The 2010 Richardson Trophy Regatta
By: Will Cyr
Chicago Match Race Center
October 8-10, 2010

The Richardson Cup has a place in history as the second oldest trophy in the sport of yacht racing. For the second year in a row, the Richardson Cup will reside in our possession. Over the weekend, the VanTol Match Racing Team (VTMRT) successfully defended the Cup after an action packed, controversial, and exciting weekend. The 2010 team consisted of Chris VanTol on the helm, John VanTol calling tactics and trimming main, Mike Hoey on the jib, Will Cyr on the bow, and- Bayview Junior Sailing’s finest-Austin Colpaert as a floater. The weather was peculiarly summer-like. Low 80s and clear skies were courtesy of a high pressure system meant intermittent postponements on Saturday and Sunday.

Day One:
We arrived at the CMRC lugging the coveted Tiffany sterling silver, 98 year old Richardson Trophy. After unpacking, it is clear that no one bothered to clean after a few stinger filled nights at the Bayview Bar. No problem, easy fix.

As soon as we got out on the water, the wind built to a puffy 10-18 out of the west. The bowman adapted quickly having never set foot on a Tom 28, churning out impromptu gybes, last second douses, and killer sets that helped add boat lengths to the already healthy leads that were coming our way. Going into the last match of the round robin we were 9-0. Our perfect record was smeared after two sketchy umpire calls that cost us the race against #1 seed Don Wilson. We bit our tongues and sailed in as the 2nd seeded team after the first round robin.

Day Two:

Winds were a lighter 5-10, but the heat and sun remained. Team morale was good, and boat handling was still improving. We began to mold together as any good crew should, predicting each others moves, keeping the big picture in mind, and everyone focusing on their own task on the boat. Saturday was more about staying in rhythm than taking outlandish risks. We won our first two matches of the morning. Around 11AM the wind had shut off, the postponement flag went up, and the pranks begun. There was a moment when everyone onboard was clutching onto something to prevent being tossed in. Austin wasn’t so lucky and took a nice swim after Hoey convinced him to go to the bow only to throw the helm over, and Austin, into the 50 degree water. As the sun began to drift behind the buildings, it became apparent round robin two would be cancelled.

Day Three:

Steve Lowery (CMRC) was the only one between us and the Finals. We were not too keen on allowing him to ruin our chance of getting redemption on Don Wilson’s media touted “dream team” of professionals. We defeated Lowery 3-1 in a fluky southwesterly just as the wind began to shut off for the morning. Two hours later the warning signal sounded for the Finals against Wilson. After winning the pre-start, the first upwind was a first to the puff game; the puffs were coming through the sky scrapers adjacent to the windward mark. We rounded the first top mark overlapped, but were first to fill the kite. After a stressful downwind leg of textbook defense from the afterguard, we rounded the first leeward ahead by two boat lengths. We chose the left side again upwind; allowing Wilson to tack for clear air to right hand side of the course. To make matters more interesting, the wind began to shut off again creating some anxious moments for tactician John VanTol. Shifting gears was key in this event and he led the team brilliantly through the stress of the situation. After the wind backed 90 degrees on the upwind leg, we made it around the last top mark first with about a 10 boat length lead. We crossed the line with a comfortable lead, sealing our place in history once again!

In an exciting one-match sudden-death Final, Bayview YC’s Chris VanTol and his crew of John VanTol, Michael Hoey, Will Cyr and 14-year-old Austin Colpaert have won the 71st edition of the Richardson Trophy, sailed this year at the Chicago Match Race Center (CMRC).

This event, first sailed in 1912, is emblematic of match race supremacy on the Great Lakes, and is considered second only to the America’s Cup in being the longest continuously held match race competition in the world.

'I give full credit to my team for getting us around the race course cleanly,' said VanTol, who will bring the beautiful Tiffany-built silver trophy back to Bayview YC in Detroit for the second time, having won this event last year.

The one-match Final format was forced on race organizers from the Yacht Racing Union of the Great Lakes (YRUGL), as a large and persistent high-pressure system over eastern North America kept the weather mild but the wind elusive. Like yesterday, there was a promising but shifty morning westerly on the race course set by Principal Race Officer Jarod Silverman and his team off the lakefront shoreline at Belmont Harbor, and two flights of the Semi-Finals and the Consolation round were completed.

In these, the Royal Canadian YC’s Peter Wickwire upset Round Robin winner Don Wilson from CMRC in the first match, going up 1-0 on the local favorite who is also preparing for the upcoming Canada’s Cup competition to be raced at CMRC starting this Friday. The second match went to Wilson, however, tying up the score as the westerly died into a one and a half hour delay until a new easterly breeze arose to continue racing to complete the stage.

Also in this morning breeze VanTol put Steve Lowery of CMRC against the ropes by winning two in the first-to-three point series. And Don’s sister Jennifer Wilson from CMRC defeated Josh Kerst from North Cape YC in straight 2-0 matches to earn fifth place in their first-to-two point series, as did CMRC’s Sam Samsome against CMRC’s Chris Wurtz to earn seventh place.

The long delay was worth the wait, as a promising easterly eventually filled in, and racing resumed with two more matches in the Semi-Finals: Wilson came back to win two straight against Wickwire to earn his place in the Finals, and VanTol lost one but won the last against Lowery to go on to the Finals as well.

'We traded leads with Don throughout the Semi’s,' said Wickwire, 'and perhaps I will work on handling those situations 'mentally' better in the future – with more practice. We just couldn’t convert in some races.'

It wasn’t long before this easterly breeze died to nothing, prompting another long delay in racing, before the weak westerly filled back to allow racing to resume, but now with time running out the format was reduced to a one-match sudden-death format for both the Final and Petit Final.

In the Final match, the action was fast and furious between Wilson and VanTol, both teams showing the skills that got them to this finale, and both teams arriving at the top mark overlapped. It was a clever extension on the initial part of the first run out of the first top-mark rounding that got the Detroit team the little edge they needed to extend to a slim but decisive lead, and even after a bold split from Wilson on the second beat to the favored left side, VanTol still maintained that lead into the last rounding and run into the finish.

'These conditions left a lot of things to chance,' said Wilson, 'and it just didn’t work out in our favor today. We found it hard to get back into our rhythm after sitting through all the postponements – it just didn’t go our way.'

And in the Petit Final match, Wickwire and team managed to dominate Lowery into winning the third place slot.

'The CMRC and its team did a great job of hosting this event,' said Scott Spaeth of YRUGL. 'The equally-matched boats are great, the regatta center and all the support: superb. Except for Friday, the conditions were not ideal, but everyone did well to work with the format to produce good racing when we could have it, and we have a well-deserved winner once again for this prestigious trophy.'

CMRC website click here http://www.chicagomatchrace.com
YRUGL website click here http://www.yrugl.org

by Beth Paul Share 12:44 AM Mon 11 Oct 2010 GMT

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