It’s hard to believe one year ago Team SDYC hoisted the Resolute Cup for the first time and earned the highly coveted “US Bid” to compete in the 2019 NYYC Rolex Invitational Cup - the preeminent international amateur regatta. Hosted by New York Yacht Club once every two years, the regatta attracts the best amateur teams representing 20 different yacht clubs around the world. This year the regatta featured 20 new Melges IC37’s, a new class developed by NYYC specifically for the Invitational Cup. The IC37 is a high performance one-design class, designed for competitive in-shore racing, where the true test is the skill of the crew, not the size of their wallets.
A regatta of this magnitude requires a tremendous amount of planning, organizing, and fundraising. Thanks to the support from the SDYC membership and the SDYC Board of Directors, our team completed a successful fundraising campaign putting us in a great position to get practice in the IC37 and spend time at the venue. This July, our team spent 10 days in Newport, RI training and preparing for the Invitational Cup. We were extremely lucky to have SDYC members and local legends Vince Brun, Rick Merriman, and Erik Shampain join us in Newport for the 10-day training camp to coach and sail with us. We also held West Coast practices on the only West Coast IC37 owned by SDYC member and Team SDYC Main Trimmer, Drew Friedes with partner and SDYC member Bill Ruh.
The NYYC Rolex Invitational Cup is a five-day regatta with a total of 12 races and no throwouts. The format is designed to reward consistency and clean sailing, not dissimilar from Collegiate Sailing, or SDYC’s Lipton Cup and Master’s regattas. Our team felt prepared for a long week of sailing and knew that avoiding high-risk situations would put us in a position to be in the mix on the final day – As our bowman Nick Kaschak put it, “You gotta be able to play on Saturday.”
The regatta kicked off as many highly anticipated regattas do, slowly. After a four-hour postponement due to lack of wind, the race committee got off a start in a light, unstable Easterly breeze. It didn’t take long for our team to find our groove and put all our hard-earned practice to work. We rounded the first mark in sixth and climbed our way through the fleet. The race was brutally slow, but our boat speed was not. We ended the race with an impressive second place finish, a great start to what was sure to be a long and competitive week of sailing.
On the second day we put the entire fleet the on notice. If you want to win the regatta, you’ll have to beat SDYC first. After posting a 2nd place finish in the sole race on day one, we followed it up with a 1,3,1 and jumped out to a commanding 17-point lead. It felt like we had the greenlight all day and never took our foot off the gas. Despite an impressive start, we knew the regatta was far from over. It was only just beginning.
The Invitational Cup has a tradition of presenting the “Gold Spinnaker” to whichever team is leading the regatta at the beginning of each day. We were the “lucky” recipients of the Gold Spinnaker on the third day. As we left the dock, we were greeted with a classic New England rainstorm which made for a pleasant hour-long motor/sail to the racecourse, just beyond the Brenton Reef in Rhode Island Sound. This meant strong winds and rough seas. Our team felt prepared and eager to tackle the next challenge. During our pre-race practice, we tore a small hole in the gold spinnaker during one of our maneuvers. Thankfully, we had just enough time to call the bosun and change spinnakers before the start of the first race. Race #5 started like the other four: Clean start, exceptional boat speed and smart tactical decisions. We charged through the course, always passing boats and sailing like we were the team to beat. We finished the race 2nd. A great score in such challenging conditions. The next race was similar, we rounded the weather mark in 6th place, but within striking distance of the leaders. With brilliant boat handling and excellent spinnaker trimming, we managed to pass three boats and sail ourselves into third place as we approached the leeward gate marks. On the final approach to the mark, we came over a wave and heard a loud “pop!” We knew something was wrong. As the boat quickly lost speed, we noticed our spinnaker had quite literally exploded. We quickly pulled down what was left of the blown-out spinnaker and continued sailing the race. We knew the value of every point in a “no throw-out” type of regatta and we did everything we could to salvage the best score we possibly could. We finished the race in 16th... Regattas like these rarely go smoothly and it’s almost an absolute certainty that in order to win, you will have to overcome adversity- we found ours. With our lead now just 4 points, the regatta was wide open and we found ourselves in the thick of the fight.
