew Arbuzov, Russia

Denis Kharitonov, Igor Bychkov, Felix Denikaev, Anton Sergeev, Leo Vasiliev

Johnnie Berntsson, Sweden

Daniel Wallberg, Johan Barne, Johan Backman, Bjorn Lundgren, Martin Berntsson

Philippe Presti, France

Gilles Andre, Gilles Morelle, Xavier Husson, Julien Falxa, Stephane Christidis

Simon Minoprio, New Zealand

Mike Buckley, Emil Wiberg, Ryan Houston, Haydon Goodrick, Fredrik Aurell

Chris VanTol, USA

John VanTol, Mike Rehe, Mark Pinney, Mike Hoey, Geoff Kimmel

Dave Perry, USA*

Steve Flam, Eric Doyle, John Hayes, Doug McLean, John Busch

Gavin Brady, New Zealand*

Jim Swartz, Chris Larson, Rodney Daniel, John Ziskind, Kazuhiko Sofuku

Scott Dickson, New Zealand

Mark Ivey, Matt McKinlay, Tony Stuart, Mark Strube, Chuck Stevens

*Former winner.

CONGRESSIONAL CUP - Results

ROUND 1

• Philippe Presti, France, def. Gavin Brady, New Zealand, 8 seconds.
• Dave Perry, U.S., def. Pierre-Antoine Morvan, France, 55 seconds.
• Johnnie Berntsson, Sweden, def. Andrew Arbuzov, Russia, 1 minute 3 seconds.
• Damien Iehl, France, def. Chris VanTol, U.S., 46 seconds.
• Scott Dickson, New Zealand, def. Simon Minoprio, New Zealand, 17 seconds.

ROUND 2

• Berntsson d. Morvan, 1:25.
• Arbuzov d. VanTol, 0:15.
• Brady d. Iehl, 0:16.
• Dickson d. Presti. 0:10.
• Minoprio d. Perry, 0:19.

ROUND 3

• Brady d. Arbuzov, 0:57.
• Dickson d. Iehl, 0:03.
• Presti d. Perry, 0:50.
• Minoprio d.; Morvan, 0:22.
• VanTol d. Berntsson, 0:37.

ROUND 4

• Perry d. Iehl, 0:12.
• Presti d. Minoprio, 0:16.
• Morvan d. VanTol, 0:25.
• Brady d. Berntsson, 0:05.
• Dickson d. Arbuzov, 0:49.

ROUND 5

• Morvan d. Presti, 0:31.
• Brady d. VanTol, 1:23.
• Dickson d. Berntsson, 0:31.
• Perry d. Arbuzov, 1-4.
• Minoprio d. Iehl, 2-3.

CONGRESSIONAL CUP - STANDINGS

(After 5 of 18 rounds)

1. Dickson, 5-0; 2. Brady, 4-1; 3. tie among Presti, Minoprio and Perry, 3-2; 6. tie among Morvan, Berntsson and Iehl, 2-3; 9. tie between VanTol and Arbuzov, 1-4.