2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup September 6th to 13th
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Homework Pays Dividends for Royal Canadian Crew on Day 2 of Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup, Newport, R.I.
After what could only be described as a disastrous opening day for the Japan Sailing Federation team competing in the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, the squad roared back into relevance with a fourth and a first to start Day 2 of the five-day biennial competition. A 14th in the third race of the day tempered the comeback, but the Japanese team was all smiles this evening as team principal Masuhiro Bamba walked up to accept the prize for winning Race 5.
“We had a completely different day from Day 1,” said tactician Hiroki Goto. “We had a lot to prove. We knew something was getting better before the start and then good things happened in Race 1 and we finished fourth. In the second race, we had even better wind from the left and we took the lead [at the first mark].”
But no lead is safe in this regatta, especially when sitting second and third are the top two teams in the regatta, San Diego Yacht Club and Royal Canadian Yacht Club, respectively. After leading through the gate mark, the Japanese team watched the Canadian club slip past on the final tack of the second upwind leg, though the top three boats were virtually overlapped around the final mark.
“In the last downwind, we passed the leader and won the race, which was our dream from Day 1,” said Goto. “The long briefing last night paid off.”
Twenty teams from 12 countries will compete in the ninth 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 52 of the world’s most prestigious yacht clubs from 23 countries.
After five editions in the Swan 42 class, the 2025 event will be the fourth 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, ensures a level playing field not seen in any other amateur big-boat sailing competition. The regatta will run from Saturday, September 6, through Saturday, September 13, with racing starting on Tuesday, September 9. A live broadcast on Facebook and YouTube, starting on Wednesday, September 10, will allow fellow club members, friends, family and sailing fans from around the world to follow the action as it happens. The 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is brought to you by title sponsor Rolex and regatta sponsors Helly Hansen, Safe Harbor Marinas and Peters & May.
The top team on Day 2 was Royal Canadian Yacht Club, with an economical 10 points across three races. They picked up one point on San Diego and now lie second, five points out of first, and 10 points ahead of the Royal Thames Yacht Club in third.
“It was an interesting day,” said Scott Collinson, the team’s main trimmer. “We'd done a lot of homework on that course. We really wanted to make sure that we understood what we thought was going to happen and it played out. Having conviction about what the current was doing and what the wind was doing was very important. And then we were able to get off the line fairly well. One start was amazing; the other two were pretty good and we made them work. We used our boatspeed to find our way to the top.”
Collinson is sailing in the Invitational Cup for the second time. While he’s not the most senior person on the team when it comes to experience in this regatta—skipper Lance Fraser and crew Ingrid Merry have each sailed in four—he is a generation older than the rest of the crew, inevitably casting him as the sage veteran among his younger teammates.
“I love the boat, I just think it is a fantastic platform, and love the racing that we do in it,” he says. “But more importantly, I'm the one that's lucky because I get to sail with this next generation team and be part of it. I'm blessed and grateful to be sailing with them.”
For everyone competing in the regatta, it was an easy day to feel like you’d woken up on the right side of the bed, regardless of the results. The breeze was strong, but never overwhelming, the forecasted rain never materialized and the racing was efficient—with three races completed by 2:15 p.m and everyone enjoying post-race social at Harbour Court by 3:30 p.m.
The flat water inside Narragansett Bay, between Prudence Island and the north tip of Conanicut Island, was more forgiving than yesterday’s offshore swell on Rhode Island Sound, and collectively the fleet was more compact. While the Bay courses typically offer more wind shifts and passing opportunities, grinding down opponents with pure boat speed is more difficult than it is outside, and teams that have a rough start can find it tougher to claw back. With the exception of San Diego Yach Club, Eastern Yacht Club and Royal Swedish Yacht Club, each team had at least one result of 10th or higher today.
One performance of note was that of Royal Cork Yacht Club, which finished third on the day, continuing a remarkable upward trend in the standings. With the exception of a fifth in Race 2, each race has been an improvement for the Irish club, starting with a 14th in Race 1 and finishing today with a second.
For Royal Cork, and any team coming to terms with how to sail the IC37 in overpowered conditions, the forecast may not be reassuring. The breeze is expected to drop tomorrow and looks light for the remainder of regatta. In a no-throwout series, that means there is still everything to play for. As hard as it is to pass boats in this fleet in heavy air, it’s doubly difficult as the wind drops and everyone is able to comfortably put out their elbows and play defense.
The 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup will continue tomorrow through Saturday, September 13. For tomorrow, given the forecast, the race committee has moved the start time of the first race to 10:30 am (EDT). Live coverage of each race, via YouTube and Facebook, will continue tomorrow with Race 7 of the regatta.
