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Chris Poole and the Riptide Racing team go back to back winning the 59th Congressional Cup! This year saw a new format with 12 teams competing as opposed to the normal 10 teams. The team hit the water with a good first day but not quite at the form we were in the year before. Day two saw the team finish the round robin in 6th which meant they would sail in the repechage stage. The team was happy with this as it meant seven extra races to get back to our 2023 form. Coming out of the repechage in first meant the team was not chosen in quarter finals and left to face off against Gavin Brady and his True Blue racing team.
Riptide went into the quarterfinals feeling that their 2023 form was back. There were some great battles against 4 time Con Cup Winner Gavin Brady on the way to the teams 3-1 victory. Advancing to the semifinals saw Ian Williams choose Nick Egnot-Johnson leaving Chris Poole and Eric Monnin to fight it out for a spot in the finals. Riptide dispatched Eric Monnin 3-0 but that score didn't reflect the fight the Swiss team put up. Eric was one of if not the fastest team Riptide raced during the event said skipper Chris Poole.
The finals saw the pairing of Chris Poole vs 7 time World Champion Ian Williams. The team was excited about the opportunity to race Ian and his Gladstones Racing Team. All of the races were close with Ian but the team took a 1-0 lead after the first race. Race 2 saw the team leading but a wind shift on the second beat put us behind with a large gap to close. But at the finish saw the team had overlapped the 5 time Con Cup winner but still behind. But event with the loss in race two the team were confident in their boat speed especially downwind. Tied 1-1 going into race 3 saw a big collision between the teams in the pre-start with the surprising penalty going on Riptide. But the team got off the line and got to work passing Ian by rolling him to windward on the port layline. From there the team stretched away to a comfortable lead and a spin and win on the line to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Race 4 was close as the breeze increased and the speed advantage we had switched from downwind to upwind for the team. Joachim called a great first beat giving the team a 2 boat length lead at the first top mark. By the bottom mark Ian was right behind, but clear communication by Joachim and great crew work by the team saw us call Williams dummy tack. From there the race was the teams to lose and they continued to stretch away to the finish claiming their 2nd Congressional Cup in a row!
Sailing this week was Harry West on Bow, Luke Payne in Pit, Mal Parker on Trim, Bernardo Freitas on Main, Joachim Aschenbrenner on Tactics, and Chris Poole on the Helm. Skipper Chris Poole said "To win my second Crimson Blazer in the way we did, fighting through the repechage round all the way to the finals is a great feeling." Tactician Joachim Aschenbrenner said "This win was more fun as the opponents had all stepped up in their boat speed from 2023 and made the fighting much closer, proper match racing"
THANK YOU to all of our supporters who have believed in Riptide Racing and stood behind us 100%. We still have a long way to go, but we couldn’t have gotten this far without your support, for which we’re forever grateful. What we have showed is just part of Riptide Racing’s potential – with the necessary tools, we have the capacity to go all the way.
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