Royal Cork Yacht Club moved into the top ten of the eighth Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup after a seventh race win on Thursday afternoon, a race where Ireland's second Irish team from Howth scored a second to lie 15th overall going into the final day.

On a taxing day where the wind shifts were as much as 40 degrees with lanes of pressure next to little-to-no wind, the San Diego Yacht Club, led by helmsman Tyler Sinks, moved into the overall lead on the penultimate day with the low score of 42 points.

This is the third appearance for the San Diego Yacht Club at the Invitational Cup, previously placing third (2021) and second (2019) at the past two editions. With two races expected tomorrow, the West Coast team stands on the precipice of winning the premiere international regatta for Corinthian sailors.

“I haven’t thought about tomorrow yet,” said tactician Adam Roberts. “I think we’re looking at breezy conditions, and we’re excited to go fast. When it comes down to it, when we’re having fun, we’re sailing well, and that’s probably going to be our main goal.”

While San Diego took the overall lead, it was first-time participant Corinthian Yacht Club from Marblehead, Mass., that won the day. Led by helmsman Wade Waddell, the crew placed 1-8-3 and moved into second overall, with 51 points.

“When we started this campaign a year ago, we just wanted to be in it, we just wanted to have a shot. Now, we have that shot,” said Waddell. “The forecast (for tomorrow) looks a little breezy, a northeasterly breeze. It should be puffy and shifty, but we’re comfortable with those conditions—chutes and ladders. We’ll be looking to close out the regatta as strong as we can.”

Corinthian Yacht Club, however, will need to keep its collective head on a swivel. The club from Marblehead may currently be second, but seventh is only 8 points back. The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, with 23-year-old Jordan Stevenson helming, is just 2 points behind in third place. Yacht Club Argentino and Royal Swedish Yacht Club are tied on points for fourth with 57 points. New York Yacht Club, 58 points, and Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, 59 points, round out the knot of teams with legitimate designs on a podium finish.

After the passage of a cold front last night, Principal Race Officer Lynn Lynch took the fleet up Narragansett Bay for a racecourse between the top of Conanicut Island and southern Prudence Island. But the northerly lacked punch, and two races were sailed in challenging conditions with a strong ebb tide, before a two-hour postponement.

The San Diego Yacht Club hasn’t been the most spectacular crew on the water, but they’ve been the most consistent by a wide margin, and that is spectacular in itself. The crew posted a 5-5-6 today, despite not always knowing where they wanted to go, and have averaged a sixth in the seven races sailed.

“It seems like we were well positioned off the start line and had the flexibility to sail the direction we wanted to," said Roberts. "Admittedly, we weren’t sure which direction we wanted to go. So, we stayed patient and waited for our opportunities."

When asked whether they were looking for more pressure or an advantageous shift, he laughed and said, “Yes. We looked at it as bringing it back to the basics and getting back to the dark water. The current impacted the starts and laylines, but we have a great skipper (Tyler Sinks) that can account for that and make my life easier.”

According to Corinthian Yacht Club, the first two races were about finding pressure over the shifts.

“We’re comfortable in the shifty conditions,” said Waddell. “We’re a bunch of college sailors and coaches, and we stuck to our strengths, sailing to the immediate pressure. The IC37s are so high aspect that with 2 knots more pressure you can be going more than 1 knot faster. So, we focused on the pressure and didn’t care as much about the angle.”

The winner of the day’s second race was another first-time Invitational Cup competitor, the Yacht Club Punta Del Este from Uruguay. Tactician Aldo Centenaro, who put the crew together, said that the win was one of his proudest moments.

“Winning that race is like a dream for us, it’s really nice,” said Centenaro. “This regatta is very important for our club. It is the year before our 100-year anniversary, and to be invited by the New York Yacht Club, one of the best, if not the best, sailing clubs in the world, is like a dream. To be here is perfect.”

