Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup contenders hope to turn practice into a podium
by New York Yacht Club 8 Aug 07:35 NZST
6-13 September 2025
NYYC Invitational Cup © Paul Todd / Outside Images
One of the best ways to track the intensifying competitiveness of the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is the number of teams taking time to train in Newport in advance of this year's edition, which is scheduled for September 6 to 13 at the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court in Newport, R.I.
More than half of the 20 teams entered in the Invitational Cup have traveled to Newport this summer to sail in at least one IC37 class regatta. Each of the four U.S. teams has made the journey, as have three from Ireland and one each from Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Sweden. In sum, Invitational Cup teams have committed 64 race days to the pursuit of one of sailing's most prized trophies, and that doesn't include travel and practice.
"Everyone's getting better; every iteration of the Invitational Cup, the level keeps going up," says Wade Waddell, the skipper for Corinthian Yacht Club (above), which finished second in 2023 and has put in an all-out effort into moving one step up the podium this year. "If we rolled back to Newport in September at the same level that we were at in 2023, that might not even get us into the top five."
Twenty teams from 13 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 51 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.
For the first edition of the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, a few of the 19 teams came to Newport to enjoy a combination vacation and regatta, a celebration of sailing, if you will. That notion was quickly dispelled once the first gun sounded and the teams found themselves battling a stiff northerly breeze, aggressive competitors and six-foot swell on Rhode Island Sound. While some struggled to adjust to the level of competition, the action in the top half of the fleet was very tight. The winning team averaged a fourth. In the years since, that average has steadily crept upward. En route to the 2023 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, San Diego Yacht Club's average finish was 5.4.
"The founders of this event wanted to create the premier big-boat championship for amateur sailors," says Rear Commodore Peter Cummiskey, the event chair. "They wanted clubs to take it seriously and muster their most talented sailors. But they also knew that would take time to build."
The formula for success involved, in somewhat equal parts, a significant investment in one-design sails and running rigging, a rigorous technical approach to standardizing the mast tune across all boats, on-the-water judging to eliminate any acrimonious post-race protests, an enthusiastic social schedule and a robust media plan.
"The quality of the racing is really second to none," says David Maguire, who will lead the Royal Irish Yacht Club's maiden entry into the Invitational Cup. "Being able to step on board a boat that is specifically designed for this event, with Corinthian-only sailors and some of the best amateur sailors in the world competing is amazing. The format is excellent, the venue is just incredible and New York Yacht Club puts on a great event."
While the Royal Irish Yacht Club will be a first-time entry, Maguire skippered Howth Yacht Club's entry in 2023, so it's hard to really count his team as a rookie entrant. In fact, of the 20 clubs that will be represented on the starting line in September, only two, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Brazil's Yacht Club de Ilhabela, have never competed at the event. At the other end of the spectrum are Royal Cork Yacht Club, the only foreign club to have sailed in each edition, and Japan Sailing Federation, Royal Canadian Yacht Club, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and Yacht Club Argentino, each of which has only missed a single edition. Of course, the New York Yacht Club, which gets an automatic entry as the host, has also sailed in each edition.
After winning the inaugural edition in 2009, the New York Yacht Club has been a regular at the sharp end of the results, finishing second in 2011 and 2015 and fourth in 2017 and 2023, but hasn't won a second time. This September, the host club's entry will be led by skipper Hannah Swett, main trimmer Dave Scott and tactician John Alden Meade.
The team was selected via resume early in 2025 and has pursued an aggressive training program. Coming together as a team and learning to sail the boat in the full range of conditions is a primary goal, but it's not the only one.
"A couple people on our boat haven't done such a long campaign before," says Swett, a former Olympic hopeful in multiple classes, America's Cup sailor and the 2003 US Sailing Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. "It's really fun introducing them to the campaign process. But part of the reason we're sailing so much is so that it all just becomes routine."
That's not an adjective that has often been applied to the Rolex New York Yacth Club Invitational Cup. There's no other event like it. But it's an oft-repeated mantra of athletes in all sports when preparing for a major championship: you have to treat it like any other race. Even if it's most definitely not.