Link to 2008 Event Press Release by Andrea Watson
Click Here for Archived Press Releases
Billowing Colgate 26 sails will fill Manhasset Bay in Port Washington, NY this summer as twelve of the finest match racing sailing teams from around the world compete in the Knickerbocker Cup on August 30th to Sept 3, 2006. Hosted and presented by the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, racing fanatics can catch the action from spectator boats as the teams vie for international ranking, trophies and cash prizes.
The Knickerbocker Cup has had a long association with America's Cup greats. It has been won by such notable crewmen as Dave Dellenbaugh, tactician for America 3 in its successful 1992 bid for the America's Cup, and Russell Coutts, who skippered the reigning Cup champion, Team Alinghi of Switzerland. Other K-Cup winners include Peter Gilmour and Ed Baird.
This year the Knickerbocker Cup Foundation has selected the Colgate 26 for the International Match Race Regatta. “We feel that the Colgate 26 will be very exciting for the quick responses needed for the four man crews in match racing and will provide spectators the opportunity to view some great competitive races,” said Paula Davis, Knickerbocker Club Committee Chair.
All competitors are top ranked ISAF sanctioned match racing skippers. To date, seven teams have signed on: Scott Dickson-USA, Brian Angel- USA, Martin Angsell-Sweden, Pierre-Antoine Morvan-France, Gavin Brady-Hong Kong, Tovar Mirsky-Australia and Johnny Isdahl-Sweden.
Racing commences from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day of the regatta. Social events are scheduled afterwards, including high-level seminars and a barbecue, open to members and their guests. Saturday evening is the Knickerbocker Cup dinner/dance and auction to benefit Abilities!, a non-profit agency dedicated to empowering those with disabilities to be active, independent, and self sufficient participants in our society.
Colgate 26 owners who provide their boats for the regatta are also invited. Each event provides members and guests an opportunity to mix and mingle with world-class sailors from around the world.
Steve Colgate, who founded Offshore Sailing School in 1964 and created the Colgate 26, has a racing career that spans six decades and includes virtually every significant and celebrated race in the world. His expertise, however, extends well beyond sailboat racing and instruction. To put a nautical spin on a familiar saying, behind every good sailor is a good boat. With noted architect Jim Taylor, Colgate created the design concept for the Colgate 26, which was awarded Cruising World magazine’s “Boat of the Year” Award, Pocket Cruiser Division in 1997. Considered the definitive training boat, entire fleets of Colgate 26 sailboats were purchased by the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Maine Maritime Academy, United Kingdom Sailing Academy and Eckerd College.
Today, Offshore Sailing School has more than 40 boats, 10 branches and a staff of highly qualified instructors. Offshore is the only sailing instructional program with courses approved for continuing education by the American Council on Education.
The Colgate 26 Class association web site can be viewed at www.colgate26.com.
February 29, 2008
Last week this column reported on the ISAF World Match Racing Tour new "Tour Qualifier Series" and noted that the Knickerbocker Cup was invited to participate in the series which means that the winner gets an automatic invitation to an event in the World Match Racing Tour. What was left out last week was that the winner of the KCUP gets invited to a specific event, which in this case is the Bermuda Cup. This is really great news as the Bermuda Cup is one of the "jewels" of the tour. The concept behind the Tour Qualifier Series, which is a group of 19 events, is to provide up and coming match racing teams with a structured gateway to competing on the World Match Racing Tour. According to Director Craig Mitchell, "In the past, each stage of the World Match Racing Tour has hosted qualifier events in their own country. The new Tour Qualifier Series offers up to two qualifier events to each of the tour stages, and also in different countries to the host country. The result is the series extends the opportunity for foreign teams to gain entry to the official Tour events." Congratulations to the Knickerbocker Cup committee and to the club. Look for exciting match racing on Manhasset Bay on Aug. 19-24. For more information, go to www.worldmatchracingtour.com and www.kyc.net.
Andrea Watson, Port Washington News
February 22, 2008
On The Bay
There is great news coming out of Knickerbocker Yacht Club this past week. The Knickerbocker Cup, an international match racing event that attracts racers from all over the country, just received word that they will be part of the World Match Racing Tour Qualifying Series. This is big! The World Match Racing Tour is the world's leading professional sailing series with 10 events that is the only global series of sailing events in the world touching five continents. Their racers come from the ranks of the America's Cup teams, skippers and world's top sailors in the ultimate "race of truth." The tour is sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and is one of three properties with "Special Event" status alongside the America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race.
