Four sailors have advanced to the semi-finals of the 59th Governor's Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship, with New Zealander Josh Hyde topping the double round-robin stage and compatriot Sam Scott missing out on a tense final day of qualifying.
Hyde, sailing for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, held his lead through day five and finished the round robins as the top scorer. The fight for the remaining three semi-final berths was far from resolved when racing got under way on Friday.
At the start of the day, Hyde sat on 15 points. James Hayhoe (AUS, Royal Sydney YS) and Scott (NZL, Royal New Zealand YS) were tied at 13 for second, with three teams knotted at 12 points contesting the final qualifying spots: local favourite Siena Nichols (USA, Balboa YC), Christian Prendergast (USA, Chicago YC), and Daniel Kemp (AUS, Royal Prince Alfred YS).
The biggest turnaround of the day came from World Youth Match Racing Champion Morgan Pinckney (USA, Newport Harbor YC). On Thursday evening, Pinckney had looked at the scoreboard and simply said, "I'm out of it." Two-time GovCup winner Andy Rose disagreed, and was proved right.
Pinckney won both his matches on Friday and moved back into contention. Scott and the three teams tied on 12 points all had poor days, leaving Pinckney in a tie for fourth. He claimed the spot on tiebreak, ending Scott's campaign at the qualifying stage.
As round-robin winner, Hyde chose his semi-final opponent and picked third-placed Nichols. Hayhoe and Pinckney meet in the other semi-final, both played on a first-to-three-wins basis. Hyde leads Nichols 2-0 and Pinckney leads Hayhoe 2-0 heading into Saturday's championship racing, which begins at 11:30 a.m. PDT (1830 UTC).
