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Australian Price flips script to win Governor’s Cup

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Heading into the final day of the 49th annual Governor’s Cup, Harry Price said he wasn’t sure what to expect.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia skipper was talking about his team’s 2-1 deficit in the best-of-five semifinals against Balboa Yacht Club, the home team skippered by Christophe Killian.

The uncertainty seemed to intensify in CYCA’s first race on Saturday, as BYC got off to a strong start and a solid lead. But Price, with middle Angus Williams and bow Tara Blanc-Ramos, made sure their story would not end there.

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They battled back and ended up winning the race by an impressive margin considering how far back they were, Price said. The win fed CYCA confidence and the team from Sydney continued losing just once in the finals to capture the Governor’s Cup, the prestigious international youth match racing regatta (21 and under).

Price, 19, said his team’s experience helped in the finals as CYCA defeated fellow Australian Lachy Gilmour of Royal Freshwater Bay (Perth, Australia), 3-1, in a best-of-five. Gilmour is in his first year of match racing and the Gov Cup was his team’s first regatta away from Perth.

Killian, along with middle Harrison Vandervort and bow Jack Martin, earned third place for the second straight year.

“It wasn’t easy,” Price said of capturing the Gov Cup trophy, CYCA’s first since 2003. “Even after the regatta coming back in I just couldn’t believe it. Every minute or so I was just saying to my crew, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ Incredible.”

Price won the first race of the finals, but Gilmour responded with a victory. Gilmour said it was a close race in the Royal Freshwater win. Price came right back with a dominant win.

“The big thing was they just kept calm under pressure,” said Jay Griffin, the CYCA coach. “There were a few times when they might not have been in the lead. But they just chipped away and relied on their boat speed and went from there to get back in the lead. It was really good to see that they could rely on their skills.”

The finals and Price’s performance seemed overwhelming for the young Gilmour.

“Apart from losing to one of our Australian mates, Harry, we are actually pretty stoked to come away with second for our first international regatta,” Gilmour said. “It’s another sign that shows we are making progress.”

Gilmour, 18, was doing his best to follow in his brother Sam’s footsteps, as he had won the past two Governor’s Cup titles. Royal Freshwater Bay earned the top seed out of the quarterfinals and chose to race against Chris Weis of Del Rey Yacht Club.

“We had the confidence, but at the same time we didn’t want to get complacent and get smashed out of the park in the finals,” Lachy Gilmour said. “You have to compromise. You don’t want the complacency. We might’ve had a little complacency in the finals. Experience pays and we obviously don’t have enough.”

After finishing third in last year’s Gov. Cup and winning the Rose Cup for the second straight year, Killian had plenty of confidence coming into the 49th Gov Cup. They believed they had a great opportunity to end BYC’s 35-year drought without the Gov Cup, considering that Sam Gilmour and Nevin Snow (San Diego), last year’s finalists, had aged out of the regatta.

“We’re happy to be in that semifinal group,” Killian, a Corona del Mar High alumnus, said of this year’s Gov Cup. “But it’s a bit of a bummer. We felt like we should’ve done a bit better.”

Killian beat Weis, 2-0, in the best-of-three petit final.

Jack Thompson of Newport Harbor Yacht Club finished eighth in the 12-team regatta.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (Leonard Fry) earned fifth place.

Royal New Southern Yacht Club of the United Kingdom (Annabel Vose) took sixth.

San Diego Yacht Club (Scott Sinks) was seventh, while San Diego Yacht Club’s AJ Reiter took ninth.

Cerle Nautique Caledonien (Lucas Chatonnier) came in 10th.

Chicago Yacht Club (Will Curtiss) was 11th and Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (Sarah Parker) was 12th.

Chicago Yacht Club’s Curtiss, Rose Edwards and Wade Wagner received the Purcell Sportsmanship Award.

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