The benefits of being part of the Tour Qualifying Series include an invitation to the winner of the Knickerbocker Cup to participate in a World Match Racing Tour Event. What an incentive to race right here in Manhasset Bay! In the past, the Knickerbocker Cup has brought top-rated racers to our shores, including Ed Baird, America's Cup winner 2007, Dave Dellenbaugh, Dave Perry (Long Island Sound racers), Paul Cayard, Russell Coutts, Peter Gilmour, Ian Williams, James Spithill, and Mattieu Richard. What all of these racers have in common is that in the early stages of their sailing career, they honed their skills on Manhasset Bay at the Knickerbocker Cup. Today, some of them rank at the top of the 2007 Championship Final Standings. In their wisdom, the folks at World Match Racing Tour saw the good work done at Knickerbocker Yacht Club in prepping some of the best racers of today and decided they would like to include the KCUP as part of their Qualifying Series.
This year the tour schedule includes: Brazil Sailing Cup, Vitoria, Brazil; Match Race Germany, Langenargen, Germany; Latium Match Cup, Rome, Italy; Korea Match Cup, Gyeong gi, Korea; Match Cup Sweden, Marstrand, Sweden; Troia Portugal Match Cup, Troia, Portugal; Danish Open, Frederikshavn, Denmark; St. Moritz Match Race, St. Moritz; Bermuda Gold Cup, Hamilton, Bermuda; and Monsoon Cup, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. Last year's winner of the Knickerbocker Cup, Chris Van Tol, from Bayview YC in Detroit, MI, is a great example of how the KCUP works its magic. After the big win on Manhasset Bay, Van Tol and his Bayview Yacht Club Match Racing Team, with Mike Hoey, John Van Tol and Mike Rehe, called themselves the "zero to hero" team. Van Tol explained, "We were here last year and only managed to win one race. We put it together this year by practicing a lot. Each race had us gaining momentum and confidence and by the time we got into the finals, we nailed it." According to Sailing Anarchy, an online newsletter, "Chris Van Tol (CVT to his friends) has quietly sailed his way to the number one U.S. spot in the ISAF's (International Sailing Association Federation) rankings, and is 31st in the world." The first question to Van Tol in the interview was "How did your little team of three (Van Tol, Mike Hoey and John Van Tol) get to be the top team in the country?" Readers may want to read the entire interview at www.sailinganarchy.com to discover, not only the winning strategy for this "zero to hero" team but how their home yacht club, the Bayview Yacht Club, was instrumental in helping this up and coming team from the Midwest make their mark on the international match racing scene. And it all started (or was helped) by our own Knickerbocker Cup.
Andrea Watson, Port Washington News
February 20, 2008
WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR LAUNCHES WORLDWIDE QUALIFIER SERIES
London, 20 February 2008: The ISAF World Match Racing Tour is pleased to announce its new ‘Tour Qualifier Series’, a group of nineteen events which will act as official qualifier regattas to the ten stages of the 2008 World Match Racing Tour.
The concept behind the Tour Qualifier Series is to provide up and coming match racing teams a structured gateway to competing on the World Match Racing Tour. As Tour Director Craig Mitchell explains:
"In the past, each stage of the World Match Racing Tour has hosted qualifier events in their own country. The new Tour Qualifier Series offers up to two qualifier events to each of the Tour stages, and also in different countries to the host country. The result is the series extends the opportunity for foreign teams to gain entry to the official Tour events"
As Tour Director Craig Mitchell explains: "In the past, each stage of the World Match Racing Tour has hosted qualifier events in their own country. The new Tour Qualifier Series offers up to two qualifier events to each of the Tour stages, and also in different countries to the host country. The result is the series extends the opportunity for foreign teams to gain entry to the official Tour events." Two of the qualifying events are in North America -- the Bermuda MR Championship (BDA) and the
Knickerbocker Cup (USA) -- both of which serve as qualifiers for the Bermuda Gold Cup.
The winner of each Tour Qualifier Event will automatically receive an invitation to the corresponding Tour Stage. "The Tour Qualifier Series is a tremendous development for the Tour" commented Tour President Scott Macleod. "We are constantly receiving requests for entries to the Tour and these qualifier events provide an ideal opportunity for teams to earn their place against the top sailors competing on the Tour".
Contact details for the Tour Qualifier Series events can be found on the Tour website at www.worldmatchracingtour.com.