Results after Day 2
1. San Diego (Calif.) Yacht Club (7-1-1-1-2-8) 20 points
2. Royal Canadian Yacht Club (10-3-2-2-3-5) 25 points
3. Royal Thames Yacht Club, GBR (2-11-3-13-5-1) 35 points
4. Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, CAN (6-RDG/6.3-RDG/6.3-6-10-3) 37.6 points
5. Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (3-4-4-3-20-4) 38 points
6. Royal Swedish Yacht Club (11-2-5-7-9-6) 40 points
7. New York (N.Y.) Yacht Club (8-9-6-5-12-7) 47 points
8. Royal Cork Yacht Club, IRL (14-5-12-10-6-2) 49 points
9. Corinthian Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass. (5-7-11-11-8-10) 52 points
10. Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, ITA (1-8-8-9-16-16) 58 points
11. Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass. (13-15-14-8-4-9) 63 points
12. Japan Sailing Federation (19-10-16-4-1-14) 64 points
13. Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, AUS (12-6-10-16*-16*-12) 72 points
14. Yacht Club Punta del Este, URU (4-17-13-17-13-11) 75 points
15. Howth Yacht Club, IRL (9-16-15-12-11-13) 76 points
16. Royal Irish Yacht Club (16-12-18-20-7-15) 88 points
17. Yacht Club Argentino (18-19-9-18-14-17) 95 points
18. Yacht Club Italiano (15-14-19-14-19-19) 100 points
19. Yacht Club de Ilhabela, BRA (RET/21-18-7-16-19*-20) 101 points
20. Itchenor Sailing Club, GBR (DSQ/21-13-18*-19-17-18) 106 points
*Score includes 1-point umpire penalty
Text Credits: New York Yacht Club
Photo Credits: ROLEX / Daniel Forster
Tuesday 10th September - Day 1 of Racing, Newport, R.I.
With a punchy 15-knot easterly and six-foot seas, the first day of the ninth edition of the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup was a trial by fire for the 20 all-amateur crews pursuing Corinthian yachting’s most treasured prize. A lot of teams got singed, some were burned and will carry the scars for the duration of the regatta. When the dust cleared there were familiar names at the top of the leaderboard with four more days and up to nine races remaining.
Defending champion San Diego Yacht Club was over the line early in the first race then rallied for a 7-1-1 scoreline that put it into the lead, by two points, over the very steady Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Four points further back, in third, is two-time Invitational Cup champions Royal Canadian Yacht Club. The Canadian team was also OCS in Race 1, grinding back to 10th and then, with clean starts, scored a third and a second in the remaining races.
“I was pretty frustrated with myself for that one,” said Jake La Dow, skipper for San Diego Yacht Club, of the start to Race 1. “There was a big right shift in the last probably 30 seconds to the start. It got us a little too close to the line and we didn't have enough room to kill any speed and bear away far enough and ended up being over by about a meter. We found a couple of lanes, and we had some really good wheels. We were able to kind of just chip away and use our speed and try to keep clear from all the boats around us and pass one boat at a time. We had a really good downwind on the first downwind, passing, I think, four or five boats. The team never faltered at all.”
Results After Day 1 (Races 1-3)
Update Monday 8th September
Intense training yesterday with 10 Teams in the water and 8 coach boats. We ran a series of starts and a couple of practice races. The RIYC Team had good speed on the water both upwind and down wind. We have more work to on starts and gear changes. It was very helpful to rack up against some other teams and check our relatives.
RIYC Team in training, read this article in WindCheck Magazine
Update 25th July
Fresh back from two events in quick succession, the Round 4 Cape 31 event at Lymington (3rd to 6th July) and the IC37 National Championships in Newport, RI (16th to 20th July), the Team is taking a little R&R before they go back into some training on home ground in August.
The Lymington event was the first time that Nathan has been able to compete with the crew, and this worked out well with Nathan getting familiar with crew communications and roles. He has embraced the transition from racing the 29er to Gran Prix racing very well. The event was focused on crew comms, tacks, gybes, hoists and starts. The event served up every condition form 7kts flat water to 30kts in a sea.
The IC37 Nationals took place in the same waters off Newport where the Invitational will be hosted. The event saw a record number of competitors with 26 Teams entered including seven Invitational Cup Teams including, San Diego Yacht Club, New York Yacht Club, Corinthian Yacht Club, Royal Thames Yacht Club, Royal Canadian Yacht Club, and Royal Cork Yacht Club.
The racing was very close with inches between each boat at every rounding throughout the regatta. This event was a unique opportunity to compete at the very top level in the IC37 fleet. The event was the first time that the Valkyrie RIYC Team got the opportunity to race with the full Invitational crew. In a chartered NYYC IC37 (Hull 05), the team were able to get real race time in this very competitive fleet and focused on manoeuvres, straight line speed, gear changes though wind transitions. As the event went on the comms and boat speed improved noticeably. Mark rounding's, hoists, drops , tack and gybes are now at a level that small incremental improvements are being worked on. The Team has identifies a few more areas that require further work on boat speed and speed at start.
