Congressional Cup : Shadden Sails Closer to Realizing a Lifelong Ambition

John Shadden grew up with the Congressional Cup, literally.

His father, Tom, a Long Beach stockbroker, is a staff commodore of the host Long Beach Yacht Club, and young Shadden was born 23 years ago at the time of the event’s inception. He remembers running around the docks gawking at the celebrity sailors.

“I remember Dennis Conner and Ted Turner at the Tuesday night (pre-regatta) dinners,” he said. “I always thought it would be just great to have the respect of everybody there, that I had won the Congressional Cup.

“That would be the ultimate, to do it in your own waters.”

Shadden is on the threshold of that ambition, tied with America’s Cup competitors Chris Dickson of New Zealand, Eddie Owen of Britain and Peter Isler, Stars & Stripes’ navigator, going into the last two races today.

Each has 5 wins and 2 losses, and none can win the event simply by winning his final two races. The various possibilities are complex. Ties are broken, when possible, by head-to-head results.

Shadden sails today against Australia’s Iain Murray (2-5), the skipper of Kookaburra III, and two-time Congressional winner Dave Perry (4-3), who slipped to fifth place with a pair of losses Friday.

Shadden was a collegiate All-American sailor at USC and is a former world and national youth champion. He has won five straight races since losing to Isler and Owen on the first day Wednesday.

On Friday, he beat Dickson by 14 seconds and luckless Carl Buchan (1-6) by 1:52. Shadden came from behind on the first downwind leg to deal Dickson his first defeat Friday.

“We sailed the shifts and worked down to cover his wind,” Shadden said.

Dickson desperately maneuvered for the inside right-of-way at the leeward mark but allowed his spinnaker to drag across Shadden’s shrouds as he crossed his stern 150 yards from the buoy. Both unfurled protest flags, but Dickson later dropped his case.

In the next round, Owen stalled rounding the leeward mark and Dickson ran into him. The Kiwi then acknowledged the foul and withdrew from the race.

Mathematically, even Perry could still win it by beating Dickson and Shadden, but the best he can hope for is a sailoff.

Perry had lost only to Murray on a protest before going to sea Friday in Smokin’ 38, this event’s version of the slow boat to China. He lost to Isler by 48 seconds and Flam by 39.

“My fault, both of ‘em, on tactics,” said Perry, who conceded that he’s not as sharp as he was since going into semi-retirement as a racing sailor. “Nothing to do with the boat at all. It’s just not all there the way it was two years ago.”

But neither is the speed of Smokin’ 38, one of 10 Catalina 38s borrowed from local owners for the event. It was Perry’s turn to sail it in the rotation Friday and it may have been his downfall, as it was for Dave Dellenbaugh (3-4) and Robbie Haines (3-4).

The boat is 0-7 in the series but those skippers are 11-3 on other boats.

“That shows there’s something wrong with the boat,” Isler said. “It’s pretty hard to believe that bad luck can befall those people 100% of the time.”