The 2012 Rose Cup, a national youth match racing event, will be held on June 20-24 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

US Sailing has partnered with the St. Petersburg Yacht Club to organize the 2012 Rose Cup, a national youth match racing event to be held on June 20-24 in St. Petersburg, Fla. This is the third running of the Rose Cup and the first by US Sailing’s Match Racing Committee, who look to build this event into a US Sailing youth national championship in the near future.

Ten skippers from around the U.S. will be invited to compete in the Rose Cup, which will be raced in Sonars with teams of four, who must be at least 16 years of age and no older than 20 in 2012. The winning skipper of the Rose Cup will receive an invitation to the prestigious 2012 Governor’s Cup, a premier international youth match racing event, held at the Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach, California on July 17-22.

In addition, top match racers will be at the event to provide on-the-water coaching and give on-shore presentations on match racing, including the upcoming America’s Cup which will be held on San Francisco Bay in 2013. The Nick Scandone Sportsmanship Trophy will be awarded for outstanding sportsmanship.

“Match racing is one of the fastest growing disciplines in our sport,” says Dave Perry, Chairman of the US Sailing Match Racing Committee and four-time U.S. Match Racing Champion. “We want to encourage the 16 to 20 year old group to get involved and get proficient in this exciting and very beneficial way to race sailboats. This ties in very nicely to the Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s Sloop Championship program which now uses the match racing format.”

Skippers will be invited to this event based on information on their Requests for Invitations which, along with the Notice of Race and additional information, are available on the St. Petersburg Yacht Club website or by phone at 727.892.6893. Skippers requesting invitations by April 25, 2012, will receive preference.

Submitted by the US Sailing Match Racing Committee (http://racing.ussailing.org/Match_Racing.htm)