{"id":298552,"date":"2026-05-04T01:37:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T01:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/298552\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T01:37:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T01:37:17","slug":"australias-cole-tapper-23-shocks-long-beach-sailing-fans-by-winning-congressional-cup-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/298552\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Cole Tapper, 23, shocks Long Beach sailing fans by winning Congressional Cup \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Congressional Cup concluded on Sunday, May 3, with a surprising upset \u2013 as relative newcomer Cole Tapper of Australia won the Crimson Blazer.<\/p>\n

In only his third Congressional Cup, the 23-year-old came out ahead against a trio of more seasoned skippers who joined him as the final four in the competition, each of whom had previously donned the Crimson Blazer at least once.<\/p>\n

Defending Congressional Cup winner Eric Monnin of Switzerland came in second, world No. 1 Chris Poole from New York came in third and Sweden\u2019s Johnie Berntsson finished in fourth place.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty amazing. That\u2019s the most special feeling ever,\u201d Tapper said about the win before acknowledging his crew, Max Brennan, Jack Frewin, Nathan Gulliksen, George Richardson and Hamish Vass. \u201cRacing with such a close group of friends for so long and then to achieve that is unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

So was Tapper\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew there was a slim chance (heading into Sunday),\u201d Tapper said, \u201cand that\u2019s what we needed to go hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper battles Eric Monnin\u2019s Swiss crew during the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Cole<\/p>\n

Cole Tapper leads his Australian crew to victory as they compete under the watchful eye of umpires during the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Australia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Cole Tapper steers his team to victory at the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Eric<\/p>\n

Eric Monnin\u2019s team tries to avoid hitting Cole Tapper\u2019s boat from behind during the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper wins the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, defeating Eric Monnin\u2019s Swiss team 3-0, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Queen Mary and a cruise ship are visible in Long Beach\u2019s harbor as sailboats compete in the Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Teams<\/p>\n

Teams compete in the David Hood ||| Memorial Fleet Race for non-semifinalists at the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper goes on to win the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper battles Eric Monnin\u2019s Swiss crew during the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper celebrates after winning the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, defeating Eric Monnin\u2019s Swiss team, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Australia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Cole Tapper steers his team to victory at the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Australia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Cole Tapper steers his team to victory at the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper battles Eric Monnin\u2019s Swiss crew during the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper battles Eric Monnin\u2019s Swiss crew during the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Switzerland\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s Eric Monnin skippers his team during the finals of the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Australia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Cole Tapper skippers his team to victory at the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper battles Eric Monnin\u2019s Swiss crew during the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Australia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Cole Tapper steers his team to victory at the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 18<\/p>\n

An Australian team skippered by Cole Tapper battles Eric Monnin\u2019s Swiss crew during the 61st Congressional Cup on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The 61st Congressional Cup \u2013 considered the \u201cgranddaddy\u201d of match racing \u2013 began on Wednesday, and saw Tapper, Poole, Monnin and Berntsson advance to the semifinals after four days of racing in a double round-robin against six other sailors.<\/p>\n

The best-of-five semifinals began on Saturday, with Berntsson and Poole each taking a 2-0 lead over Monnin and Tapper, respectively. That left Berntsson and Poole one win away from the finals when racing was suspended for the day.<\/p>\n

And then came Sunday.<\/p>\n

Monnin and Tapper came back from the brink of elimination to reverse-sweep Berntsson and Poole. Tapper then swept the defending champion Monnin in the finals to win the Congressional Cup.<\/p>\n

Poole beat Berntsson in the third-place match, called the petit final.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the day I was expecting,\u201d said Congressional Cup Chair Ken Mattfeld.<\/p>\n

The unexpected, however, was certainly exciting \u2013 further bolstering the Congressional Cup\u2019s already prestigious reputation.<\/p>\n

The Congressional Cup \u2013 hosted by the Long Beach Yacht Club and part of the World Match Racing Tour \u2013 is a high-intensity battle of sailing strategy, pitting the world\u2019s top skippers against one another in Catalina 37s.<\/p>\n

It is also the crown jewel of the WMRT.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnywhere the World Match (Racing) Tour hosts a regatta,\u201d WMRT CEO James Pleasance said shortly before the trophy presentation, \u201cfans know Long Beach and the Congressional Cup \u2014 it is the granddaddy of all match races.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the final day of racing, Mayor Rex Richardson watched from the Belmont Memorial Pier \u2013 and described the Congressional Cup as a prelude to even more great events to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Congressional Cup is the kickoff of summer for Long Beach,\u201d he said, \u201cas we ready for more visitors with the World Cup and the Olympics ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the semifinals and finals, Sunday also featured a fleet race, during which the six teams that did not advance out of the double round-robin competed against each other simultaneously.<\/p>\n

Ian Garreta of France came on top in the fleet race \u2013 which served as a bit of redemption after finishing in last place in the Congressional Cup.<\/p>\n

By winning the fleet race, Garreta will be the first to have his name etched onto the new David Hood III Memorial Fleet Race trophy.<\/p>\n

Hood, a former LBYC commodore and Long Beach Sailing Foundation chair, died from stage 4 kidney cancer in July \u2013 a few months after coming in fourth during last year\u2019s Congressional Cup.<\/p>\n

As for this year\u2019s competition, Sunday\u2019s sailing started with light winds and gray skies off the pier. But as the finals started, the classic afternoon wind that Long Beach is known for kicked up.<\/p>\n

It made for a perfect day on the water, concluding another successful Congressional Cup \u2013 one made even more exciting for the 300-plus fans at the pier because of Tapper\u2019s shock win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe winner was not who I anticipated but certainly the expectations of the regatta were over the top,\u201d said LBYC Commodore Bob Piercy. \u201cThe weather, the wind was perfect, everything seemed to go well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Congressional Cup concluded on Sunday, May 3, with a surprising upset \u2013 as relative newcomer Cole…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,131,133,132,137,100,39494],"class_list":["post-298552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-news","tag-sailing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}