Detroit, MI (August 21, 2022) Due to a lack of sailable wind today in the Semi-Final and Final stages, the final standings in the Detroit Cup held at Bayview Yacht Club are based on the Round Robin results among the 11 teams competing at this year’s event. This was the second stop on the USA GRAND SLAM series of Grade 2 events and a member of the World Match Racing Tour.
Based on an impressive 9-1 record in the Round Robin, Jean-Baptiste Bernaz and his Mistral Gagnant team of Jules Bidegaray and Thomas Deplanque from France have won the 14th edition of the Detroit Cup.
“We want to thank the members of Bayview Yacht Club for their support, the race committee and umpires, and also the competitors,” said Bernaz. “The racing was really difficult in this field of good sailors and on boats (Ultimate 20’s) we needed to learn to race.”
Bernaz is no stranger to winning in other arenas of sailing too: he is the reigning World Champion in the ILCA 7 Laser Class, he has been in four Olympics representing France, and has been the French national match race champion twice.
Other podium finishers included Ryan Seago (USA – Bayview YC) in second place and Cole Tapper (AUS – CYCA) in third place. In fourth and also a Semi-Finalist was Chris Poole (USA – Seawanhaka YC).
From Thursday August 18th through Saturday August 20th match racing was held in the Detroit River just meters off the seawall at Bayview YC, featuring a broad international field of teams from Australia, Ireland, France, Mexico, New Zealand, USA and United Kingdom. The competition format included a Round Robin to determine the top-four to advance to the Quarter-Final round, followed by a Repechage among the remaining seven teams to determine the other four teams to advance to the Quarter-Finals.
This stage produced today’s Semi-Finalists in two matches for all but one pair, where Chris Poole needed three matches to defeat Ruairi Finnigan (IRL).
Throughout the event racing conditions were light to medium-strength breeze from a variety of directions, giving both competitors and race managers a challenge in setting and sailing the courses with shifty breezes and the current of the Detroit River. Reading this tricky race course and executing perfect crew choreography were the keys to success, along with the occasional bit of luck.
“We were looking forward to having our best four teams meet today and produce some exciting racing,” said event chairman Lance Smotherman. “Nonetheless, it has been a fantastic week to have once again a great field of competitors here from around the world to re-affirm this event as upholding our strong heritage of support for match race sailing.”
Final Results, 2022 Detroit Cup
- Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (FRA)
- Ryan Seago (USA)
- Cole Tapper (AUS)
- Chris Poole (USA)
- James Pinder (GBR)
- Ruairi Finnegan (IRL)
- Michael Kirkman (USA)
- Patrick Shanahan (USA)
- Robbie McCutcheon (NZL)
- Megan Thomson (NZL)
- Alfonso Garcia-Bringas (MEX)
Attached photos credit Bayview YC/Photo Element
Written by Dobbs Davis
For more information on the World Match Racing Tour visit www.wmrt.com