13/07/2025
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2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup
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.
Unusually, three top Irish sailing teams, two from Dublin and one from Cork, will contest the Cup this September off Rhode Island. In addition to Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal Cork Yacht Club and Howth Yacht Club are in the line-up of twenty teams from 14 countries competing. The RCYC has competed in every event since its inaugural event in 2009. This will be the first year that RIYC has competed in the Cup and the Club has selected a team that has real potential to podium.
The Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup is a biennial event hosted by NYYC in Newport Rhode Island. This prestigious regatta is widely regarded as the World Championships of One Design Big Boat Corinthian (amateur) racing.
In the lead-up to the Invitational Cup, Maguire and his crew are competing on the Cape 31 Race Circuit with a crew of seven. The Regatta will be raced in the IC37, a high-performance boat with a crew of nine to eleven. Both yachts are designed by Irish designer Mark Mills.
Maguire says the final crew panel for the Invitational Cup is almost complete, with seven of the nine on-the-water crew confirmed. Team Valkyrie is selected from some of the best talent in Ireland with Dan O’Grady (former Olympian in the Soling class), and former Olympic 49er skiff campaigners Seafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan in the lineup. O’Grady and Maguire have competed against one another in their teens in dinghies and more recently in separate Cape 31s, Valkyrie and Aja. 2024 saw them combine forces on the Cape 31, Valkyrie in the IRC European Championships hosted by RIYC in September. This was the first time they have sailed together and cemented the desire to compete for the Invitational Cup representing the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Maguire commented “we are honoured to receive the nomination to represent the Royal Irish Yacht Club and hope to do the Club proud at the 2025 Invitational. We have assembled a strong crew this year and are not going to make up the numbers.”
Commodore of RIYC, Tim Carpenter is no stranger to one design racing with many years competing in the Dragon fleet. The Commodore stated; “ We were honoured and delighted to receive the invitation from the New York Yacht Club to compete in the 2025 Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup. I am very much looking forward to following the Team and watching the event this September.”
The Regatta will comprise an optional practice period beginning September 3rd, registration and more optional practice on September 6th, two days of mandatory practice racing on September 7th and 8th, and five days of racing beginning September 9th. The memorable Rolex Awards Banquet will be held September 13th on the lawn of the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court.