The only gathering of world-class match-racing sailors in the United States this year will start competition in the 36th annual Congressional Cup Monday, with one leading question: Can Peter Holmberg pull off a "three-Pete"?
Four of the top 10-ranked match-racing sailors in the world are entered, and those don't include the two-time defending champion from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
One of his strongest rivals will be Germany's Markus Wieser, who lost the title by three seconds last year when Holmberg nipped him after doing a penalty turn at the finish of the final race.
If they're looking for another such showdown, they'll have to claw their way through Denmark's Sten Mohr, currently ranked No. 1 by the International Sailing Federation; France's Bertrand Pacé, No. 2; France's Luc Pillot, No. 6, and New Zealand's new America's Cup "golden boy," Dean Barker, No. 7.
Barker, 26, became an instant Kiwi superstar last month when Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts turned over the helm to him for the fifth and clinching race of the 5-0 sweep against Italy's Prada Challenge.
He followed that by placing third in the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup at Auckland and second in the Australia Cup behind Nippon skipper Peter Gilmour of Australia.
But Pacé is just as hot. After sailing France's blue and orange Sixth sense into the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals, he won the Steinlager/Line 7 and as fourth at Perth, just ahead of Holmberg.
Holmberg slipped from No. 5 to 32 while he was off the world circuit for a year to sail in the America's Cup aboard Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes. Wieser is No. 12.
"I'm just getting back into the game," Holmberg said, "and I have a new team as well. I had one group for Auckland, a different group for Perth and a different group here. I've got a good group of guys, but it's not a team that's polished.
"Pacé has his same team, Dean has his same team. It's an advantage for those guys. But I now have a sponsor and I'll be able to lock in the same team with some consistency."
Added incentive for Holmberg is that while several skippers, including Gerry Driscoll, Dennis Durgan, Dave Perry, Chris Dickson and Gavin Brady, have won back-to-back Congressional Cups, nobody has won three in a row.
"That would be nice," Holmberg said.
The rest of the fleet hardly constitutes a supporting cast. Australia's Sebastien Destremau, a transplanted Frenchman ranked No. 21, finished third in last month's Sun Microsystems Australia Cup against several of the same competitors he'll face here.
Then there are France's Damien Iehl, No. 26, Australia's 20-year-old star James Spithill, No. 47, and local hope Scott Dickson, a transplanted New Zealander who represents the host Long Beach Yacht Club. Dickson was runner-up to Holmberg in 1998.
The 10 skippers, each with a crew of five, will compete for a total purse of $25,000 aboard the Long Beach Sailing Foundation's sturdy and identical Catalina 37s.
They'll race one another twice through two round robins. If weather conditions cooperate, there will be enough time remaining for the top four to advance to the semifinals to determine the final two in a best-of-5 final on Friday afternoon.
The event is scheduled for a 30-minute review on ESPN2 on Sunday, May 14.
