The New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, Held in Newport R.I., USA from 16-19 Sept was an event to remember.

The race management and hospitality was reminiscent of the days when teams from the USA ruled supreme in the Americas Cup; a flawless show of national pride, blended with respect for the 19 Clubs, from 14 nations which congregated at the NYYC’s splendid clubhouse, Harbour Court.

The British tendered three teams, from the Royal Yacht Squadron, Royal Thames Yacht Club and RORC, all of whom embraced the Corinthian spirit of the event by selecting young and slightly older amateur sailors and the odd legend.

RORC were represented by a total of two commodores, two past flag officers and two main committee members, along with sailing legend and Chief Executive, Eddie Warden Owen and other experienced offshore sailors. We counted a total of 10 helmsmen, from a crew of 12 and knew our boat handling would need to improve rapidly if we were to get the notoriously ‘twitchy’ Swan 42s around a crowded race course. The other issue was that our average age probably doubled that of some of the other national teams….. Yikes!!

The RORC team enjoyed two practice days, in winds from 3 – 20 knots and it became apparent that Graham Bailey on the Helm and Eddie Warden-Owen would get us around the race course if the others could keep up. Julia Bailey (expert keelboat helm) packed kites with alacrity and Jonathan Goring (normally seen at the blunt end) tried hard to unravel the mass of string on the foredeck. The outcome was a team that made a couple of mistakes per race early on, but were bang on by the end of the regatta.

The other issue to contend with was the infamously shifty conditions around Newport. It was quite usual for the breeze to shift 30 degrees and back up the first beat and then to do the opposite up the second.

The RORC team started with a horror in the first race, getting out of phase up the first beat and recording a 15th out of 19 boats. This was however, to be our worst result and a series of front row starts and improved boat handling and cool tactics saw us regularly racing alongside the top five boats. By the end of the regatta, we were disappointed with any result outside the top 10 and wished we had sailed together as a crew before.

The end result saw New York Yacht Club, led by the legendary Ken Read, win in their home waters. RORC recorded a respectable 10th place, Royal Thames were 13th and The Royal Yacht Squadron were 16th.

The top 5 teams had all sailed together before, in the Swan 42, or similar boats, so we departed Newport, with our tails up, knowing that we will do better next time and privileged to be invited to such a well run event, where the competition was so intense.

Congratulations to New York Yacht Club, on and off the water. We’ll be back in a flash if invited.

Jonathan Goring

RORC Team members

Helm Graham Bailey
Tactics Eddie Warden Owen
Main trim Chris Fry
Jib trim David Aisher
Spinnaker trim Richard Powell
Pit Andrew McIrvine
Pit assist Julia Bailey
Mast Stehen Thorpe
Mid bow Skip Mattox
Bow Jonathan Goring

For full results, tracking and video of the races, visit the event website www.nyyc.org/WorldInvitationalCup/