Anthony O'Leary and his Royal Cork crew are sixth overall at New York Yacht Club's Invitational Cup. The first race of the day was won by RCYC, which O'Leary unfortunately followed with back-to-back double-digit finishes. They stand sixth overall with 49 points. There are some excellent aerial shots of Royal Cork very well positioned off the line in the above vid.
A day of intense racing on Rhode Island Sound marked the mid-point of the 2015 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. The south-south west breeze filled in early in the day, which allowed three races to be sailed in 8-10 knots by the international fleet. Like the standard of excellence established by Rolex, the competition has exceeded the expectations of the competitors.
Yesterday's subsequent races were both won by Australia's Middle Harbour Yacht Club, which bumped them up in the standings from eighth yesterday, to now second overall with 40 points. Returning to the top of the leaderboard is London's Royal Thames Yacht Club which consistently finished in the top-five. They have an eight-point cushion over Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
The racing was intense according to Brad Dellenbaugh, New York Yacht Club's Director of Sailing. "If you missed getting off the line and got forced to the wrong direction on the first beat, you spent the rest of the race trying to catch up. Occasionally one side or the other of the course was favored, but not the same side all the time."
Racing resumes Friday with the winning team determined at the conclusion of racing on Saturday, September 19.