The day’s third race was a moment for the two Irish crews to shine. The race was won by Royal Cork Yacht Club, led by skipper Anthony O’Leary, who has sailed every Invitational Cup. Second was Dublin's Howth Yacht Club, led by skipper David Maguire.

Maguire has ties to Newport and the New York Yacht Club that go back some 30 years.

“I raced boats here for a number of summers in the early 1990s: Tripp 40s, Mumm 36s,” said Maguire. “I did a stint in my last summer, in 1994, running the launch for New York Yacht Club. It was Navette 1, all shiny and brand new. I would race boats during the day and run the launch in the evening. It was great fun, and it’s absolutely brilliant coming back.”

To wrap up the regatta that is being shortened by the passage of Hurricane Lee tomorrow night and Saturday, two races are planned for tomorrow morning, with an early start of 0900 for the first gun.

Overall results here.

Royal Cork Yacht Club and Howth Yacht Club both compete in tomorrow's Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. 

Racing will take place off of Newport, either offshore on Rhode Island Sound or inshore on Narragansett Bay, and up to 12 races are planned for the series, with as many as four on any given day.

In the 2021 edition of the Cup, Howth finished 18th, and RCYC were fourth.

As previously reported by Afloat, sailing for Howth is Gary Cullen, Graham Curran, Johnny Durcan, Carla Fagan, Colin Kavanagh, Diana Kissane, William Maguire, David Maguire and Luke Malcolm. 

The Royal Cork lineup is: Shawn Bennett, Cliodhna Connolly, Harry Durcan, Ben Field, Mark Hassett, Tom Murphy, Sally O Flynn, Robert O'Leary and Anthony O'Leary.

Of the many illustrious clubs from around the world that have competed in the Cup, the premiere fleet regatta for Corinthian crews, two have most consistently demonstrated the slick boatspeed and smooth crew handling that are the hallmarks of winning one-design crews: Southern Yacht Club of New Orleans and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (above) of Australia. One of the two has placed first and/or second in the past three editions, dating to 2017.

The two teams’ run of success began six years ago, when Southern Yacht Club posted a 12-point victory over Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron for its first victory in the prestigious regatta. Two years later, in 2019, it was Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s turn to win its first Invitational Cup, posting a four-point victory that went down to the final day of racing, while Southern Yacht Club placed fifth.

Yearning to defend their historic title—Royal Sydney was the first team from the Southern Hemisphere to win the coveted trophy—in 2021, helmsman Guido Belgiorno-Nettis and crew were “very disappointed” when they were denied the opportunity due to travel restrictions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, Southern Yacht Club, helmed by 2004 Olympic Silver medalist (Tornado) John Lovell, posted a 10-point victory for its second title in three editions.

“We watched the 2021 Invitational Cup with fascination, jealousy and frustration,” said Belgiorno-Nettis. “Sitting on the couch, my team were sure we could’ve given the 2021 competing teams a good run for their money. But I know that reality will set the record straight when we turn up at the start line. Then the talk stops and the action will begin.”

So, when racing for this year’s regatta begins tomorrow, the Invitational Cup will in effect have two defending champions. The two teams are returning the same helmsmen from 2021 and 2019, Lovell for Southern Yacht Club and Belgiorno-Nettis for Royal Sydney, and each crew has been on the water the past couple of days practicing. Both helmsmen feel more practice is needed.

“We’ve been working the kinks out the past couple of days,” said Lovell  “I think our crew work is pretty good, but time and distance is what we’ve been struggling with and working on. Hitting the start line at full speed within three to four meters of the start line and being able to sail straight for two minutes is critical. If you can do that, you’ll be in the game.”

“We’re very rusty. We haven’t done any sailing as a team since 2019,” said Belgiorno-Nettis. “You have to be good sailors; you have to have a great team. A quiet team is a fast team. Most important, you have to be consistent. You don’t have to win every race, but if you have good results eventually it comes your way, I think.”

