Top Skippers Coming To Long Beach For 50th Congressional Cup

Like the athletes of the Olympics, the Congressional Cup is going for gold in 2014.

The longest running match sailboat race in North America celebrates its golden anniversary this year as the 50th annual event is set to take place April 7-13 in the waters off Long Beach, CA.

One of the most prestigious events in all of sailing, the Congressional Cup invites several of the world's top skippers to test their skills in identical Catalina 37 boats in a week-long series of elimination races (preliminary races called the Ficker Cup on April 7-8 narrow the actual race fleet to 10 boats). The venue is the Long Beach Harbor on a course that's been designated on the Federal Registry as Congressional Cup Stadium by the United States Coast Guard.

With five of the top 1- ISAF-ranked skippers, the skipper lineup is again impressive. They are: Taylor Canfield, #1 of the Virgin Islands Yacht Club; Ian Williams, #2, of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club in Great Britain; Phil Robertson, #4, of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Club Squadron; Keith Swinton, #6, of Australia and Simone Ferrarese, #8, Circolo Della Vela of Italy.

The rest of the field is comprised of Johnie Berntsson, #15, of Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club in Sweden; Christopher Pool, #26, of the United States; Will Tiller, #27, of Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron; Dustin Durant, #28, of the host Long Beach Yacht Club; Francesco Bruni, #98, of Club Canotteri Roggero di Lauria in Italy; Dave Perry, #123, of the Pequot Yacht Club in the United States; and Scott Dickson, #130, of the Long Beach Yacht Club.

Ferrarese is the defending Congressional Cup champion. Williams is a two-time Congressional Cup champion, having won back-to-back races in 2011 and 2012 Perry accomplished the feat in 1983 and 1984 and Bruni (2010), Berntsson (2010) and Richard (2007) have each won titles.

The skippers are looking for the best way to navigate a course sailing from the Belmont Pier, out to the Queen Mary, and back to the pier.  Spectators get outstanding up-close views of the start and finish from the pier, all for free.

The Congressional Cup is hosted annually by the Long Beach Yacht Club.

The 2014 primary sponsors are Farmers and Merchants Bank and Friedmans Appliance Kitchen and Bath Center. The 2014 Spinnaker level sponsors are Creative Productions, Gelson's Market, Newmeyer and Dillion LLP, SWIMS, Team Campbell Logistics, The Port of Long Beach, Time Warner Cable and Union Bank. 7 Angels joins Congressional Cup this year as the official wine sponsor and Stella Artois will continue as the official beer sponsor and will be doing bar promotions building up to the event.

Website: http://www.thecongressionalcup.com/
Hashtag: #ConCup