Club Members Michael Ritchie (Revolver) and Chris Way (Easy Tiger) have teamed up and entered the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup which will be run Sept 6-13, 2025 in Newport Rhode Island from the New York Yacht Club (NYYC).
Chris is no stranger to international competition having competed in three Platu 25 world championships, also being an eight-time Asia circuit winner in that class. He has competed in the Farr 40 world championships in Long Beach (2020) and Sydney (2010) placing 6th & 10th respectively. Chris sailed his co-owned Cookson 50 in the Caribbean 600, followed by Antigua Race week in 2020 where they placed 2nd on IRC in the Volvo class division. With Rod Waterhouse, Chris won the crazy and grueling Worrell 1000 race in 2022. Michael , in an earlier life, has had success in the dinghies , with 3 state championships and crewing for the late Ian Bashford in the Hobie 16s, winning the NSW State and Australian Championships then coming 5th in the World championships in Tahiti. In a return to sailing after getting his business off the ground, he has campaigned Revolver consistently in the Super 40 series with Chris, with them more recently winning the Pittwater Regatta on ORC, PHS and Super 40 catagories. He has competed in the last 4 Hobart races as primary trim and helm on Hoek 78 Drumfire as well as primary trim on the 147 ft Dubois Ningaloo in three St Bart’s’ Bucket’s.
For this event, Michael will helm with Chris as Skipper on main. The pair will be drawing from the depth of the best amateur skills the RPAYC has to offer, with competitors required to be World Sailing carded amateurs as at 15 July 2025 and yacht club members from June 2024.
They will be training for the event on Revolver, a Ritchie 38 design designed by club member and Michael’s father Bruce Ritchie. Over September/October this year, Revolver has been specifically modified to hold a square top main with runners and a similar deck layout to make it now a very similar set up to Melges IC37. Beyond that, the plan is to compete in a couple of IC37 open events in the northern spring ahead of the Invitational Cup.
Importantly, with 6 positions filled, the program is looking for someone to fill tactician role and further 1 or 2 crew, with the final number determined by crew weight criteria. If you are a current member (possibly a lapsed member) and would be interested, please contact the Rear Commodore of yachting to register interest, rc.yachting@rpayc.com.au
Training begins January Jan 12 and Feb 1st and 2nd, 2025, and stay tuned as the team builds its preparations towards this event on their Instagram site, @revolverracing.ritchie38
