Royal Cork Set To Race Again At New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup

11th August 2015

#royalcork – Just one month remains before the start of the fourth edition of the Rolex New York Yacht Club (NYYC) Invitational Cup. Taking place from September 12 to 19 at Harbour Court, the New York Yacht Club's summer home in Newport, Rhode Island, this biennial one-design sailing event gathers together crews from the world's most famous and influential yacht clubs for an impressive race series that has Corinthian ideals firmly at its core.

Royal Cork Yacht Club has been a sturdy competitor in the Invitational Cup since the start. They have consistently place in the top eight in the past Invitational Cups. This may come from their background of encouraging participation in international competition at all levels, thus setting them up for future success. The team this year is again being led by the O'Leary family with Anthony O'Leary at the helm for the fourth time and his son Nicholas O'Leary again calling tactics. The rest of the team selection was based on the performance of Team Antix in the previous season and is filled with experienced sailors.

Under the event format, the competing yacht club teams sail matched NYYC Swan 42s with identically tuned rigs, and sails provided by the organizers. The emphasis is firmly on the skill of the competitors to determine the winner, with the international crews limited to non-professionals and all but two on each team having to be nationals of their club's home country. The contest rewards preparation, teamwork and tactical expertise. It is a concept admired and embraced by all those taking part, and fits perfectly within the Rolex constellation of yachting events that is centred on a privileged alliance with the yacht clubs that form the very core of the sport.

The Royal Canadian Yacht Club comes into the event as the team to beat. Following a second-place finish at the inaugural (2009) event, it proved a dominant champion in 2011 securing a win, 20 points ahead of second-place finisher New York YC. The RCYC repeated this success in 2013 although the margin of victory was much slimmer, only six points. Across the three events to date, crews have been quick to acknowledge increasing levels of competition. The Canadian team captain in 2011 and 2013, 1984 Olympic Silver medallist Terry McLaughlin, pointed to good boat speed and positive teamwork as being the primary foundations for a successful campaign.

This September, 17 clubs from 11 countries will be on the start line. The US is represented by New York Yacht Club, Newport Harbor Yacht Club (California) Eastern Yacht Club (Massachusetts), and Seattle Yacht Club (Washington). Europe fields teams from the UK: Royal Thames Yacht Club, Royal Yacht Squadron and Itchenor Sailing Club; from Italy: Yacht Club Italiano; Ireland: Royal Cork Yacht Club; Sweden: Royal Swedish Yacht Club; and Spain: Real Club Nautico de Barcelona. The Japan Sailing Federation returns along with two clubs from Australia: Middle Harbour Yacht Club, which is appearing for the first time, and Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, which made its debut two years ago. The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and the Yacht Club Argentino (Argentina) complete the list with the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.

The first of five scheduled days of racing takes place on Tuesday, September 15. The final Awards Banquet, where the triumphant crew will receive the NYYC Invitational Cup trophy and a Rolex timepiece, will be held after racing on Saturday, September 19.

Published in New York Invitational Cup, Royal Cork YC

Published in New York Invitational Cup

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New York Yacht Club’s biennial Invitational Cup

Ireland has a proud history in New York Yacht Club’s biennial Invitational Cup, with Irish participation from the very start and a podium result in 2019.

In 2009, two Irish Clubs, Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire and Royal Cork in Crosshaven, entered into New York's newest sailing competition that was reminiscent of Newport’s America’s Cup days when 19 yacht club teams from 14 nations descended on this “City by the Sea”.

The Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is a competition between yacht clubs, with strict eligibility rules ensuring that each team is comprised exclusively of amateur sailors.

The competition, which was first run in 2009, has drawn entries from 49 clubs from 22 nations on all six inhabited continents.

The New York Yacht Club won the inaugural event in 2009, with the Royal Canadian Yacht Club winning in 2011 and 2013, England's Royal Thames Yacht Club winning in 2015 and Southern Yacht Club from New Orleans winning in 2017.

In 2019 the regatta was sailed for the first time in the New York Yacht Club’s fleet of IC37 yachts, and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, from Australia, became the first Southern Hemisphere club to win the trophy. And it was in this edition that Anthony O’Leary’s Royal Cork team took the bronze medal.