Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup

Day Two of racing in the Los Angeles Yacht Club is complete with the Trojans of the University of Southern California first and the Rainbows of University of Hawaii close behind in second. There were great sailing conditions. The day started with light wind that steadily grew and clocked to the west- in classic Hurricane Gluch style. Each race was made up of two laps with race committee’s objective of each race lasting about one hour. The times shortened as the winds grew with the last race of the day finishing in just 44 minutes. Family members of some of the crew members enjoyed viewing on board the spectator motor yacht Mauretania. In addition to viewing the races the Port of Los Angeles- marine traffic included the SpaceX booster bound for Vanderberg, the Discovery Princess on her way to Cabo San Lucas and various cargo vessels. It seemed the teams were so excited that two of the five races run today saw competitors passing over the start line early. One race saw six of the ten teams over early. When asked why a general recall was not made- Principal Race Officer (PRO) Tom Trujillo said doing that would be unfair to the four boats that started timely. The final two races of the ten race series will be raced Sunday- with the warning signal for the first race at 11:30am (daylight saving time )

The Trojans of University of Southern California won the 17th running of The Port of Los Angeles/Cal Maritime Harbor Cup Regatta. They were in second place last year. USC Skipper Morgana Manti credits her team for the win. Their coach- Michael Segerblom was celebrating more than the team’s first win since 2010- earlier that day-he became a grandfather for the first time, welcoming grandson Hans Paul Segerblom to the world. Segerblom commended Cal Maritime, the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Yacht Club, who together provide an opportunity for college students to participate in one-design big boat offshore competition. For 17 years, he has witnessed teams receive warm welcomes, meals, and accommodations. In addition, organizers cover charter fees so there is no cost to racers. USC’s Manti, a junior studying screen writing, credited Segerblom’s coaching and shared that four of the Trojan team members competed in last year’s regatta and that experience also contributed to their win. “The starts were the most stressful part of the weekend. With 10 boats on the line and the wind shifts, it was definitely a challenge” Manti said. The eight-time victors of the cup-The Rainbows of University of Hawaii finished second. The Cougars of the College of Charleston took third. They have taken top honors in two previous cups. In the small world department, the USC team normally competes in dinghies namely FJ’s. Skipper Morgana Manti first sailed in another small boat- an Optimist (nicknamed Optis)- in her home county of Italy. The 2013 winning Congressional Cup skipper Simone Ferrarese was her Opti coach. The Catalina 37s used for Harbor Cup are the same keel boats used in the Congressional Cup as well as the all-woman’s Mayor’s Cup. In the 2009 running of the Mayor’s Cup, a very young Martine Grael completed. Grael will be racing next weekend in SailGP as skipper for the Brazilian team. SailGP will be racing in the same area where Harbor Cup was raced this weekend. This Harbor Cup event brought 10 sailing teams from leading universities and institutions to Los Angeles to compete in ocean-going Catalina 37 keelboats. The POLA Harbor Cup

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.