Governor's Cup - NZ, Aus and two USA teams into finals

1:51 AM Sun 19 Jul 2009 GMT

'RNZYS Mens Team - 2009 Governor’s Cup' Mary Longpre - Longpre Photos

Another beautiful day for racing, with flat water, and a little more breeze than yesterday. The wind started at about eight knots, building to a little more than twelve, and clocking to the left later in the day.

The second round robin was completed! And the four finalists will be recognized this evening, and then will race the final rounds tomorrow.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's men's team, skippered by Will Tiller, had another strong day, winning all their matches to advance to the finals with a near-perfect 19 wins in 20 matches.

For the first two round robins, the Squadron lost only one match, to Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, and they look to be the favorites for the finals Sunday.

As expected, Cruising Yacht Club moves to the finals in second place with 17 points, and local team Newport Harbor Yacht Club advances with 14 wins.

Governors Cup King Harbour crew - 2009 Governor’s Cup - Mary Longpre - Longpre Photos

Four teams advance to the finals. Going into today's racing, the fourth place team was very much up for grabs. After strong racing from all the contending teams today, two teams were tied for fourth, King Harbor Yacht Club skippered by Dillon Lancaster, and Mission Bay Yacht Club skippered by Scott Hoffman, with 11 points each.

For a few minutes it was thought that the two teams would need to sail off, but the race committee calculated the tie breakers and awarded the last spot in the finals to King Harbor.

As the final four sailed back to the dock, the race committee got off the first flight of the consolation round. Final day tomorrow!

by Stacie Brandt with Preben Nielsen