A Second Consecutive Congressional Cup Victory for Chris Poole
Long Beach Yacht Club kicked off this year’s World Match Racing Circuit with the past weekend’s 59th annual Congressional Cup. USA’s Chris Poole, and his Riptide Racing team, returned to win his second consecutive Congressional Cup and crimson blazer. Poole and his team — Joachim Aschenbrenner, Bernardo Freitas, Mal Parker, Luke Payne, and Harry West — defeated five-time Congressional Cup winner Ian Williams 3-1 in a tense final.
Showing dominance early, Poole claimed the first point of the event. With so much talent and experience in these boats, Williams and Poole pushed the match-racing rules and boats to their maximum.
Reflecting on the victory, Poole said, “It’s an incredible feeling. It would be impossible without my team. We didn’t start the week the way we wanted to, but once we started sailing like we did last year, we were pretty confident it was going to be ours to win.”
Experience and confidence paid off as the Riptide team held off Williams to stay on top for the win.