RCYC Team misses the podium at NYYC Invitational

Sept 26, 2019

Team RCYC had a couple of tough races but came close

It all came down to the final race, as it should. Two teams of accomplished and motivated amateur sailors from opposite corners of the globe battling on a lumpy, windy Narragansett Bay for one of Corinthian sailing’s most-prized trophies, the 2019 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup.

Using the superior boatspeed and sterling tactical that had gotten them out of trouble all regatta, Royal Sydney ground back into the top 10 and then into the top five, leaving San Diego hoping for a miracle that wouldn’t come. The RSYS team was simply too polished. After 12 races in a full range of conditions, they sailed through the final finish line in fourth place to become the first Southern Hemisphere club to win the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup.

Skipper Terry McLaughlin and Team RCYC in their official portrait

While most of the attention was focused on the battle for first, there were a number of developments lower in the standings. Anthony O’Leary and the Royal Cork Yacht Club team once again showed they love to sail in heavy air. They went 5-2-1, won the day, and took advantage of a couple of tough races by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club to claim Royal Cork’s first Invitational Cup podium.

The Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is a biennial competition between yacht clubs, with strict eligibility rules ensuring that each team is comprised almost exclusively of amateur sailors who are members of the club they represent. This year, the event drew 20 teams sailing matched Melges IC37sThe competition, which was first run in 2009, has drawn entries from 43 clubs from 21 nations on all six inhabited continents. The New York Yacht Club won the inaugural event in 2009, with the Royal Canadian Yacht Club winning in 2011 and 2013, England’s Royal Thames Yacht Club winning in 2015 and Southern Yacht Club, from New Orleans, the defending champion having won the trophy in 2017

Top 5

1. Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron 55 points; 2. San Diego Yacht Club 59 points; 3. Royal Cork Yacht Club 70 points; 4. Royal Canadian Yacht Club, 86 points;. 5. Southern Yacht Club (New Orleans, La.) 87 points;

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