Detroit Cup: Finals Pitch Coach Against Student

by Bruce Babiarz

Dave Perry, three-time United States match race champion won the Toyota International Match Race for the Detroit Cup today, beating Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) three matches to one in the finals. Taylor Canfield, of the US Virgin Islands and Laurie Jury of New Zealand competed in the Petit Finals with Jury winning, two matches to none. The regatta, hosted by Bayview Yacht Club, featured twelve teams from five countries. Team Perry, led by Perry, also included Chris Museler on bow and Mike Rehe as trimmer. Rehe, a Bayview member, has crewed with two of the three Detroit Cup champion teams.

The matchup of Perry and Tunnicliffe in the finals put their past relationship as coach and student in a new context. “I no longer consider Anna as a student, but much more a peer,” said Perry, drying off from a dockside dunking after the win at Bayview Yacht Club. Tunnicliffe was gracious in defeat, saying with a smile “I guess the student can know all the teacher has to teach, but the teacher may not teach all he knows.”

Both Perry and Tunnicliffe will compete on the water next week at the Knickerbocker Cup, the final stop of the East Coast Trifecta, which opened with the Chicago Match Cup before coming to Detroit this week.

Detroit Cup