Governor’s Cup: BYC’s Killian stellar on first day

There were no rookie jitters for Christophe Killian during the first day of the 48th annual Governor’s Cup Tuesday.

Killian, the skipper for host Balboa Yacht Club, had quite the debut with Harrison Vandervort (middle) and Jack Martin (bow), going 6-0, including wins against two past champions Royal Freshwater Bay (Sam Gilmour, 2013) and San Diego (Nevin Snow, 2011).

The international junior match racing regatta continues with round robin action Wednesday, through Saturday on the waters off Balboa Pier.

There is another BYC team in the Gov Cup, skippered by Ryan Davidson, who finished third last year. The host club has not won the Gov Cup since 1980 when Jack Franco captured the coveted trophy.

However it was Killian looking a champ on Day One. He beat Davidson, as well as Chicago (Will Holz), Portland (Charlie Lalumiere) and Royal Vancouver (Richard Minielly).

Killian did say he was nervous at first, but the nerves subsided once the competition got going.

“I didn’t expect much because this was a very tough fleet,” Killian said. “We sailed these boats a lot before. We have been around this yacht club so that helped us quite a bit. Just having a better knowledge of the boats.”

Davidson, Brandon Folkman and Gregg Kent went 3-3 with wins over Newport Harbor Yacht Club (Sean Segerblom), Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (Murray Jones) and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (George Brasell).

It was a rough first day for Newport Harbor, as Segerblom and Co. (Campbell D’Eliscu and Carter Scott) went 1-5, beating Royal Port Nicholson (Adam Middleton).

Snow and San Diego went 5-1, while defending champ Royal Freshwater Bay, Chicago and Royal Port Nicholson all went 4-2.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and St. Francis went 3-3. Portland (2-4), Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (1-5) and Royal Vancouver (0-6), believed to be the first Canadian team in the Gov Cup, rounded out the teams for the first day.

This is the first time Balboa Yacht Club has had two teams in the Gov Cup. Killian said he hoped for the two BYC teams to meet in the finals during the welcome dinner Monday night. Based on the first day, he appears determined to do his part.

Killian said the biggest wins of the day came against Davidson, Gilmour and Snow.

He said they must keep a level head throughout the Gov Cup. Every race is the first race of the regatta, said Killian, 17, who just graduated from Corona del Mar High and is bound for College of Charleston.

Killian’s BYC team came from behind in each race against Gilmour and Snow.

However, it was just one day.

“Our training has paid off,” BYC Coach Mike Pinckney said. “We’re only on Day One of the regatta. We have a lot to go. We’ll see how things play out. We have to continue to keep it together.”