Nineteen teams from 14 countries are on hand to race the eighth Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, a biennial regatta hosted by the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court in Newport, R.I. Since the event was first run in 2009, it has attracted top amateur sailors from 51 of the world’s most prestigious yacht clubs from 22 countries.

After five editions in the Swan 42 class, the 2023 event will be the third sailed in the IC37, designed by Mark Mills. The strict one-design nature of this purpose-built class, combined with the fact that each boat is owned and maintained by the New York Yacht Club, will ensure a level playing field not seen in any other amateur big-boat sailing competition. The regatta will run from Saturday, September 9, through Saturday, September 16, with racing starting on Tuesday, September 12. 

Of the 19 teams entered this year, 17 have previous experience in the regatta. The two first-time entrants are the Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead, Mass., and Yacht Club Punta del Este of Uruguay.

Two of the 17 returning clubs, New York Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club of Ireland, have raced each edition of the Invitational Cup. And two sailors in this year’s fleet have also raced in each edition of the Invitational Cup: Royal Cork helmsman Anthony O’Leary and Royal Canadian Yacht Club crewmember John Millen.

“The standard of competition goes without saying, but what we really have great confidence in is the ability of the Technical Committee to prepare boats of equal standing for each competing team at the Invitational Cup,” said O’Leary, who has helmed the Royal Cork entry at each previous event. “This is important for competitors and gives us all a belief that we are as close to a ‘level playing pitch’ as is possible for an event of this nature.”

“This regatta, you have people who come to it from all around the world,” said Millen, who has raced with Royal Canadian six times and the New York Yacht Club once. “Racing in Swan 42s was fantastic. With the IC37s, the modern boats, even practicing racing, is incredibly tight. The importance of being consistent, the margins of victory and loss are so tiny, and so it can be incredibly satisfying or painful, and that makes it fun.”

The following yacht clubs will compete for the 2023 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup: Corinthian Yacht Club (Marblehead, Mass.), Howth Yacht Club (IRL), Itchenor Sailing Club (GBR), Japan Sailing Federation, New York Yacht Club, Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (GER), Nyländska Jaktklubben (FIN), Royal Canadian Yacht Club, Royal Cork Yacht Club (IRL), Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (CHN), Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Royal Swedish Yacht Club, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (AUS), Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (CAN), Southern Yacht Club (New Orleans), Yacht Club Argentino, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (ITA), Yacht Club Punte del Este (URY)

Howth Yacht Club has nominated Dave Maguire's 'Team Valkyrie'  to represent Ireland and HYC at the Rolex New York Invitational Cup 2023 in the autumn.

Two top Irish sailing teams, one from Dublin and one from Cork, will contest the Cup this September off Rhode Island.

Howth Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club are in the line-up of twenty teams from 15 countries competing.

In the lead-up to the Invitational, Maguire and his crew are competing on the Cape 31 Race Circuit with a crew of seven.  The Invitational will be raced in the IC37, a high-performance boat with a crew of nine.

Half Ton Cup Champion Dave Cullen, the Commodore of ICRA, is the HYC team manager. 

Maguire says the final crew panel for the Invitational is almost complete, with eight of the nine on-the-water crew confirmed. "We are currently interviewing for the ninth member, a female 2nd Bow position," he says. 

Olympic skiff campaigner Johnnny Durcan takes time off the wire in the 49er dinghy to be the HYC spinnaker trimmer, and RS Aero and SB20 champion Daragh Sheridan is calling tactics.

 "The HYC team is selected from some of the best talent in Ireland", according to the North Dublin club. All have competed regularly internationally and represented Ireland in various classes.

Howth Yacht Club's core team for the Rolex New York Invitational Cup 2023 

Several team members hold National and International titles. Coaches Whyte and Schreyer are former US Olympic and University Coaches. Many team members have raced together in various sports boat classes, including the SB20, J80, SB20 and Cape 31.