The opportunity to racing in the same waters as the invitational gave the team opportunity to work on boarder strategy for the different race tracks outside and inside the bay. Understanding the local wind and tidal conditions can really help with locking down a firm strategy for each race day.
The event used the Velocitek race system which provides each boat with the same electronics package for line and time data. This ensures each boat has the same start and line position data. Despite being in a charter boat with three-year-old sails and their first time racing together as a team on the IC37, they managed to win a prize for being closest to the start line at every start averaged over the regatta.
Confirmed final Team lineup:
Helm & Skipper: David Maguire
Main Trimmer: Dan O'Grady
Tactician: Seafra Guilfoyle
Trim 1: Johnny Durcan
Trim 2: William Maguire
Runners: Nathan Van Steenberge
Pit: Fiona Walsh
Mast: Gary Cullen
Bow: Trudy O'Hare
Bulletin - July 12, 2025
We are excited to report that there will be a record-breaking number of IC37s on the starting line at next week's IC37 National Championship. Twenty-six teams, including several Invitational Cup teams, will be vying for bragging rights. If you are one of those teams, we look forward seeing you next week. For those who will not be competing, you can follow New York Yacht Club Regattas on Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-minute regatta details.
Update 29th May
Preparations of Team Valkyrie to represent the RIYC in the upcoming Rolex New York Yacht Club
Invitation Cup in September are going well.
The team have been regularly training during evenings and every second weekend on board the
Cape 31, Valkyrie. The crew are working on choregraphing manoeuvres, with hours of practicing
tacking, gybing, hoists and drops. Each manoeuvre is timed. The time taken to get back up to full
speed after each manoeuvre is a metric that the Team is constantly trying to improve upon.
Team members have been gaining valuable race time in various regattas. This week Johnny Durcan and Trudy O'Hare are racing together representing Ireland at the 2025 Team Racing World Championships hosted by the New York Yacht Club at Newport Rhode Island. The race area used will be the same as for the Invitational Cup. Twelve teams from 10 counties will compete for World Sailing's Team Racing World Championship title.Durcan is fresh from competing in the latest Iron Man event in Lanzarote (last weekend) where he ranked 14 in his division. This result is a marked improvement on his 41st and 24th in the recent Barcelona and Tallinn Iron Man events.
In early May Seafra Guilfoyle (tactician) claimed victory as they came first Corinthian at the first Italian J/70 Cup. Guilfoyle's Team, Wildcard posted consistent results in the top 10 during the 7-race series. Held on the waters around Yacht Club Livorno from May 2 to 4, saw fierce battles among top tier crews, including the current Corinthian World Champions, but it was the Wildcards' exceptional performance that stole the show this weekend. At the more recent (23-25 May) second J/70 Cup event they posted a third overall result in the Corinthian Division. This level of One-Design Sportsboat racing will ensure that Guilfoyle at tactician is race ready for the upcoming IC37 events.
Valkyrie will compete in the Howth Regatta and Lambay race this coming weekend with normal
service resuming on training the following week. Rather than transport Valkyrie to the UK, Team
Skipper, David Maguire has chartered Shotgun (current Cape 31UK and European Championship
boat) to compete in two UK events: The Cape 31 National Championships at the Royal Yacht
Squadron (20-22 June) and the 4th Round at Royal Lymington (4-6 July). These events are treated
as training regattas for the team and only the core Corinthian crew will be racing rather than the
normal mix of pro and amateur crew. By chartering a Top Flight Cape 31 in the UK, Valkyrie is available for Team training out of the RIYC. The gives the Team maximum training and race time.
Later in July the Team will travel to compete in the 6th IC37 North American Championships (18-20
July) hosted by the New York Yacht Club in the waters off Newport Rhode Island. Maguire has
Chartered one of the New York Yacht Club boats for the event. The regatta will be comprised of
both the NYYC-owned charter fleet and privately owned boats. It is sure to be an incredibly
competitive fleet and a great precursor to the IC37 North American Championship, which will
be held September 26 to 28.
Overall preparation is shaping up well with crew members honing their skills to reach peak
performance by September.
Confirmed Team:
Helm & Skipper: David Maguire
Tactician: Sefra Guilfoyle
Main Trimmer: Dan O'Grady
Kite Trimmer & Crew Boss: Johnny Durcan
Trim 1: Nathan Van Steenberge
Trim 2/Mast: William Maguire
Pit: Gary Cullen
Bow: Trudy O'Hare
Float: TBC
The Royal Irish Yacht Club has nominated Dave Maguire's 'Team Valkyrie' to represent the Club at the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup this September.