Howth Yacht Club have already made an impact on the international keelboat team racing scene in 2025, with an HYC crew led by Ross McDonald winning the Royal Yacht Squadron Invitationals in June, sailing J/70s.
The biennial Rolex New York Yacht Club Team Invitationals step up the boat size, as they'll be raced again this September at Newport, Rhode Island in Mark Mills-designed IC37s.
The HYC team headed by Darren Wright made a strong statement last weekend in Newport, racing in the 2025 Safe Harbor Regatta, a useful warm-up for next month's major challenge in the same waters.
With three days of on-the-water training followed by three fiercely contested race days, the regatta gave the team the chance to fine-tune boat handling and lock in their pace against some of the best Corinthian competition in the world.
PLEASED WITH PROGRESS
Skipper Darren Wright was pleased with the progress:
"It went exactly to plan and we progressively refined our boat handling skills over the six days of sailing to demonstrate a real turn of speed both upwind and downwind. This top-10 result gives us real confidence going into next month's event and sets us up nicely for the final training sessions immediately before it. Whilst we were pleased with our performance and result, we also know where we left a few places on the water, and we'll be focusing on a further improvement before the Cup in September'.
The Howth YC Team at the Safe Harbor Regatta, photo taken by Brian Turvey (left) with Team Leader Darren Wright third from left of those on board.
Frequent champion Peter Wagner took the title, while a ninth overall for Howth in a fleet of 19 white-hot boats capped off a solid performance, and the team's hard work was further rewarded with the Best Performance on Day 3 prize, a testament to their ability to adapt and excel as the week progressed.