On Day 4 the RC moved racing inside Narragansett Bay. The inside course saw shifty conditions, with plenty of wind oscillations combined with strong current and unpredictable gusts, making for very exciting, yet frustrating sailing conditions. The team did a great job of putting race #6 behind us. We finished the first two races with an 8th and a 4th - decent scores considering the challenging conditions. In race #9, our tactician, Jake Ladow called for a gybe set on the final run to the finish. The gybe set worked for Southern Yacht Club on the previous run and Jake felt confident in the current relief and favorable wind on that side of the course. As soon as we gybed, we caught a great puff that took us down the racecourse and ultimately put us in the lead. We went from 5th to 1st in a matter of minutes, it was an impressive comeback and a great way to end the day
Going into the 5th and final day, we had a 1-point lead over the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. Our strategy was simple: Keep doing what we had been doing all week but keep an eye on the Aussies. Race #10 didn’t get off to a great start, we were forced to tack out after the gun in search of a clean lane. After finally getting free from the pack, we started chipping away at the fleet, just like we had done all week. By the leeward mark, we found ourselves in 5th place, a great spot considering our start and within striking distance of the leaders. Unfortunately, for the first time all regatta we forgot our “sail clean” mantra and got in foul trouble resulting in costly penalty turns. We finished the race in 18th, our worst finish of the regatta. The regatta had seemingly slipped away from us and we were left wondering, “what just happened?” This would have been an easy time to fold up the tent and come to terms with the fact that we just sailed our way out of the regatta. The outlook was bleak, as we were now 13 points behind Royal Sydney and only 1 point ahead of Royal Canadian Yacht Club who was in third. In race #11, we had one of the best “bounce-back” races I have ever seen. We sailed a beautiful race start-to-finish, showcasing our impressive boat speed and superior boat handling. We won race #11. Royal Sydney finished in 8th, meaning the deficit was now only 6 points with one race to go. The regatta was still up for grabs. In the final race, our strategy was to start near Royal Sydney and take every opportunity to cover their breeze while trying to sail the best possible race we could. We had a great start at the committee end of the starting line. We were in the perfect position to cover Royal Sydney, who happened to be right below us, in our bad air- The situation could not have been more ideal. After tacking on them multiple times up the first beat, we sent them to what appeared to be the less-favorable side of the course. The left side had been paying all day and their appeared to be more wind on the left. Royal Sydney was forced to the right side of the course in search of a clear lane. With the Aussies flushed out the back, or so we thought, our mindset shifted to how can we sail fast, pass boats and put 6 points between us and the Aussies. As we approached the weather mark, we were in third place but close to the leaders. To our surprise, Royal Sydney had found the only right shift on the course that day and rounded just 3 boats behind us... We spent the rest of the race doing everything we could to drive them back, but we were running out of time. Ultimately, we ran out of runway and were forced to finish the race in 2nd with Royal Sydney only a few boats back finishing 4th. While we were disappointed with finishing in second place overall, we were extremely proud of all we had accomplished during the regatta and in the months leading up to it.
Below is a list of some of our accomplishments during the past year as we prepared for the Invitational Cup:
- 1st NYYC One Design Regatta
- 1st Sail Newport Regatta
- Named "Boat of the Week" at the Sail Newport Regatta
- 1st in CRA Beer Can Race #10
- Four 1st place finishes at the NYYC Rolex Invitational Cup
- Top 4 in 9 our of 12 races at the NYYC Rolex Invitational Cup
We’d like to thank everyone who helped make this regatta possible for us. To the many donors whose generosity was instrumental to our team, THANK YOU! To all the supporters who came to Newport to cheer us on, THANK YOU! To our coach, Vince Brun for his leadership and invaluable insights, THANK YOU! To all the SDYC members and supporters back home, THANK YOU! This was an incredible experience and one we will never forget. We are extremely proud to represent the San Diego Yacht Club and all it’s great members. Until next time.
Sincerely, Team SDYC - Tyler Sinks (Skipper), Jake Ladow (Tactician), Drew Friedes (Main Trimmer), Carissa Crawford (Runners and Pit), Nick Kaschak (Bow), Duncan Swain (Boat Captain and Pit), Tori Porter (Pit), Nick Martin (Jib and Spinnaker Trimmer) and Max Hutcheson (Mast and off-side Trimmer), Vince Brun (Coach)
