University of Hawaii Wins Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup

This past weekend Los Angeles Yacht Club hosted the 15th annual Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup Regatta. By Sunday, the University of Hawaii had unseated defending champion and co-host California Maritime Academy and captured victory. University of Rhode Island finished second, with Maine Maritime Academy third.

California’s unusual winter weather presented wide-ranging conditions for the 10 teams that competed in this three-day intercollegiate invitational, organized by LAYC, in matched Catalina 37s provided by the Long Beach Sailing Foundation. Friday was cold and gusty; Saturday saw a long period of drizzle with light air that postponed races for nearly four hours; and Sunday broke with a light fog that cleared to a cool, brisk and breezy finale.

No one competitor dominated the event, which drew sailing teams from the top universities and academies across North America. Defending champion Cal Maritime led after Friday’s two races and was overtaken by Maine Maritime on Day Two. But by Sunday, it was Hawaii who scrapped their way to the top in four exciting races.

The participating teams came from across the US and Canada. The regatta proved challenging for Queens University from Ontario, Canada, making their POLA Harbor Cup debut, but they persevered and finished the racing with a ninth overall.

“When we heard about the Harbor Cup we were all really excited to try to do it and are happy we got the invitation,” Queens University skipper Samuel Rizk said. “It’s been a great weekend of sailing! They’re very well organized with a lot of volunteers; we were really well taken care of. And the sailing itself was really fun,” Rizk added. “Our team doesn’t own any keelboats, so we had a bit of a learning curve. But I think we learned a lot as a team and definitely want to come back.”

The closeness of the scores with tight and fiery competition, plus the big one-design keelboats, professionally run races, meals, accommodations and warm hospitality continue to make the POLA Harbor Cup a premier event on the intercollegiate circle.

FINAL OFFICIAL SCORES TOTAL:

Univ. of Hawaii 33
Univ. of Rhode Island 36
Maine Maritime 38
College of Charleston 38
US Navy 39
Cal Maritime 41
Cal Poly 41
USCG 52
Queens Univ. 58
Univ. of Maryland 63

For more race details go to https://scores.collegesailing.org/s23/port-la-harbor-cup/