Newport, R.I. — In preparation for the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club acquired an IC37 in the hope that better familiarity with the regatta’s platform would lift the team into podium contention after a 12th in 2021 and a ninth in 2023. However, without another one within 2,000 miles, their training in the boat was limited to solo efforts on English Bay, which, as any one-design yachtsman will tell you, is far from ideal; you never lose a one-boat regatta.
With a 5-1-1 on the course today and a vault into second place in the regatta, clearly the solo training was nonetheless quite effective. Tomorrow, the Canadian team will start the final race of the regatta with a top-4 position locked in and first place within reach.
“It felt amazing,” said Ben Mumford, the team’s skipper (at left with Rear Commodore Peter Cummiskey). “This is what we’ve been shooting for, this is what we wanted for the past three cycles. We have been working so hard on moding the boat, the crew working in unison, and making sure that they were on the same page moding the boat all the time. And when you’re in those trying conditions, especially today in that chop, it was all the crew. It was the trimmers up and down and the team moving in unison, everybody just working together. That’s what got us around the racecourse and into podium position today.”
Despite a tough day on the water, a first followed by a 16th and a ninth, San Diego Yacht Club remains in first and will fly the leader’s yellow spinnaker on the final day. But the lead that started the day at 17 points is now effectively 7 points. The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club remains in contention, 9 points out of first. Behind the top three is a gaggle of five boats, separated by 12 points, fighting for the final two spots on the five-deep podium. The forecast is for light winds in the morning, so the race committee has delayed the start of the final race until 1 p.m. The race area will be determined in the morning.
“We’ve been sailing together on the IC37 for about 18 months,” said Arthur Gooch, the Royal Vancouver pitman. “A bunch of us sail together on another program and we’ve probably been together for like six or seven years. So we know each other incredibly well and are pretty dialed, knowing where each other are on the boat. And all that time together just translates really well into maneuvers.”
While the J/111 on which the team usually sails is about the same size and speed as an IC37, it’s still a different boat.
“The spinnaker takedown line and the runners are the big rig changes, compared to what we usually race on,” said Gooch. “So just getting used to how those things work, and we have crew members doing slightly different positions, and it takes time to get used to that.
“We were fortunate to be able to hire a coach that could come in and, politely, I’ll say, criticize us. It was a lot of windward-leeward, hot-lap practice, really dialing in the boat handling as much as we can. You can’t tune boat-on-boat when you’re the only ones out there. A lot of our practice back home was focused on maneuvers.”
The regatta almost came crashing down on their heads before it even started. A collision of rigs during the first start left Royal Vancouver’s IC37 with a bent spreader bracket that couldn’t be fixed. The team started the regatta for which it had been preparing for 18 months with a sixth and two DNFs. While they would received redress for the missed races, a bigger problem was what to sail the rest of the way. While the other crews were enjoying socializing on Tuesday after three hard-fought races to open the regatta, the Royal Vancouver crew was helping past sunset to prepare a replacement boat.
A sixth in Wednesday’s first race helped calm any nerves, and the team set about building its scoreline from there. Like every team in this hyper-competitive regatta, it’s been an up-and-down affair. RVYC had a 10th on Wednesday and a 14th to close racing on Thursday.
“Yesterday finished in a pretty tough way,” says Gooch. “We were in a strong position. We had a really difficult last race. So everyone was focused, but trying to like keep it glued down going into today. We did really well today. So on the other end of the spectrum. We’re all just trying to enjoy it, but not think about it too much because we have one more race and we have to get it done.”
Picking off San Diego will not be easy. Royal Vancouver will need to put seven boats between itself and the defending champions. Not counting the 16th in today’s second race, SDYC hasn’t finished worse than eighth in a race. But win, place or show, the Royal Van team has already made the home club proud.
“I’ve been getting a bunch of text messages, as have a bunch of the rest of the crew,” said Gooch. “We were reading them off as we were driving in. A lot of people are really excited about what we’re doing.”
The 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup will conclude tomorrow, with the lone remaining race starting at 1 pm (EDT). Live coverage of the deciding race, via YouTube and Facebook, will start roughly at 12:55 pm.
New York Yacht Club Harbour Court
Newport, R.I.
Results after Day 4
1. San Diego (Calif.) Yacht Club (7-1-1-1-2-8-7-2-1-16-9) 55 points
2. Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, CAN (6-RDG/5.6-RDG/5.6-6-10-3-4-14-5-1-1) 61.1 points
3. Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (3-4-4-3-20-4-3-5-2-3-13) 64 points
4. Corinthian Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass. (5-7-11-11-8-10-8-1-11-4-2) 78 points
5. Royal Cork Yacht Club, IRL (14-5-12-10-6-2-12-103-2-6) 82 points
6. Royal Canadian Yacht Club (10-3-2-2-3-5-5-17-15-7-20) 89 points
7. Royal Swedish Yacht Club (11-2-5-7-9-6-6-16*-14-10-3) 89 points
8. Royal Thames Yacht Club, GBR (2-11-3-13-5-1-10-12-4-13-16) 90 points
9. Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass. (13-15-14-8-4-9-2-6-8-8-8) 95 points
10. New York (N.Y.) Yacht Club (8-9-6-5-12-7-11-817-9-15) 107 points
11. Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, ITA (1-8-8-9-16-16-14-16-6-5-12) 111 points
12. Japan Sailing Federation (19-10-16-4-1-14-NSC/21-3-9-11-7) 115 points
13. Howth Yacht Club, IRL (9-16-15-12-11-13-15-412-12-4) 123 points
14. Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, AUS (12-6-10-16*-16*-12-18-18-18-15-10) 151 points
15. Royal Irish Yacht Club (16-12-18-20-7-15-16-9-7-14-18) 152 points
16. Yacht Club Italiano (15-14-19-14-19-19-9-7-20-6-11) 153 points
17. Yacht Club Punta del Este, URU (4-17-13-17-13-11-17-20-13-18-19) 162 points
18. Itchenor Sailing Club, GBR (DSQ/21-13-18*-19-17-18-2*-11-19-20-5) 163 points
19. Yacht Club de Ilhabela, BRA (RET/21-18-7-16-19*-20-13-13-10-17-17) 171 points
20. Yacht Club Argentino (18-19-9-18-14-17-NSC/21-19-16-19-14) 184 points
*Score includes 1-point umpire penalty
Photos: ROLEX / Daniel Forster (4)
