4 minute read
Podium finish for RNZYS crew at New York Invitational
from BREEZE SPRING 2023
by RNZYS
Above: Cutting it fine, the NZ port-tack crew squeeze past a starboard-tack opponent in the heat of battle.
By Will Reid, Photos by Daniel Forster
The first and only rule for the regatta was simple: have fun. When you’re enjoying yourself, you naturally go faster, and the results follow. In a very competitive Corinthian fleet at the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, this mindset is essential.
As the youngest crew in the fleet of 19 teams representing yacht clubs from all over the world, we adopted this formula and managed to get 3rd overall, just 1pt behind 2nd place; we also won the Resolute Trophy for the best non-American team.
It says a lot that the entire crew, including coach Alex Dyet and special brief guest appearance bonus coach Chris Steele, are graduates of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Mastercard Youth Training Programme.
Well, that was deliberate. When I got the opportunity to organise and lead the team back in early 2022, I recall discussing with Commodore Andrew Aitken that an essential criterion for participating in the crew to represent RNZYS was to be a graduate of the world-renowned YTP.
A couple of the 2023 crew had done the event before in 2019 when we finished 12th. In an impressive fleet, this was a creditable first-time result (the 2021 event had no Australasian teams).
But we’re also hyper-competitive Kiwi yachties, and coming into this edition, it left us with a point to prove.
So when I called Josh Salthouse in February 2022, we had a good chat about how essential it was for us to go again and give a better account of ourselves.
The line-up in the end comprised Andrew Clarke (bow), Byron Van Vugt (mast), Will Reid (pit), Bex Costello (downwind trim)Anna Merchant (upwind trim), Jordan Stevenson (helm), Harry Hull (runners, strategy, moding) and Josh Salthouse (tactics).
Started in 2009 in Swan 42s, the regatta is a biennial event hosted by the New York Yacht Club at its Harbour Court Clubhouse in Newport, Rhode Island. It’s restricted to entirely amateur teams representing yacht clubs from around the world.
In 2019, the club commissioned 20 IC37s to replace the Swans. Suffice to say, it’s some of the most competitive one design racing around, and it’s the best regatta in which I’ve ever been lucky enough to participate.
Arriving in Newport, we took full advantage of the four practice days as coach Alex Dyet took us through a checklist of manoeuvres, scenarios and modes.
From the get-go, the team was slick and kept getting better throughout the event. We did have a couple of tough races, but going into the last day, we were sitting in third and needing some lucky dice to get us into the top spot.
With a hurricane brewing, the regatta had been shortened, but the approaching storm brought some breeze after what had been a largely light and shifty event. With only one race on the final day, a very tight battle ensued for the top honours, which ended up with San Diego Yacht Club coming out on top, followed Corinthian Yacht Club 2nd and RNZYS 3rd.
We’d like to extend our thanks to the New York Yacht Club for their gracious hosting and vision in initiating this event. Also to our sponsors, Zhik, Barkers and Max, North Sails, Brand.it Kiwi, ID Sign Ltd and Live Sail Die.
An enormous thank you, too, to the RNZYS, and in particular to the Sailing Committee for the trust it placed in us. We’re sorry that we didn’t get the top prize, but we’re working on that.
Newport feels like our second home in no small part due to the fantastic people who extended us kindness and generous hospitality. It is one of the best places in the world. We’re already planning to come back and give it another crack. It would be rude not to, right?
