Balboa Yacht Club wins Governor’s Cup, ends 37-year drought.
Skipper Christophe Killian and his crew of Harrison Vandervort and Jack Martin ended Balboa Yacht Club’s drought on Saturday.
Killian and Balboa Yacht Club defeated Ryo Leonard Takahashi’s Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 3-1 in the best-of-five championship at the 51st Governor’s Cup.
I just feel a little bit dizzy.” Killian, a Corona del Mar High alumnus, joins Argyle Campbell, Andy Rose, Mark Rastello, Brad Wheeler and Jack Franco as the only skippers to lead Balboa Yacht Club to a Governor’s Cup title.
This year, Killian, Vandervort, and Martin, both Newport Harbor graduates, broke through.
Balboa Yacht Club was the first boat to qualify for the final, as Takahashi and Price split their two semifinal matches on Friday.
To Killian, it didn’t matter who Balboa Yacht Club would see in the finals.
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron prevailed in the last three matches to win 3-1 in the semifinals.
They split their two round-robin matches with Killian, Vandervort and Martin, Balboa Yacht Club winning the first time and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron the second time.
Balboa Yacht Club took the first match by almost 10 boat lengths, and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron won the second one by three boat lengths.