Fairhope Yacht Club sailed to victory at the Gulf Yachting Association Offshore Challenge Cup hosted by Pensacola Yacht Club June 22-24, making it the only non-Lake Pontchartrain yacht club to twice win the title.  FYC also won Challenge Cup in 2004.
 

GYA clubs send their best boats and crews to compete in the regatta which is held over a 3-day period and, when conditions permit, includes seven races. Boats are divided into four classes and are scored on a low point scoring system.  The best three scores of a team’s four finishes are used for each race.  At the conclusion of the regatta the team with the lowest total score wins. 

FYC’s team went to Pensacola Yacht Club with a mission – to bring home the championship, and bring it home they did.  FYC won the regatta by an impressive sixteen points.  FYC was in the lead after the first day of racing by a margin of 5 points and they never let that lead lapse.  After the second day they had extended their lead to 10 points, and extended it another 6 points on the final day of racing. 

In addition to winning the coveted Challenge Cup perpetual trophy, FYC’s B-class boat, skippered by Brian Harrison, and C-class boat, skippered by FYC Challenge Cup team captain Zane Yoder, each won 1^st place in their respective classes. FYC’s D-class boat, skippered by Ellis Ollinger, won 3^rd place in that class.

Yoder, who has spent the last ten months working out which boats to send to Challenge Cup and selecting crew, commented that “everything just went right for the FYC team.  Our helmsmen consistently picked the correct side of the course, read the wind shifts and covered the competition.  We’re all very excited to bring the Challenge Cup trophy back to Fairhope.” 

In second and third place were Pontchartrain Yacht Club with 66.5 points and Pensacola Yacht Club with 70 points.  The winner of A-class was Scott Sonnier, sailing Revolution for Southern Yacht club, and the winner of D-class was Mike Beard, sailing Kanaloa for Pensacola Beach Yacht Club.