Sloops geared to race

Chris Yemma

When 19-year-old Finland native Silja Lehtinen begins competition

today in the Governor’s Cup, her numerous years of sailing experience

will come in handy.

Lehtinen, who lived in Newport Beach two years ago while

participating in a foreign exchange program, has never sailed the

particular 21-foot sloops used in this year’s race, but she has a

lifetime of sailing experience.

“It will be really interesting,” Lehtinen said. “I’ve never really

raced in match racing against people in my age group, so I don’t know

how I will compare to them.”

This year’s Governor’s Cup, the premier international junior match

racing sailing championship in the United States, welcomed visitors

Monday with event host Balboa Yacht Club and Newport Harbor Yacht

Club among the 12-team field.

Competition begins today.

Seventeen teams applied for the 39th annual event, open to sailors

age 19 or younger. The field includes five teams from Australia,

including defending champion Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, and one

from Finland -- Lehtinen’s team.

Legtinen, who attended Newport Harbor High for nearly a year and

was a member of the sailing team, will be teamed with her brother,

Lauri Lehtinen, and his friend, Sean Doyle.

“[The three of us] have never sailed together so we’ll have to

figure out the boat handling at first,” Silja Lehtinen said. “But

almost none of the people have sailed these boats before.”

Each team of three sailors will race identical yachts --

lightweight 21-foot sloops -- for four days of round-robin

competition.

The participating clubs include Balboa Yacht Club, Cruising Yacht

Club of Australia, King Harbor Yacht Club (Redondo Beach), Newport

Harbor Yacht Club, Nylandska Jaktklubben (Helsinki, Finland), Royal

New Zealand Yacht Squadron (Auckland, New Zealand), Royal Prince

Alfred Yacht Club (Australia), Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (Sydney,

Australia), San Francisco Yacht Club, Seattle Yacht Club, South of

Perth Yacht Club (Australia) and Southern Yacht Club of New Orleans.