Chinese Olympic gold medalist Lijia “Lily” Xu took top honors during the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Butler Cup over the weekend — winning 13 of the 14 flights during the double round-robin.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to win because this is my first year in match racing,” Xu said, “and I even struggled to get invitation anywhere.”
Eight skippers competed in the Butler Cup, which took place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 26-27.
Xu has an impressive sailing career, winning a bronze medal in the women’s laser radial class at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and a gold medal in the same event at the 2012 London Games, where she was the flag bearer for China at the closing ceremony.
Xu apparently had some help from well-known local sailor Scott Dickson — based on a bit of ribbing from her in a social media post.
“Scotty, you are in big ‘trouble’ of sending me to the Ficker Cup next year,” she wrote, referencing the LBYC competition that serves as a qualifier for the Congressional Cup. “I truly enjoyed your coaching and (learned) so much over the whole week leading up to win the Butler’s Cup.”
Xu later confirmed to me that she did, in fact, get help from Dickson.
Local sailor Scott Dickson stands on the bow of a Catalina 37, giving advice to skipper Lijia “Lily” Xu as she competes in the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Butler Cup over the weekend. Xu won the match-race competition. (Photo courtesy of LBYC)
Chinese Olympic gold medalist Lijia “Lily” Xu steers the Catalina 37 in which she won the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Butler Cup over the weekend. Local sailor Scott Dickson, to her right, gave her advice during the race. (Photo courtesy of LBYC)
Show Caption
1 of 2
Local sailor Scott Dickson stands on the bow of a Catalina 37, giving advice to skipper Lijia “Lily” Xu as she competes in the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Butler Cup over the weekend. Xu won the match-race competition. (Photo courtesy of LBYC)
“I don’t have crew so any single invitation I get, I ask local friends to help me find some local crew, just to get going and accumulate match racing experience,” Xu said, “and my tactician this time (was) a super experienced skipper, Scott Dickson.”
Xu met Dickson in February during a match racing clinic in Auckland, New Zealand. So when she received the invitation to the Butler Cup, Dickson and some of his Congressional Cup crew offered to help.
“I’m basically more or less steering as Scotty tells me how to deal with each situation,” Xu said, “and then I get a better understanding of why I need to do this or that.”
Xu said she is looking forward to coming back to Long Beach in April to compete in Ficker Cup. She will then stay to watch Congressional Cup — unless she’s competing in it — and see some of the best match racing in the world.
“This is a place you would like to come again and again,” Xu said, quoting her mother, who accompanied her on this trip.
As for the Butler Cup itself, the regatta ended up shorthanded when a skipper cancel at the last minute. But since running the regatta with seven boats instead of eight would have dropped the match race from a grade 3 to a grade 5 — meaning the skippers would not be able to gain as many points — local sailor Steve Flam agreed to compete, despite nursing a back injury that has been surgically repaired.
Flam was joined by a crew that included sailors who had never teamed up with him. After the first round robin, the team was in second place. They finished in third — but were the only team to beat Xu in a flight.
In typical Flam style, he credited his team for doing so well.
The Butler Cup is a invitation-only match-racing regatta that uses the Long Beach Sailing Foundation’s fleet of Catalina 37s. It takes place each September as a World Sailing Grade 3 event. The two-day regatta is named in honor of the late Frank Butler, founder of Catalina Yachts. The winner earns an invitation to the following spring’s Ficker Cup (Grade 2), the qualifying step toward the Congressional Cup, LBYC’s long-running match-racing world championship. The 2027 Ficker Cup will take place from April 25 to 27, with the Congressional Cup beginning the following day.
Long Beach Grunions
Congratulations are in order for coach Ken Brisbin, all the other volunteer coaches, board members and the entire Long Beach Grunions team for being named the 2026 U.S. Master Swimmers Club of the Year.
There are 93 clubs in Southern California and 1,122 nationwide, according to the USMSC website. The Club of the Year award goes to an organization that develops “programs that draw people in, support their swimmers and set standards for others to follow,” the website says.
The Grunions, meanwhile, are also launching a water polo team, said Capt. Stephen Morris.
“I know Long Beach is a big water polo city,” Morris said, “and we want to get the word out to anyone who wants to join and play.”
For more information, go to lbgrunions.org.
CSULB crew
The Cal State Long Beach rowing program has 56 total recruits, who recently toured the Pete Archer Rowing Center for the first time. They split into groups and moved from station to station, viewing and handling the equipment, including boats and oars, pulling an erg for the first time, and using the dock boxes, which helped them simulate the feeling of rowing on the water.
For more information, go to beachcrew.org.