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Howth Yacht Club Invited Back To New York Invitational in September 2023

16th May 2022
Royal Cork YC getting the best of a start in the 2021 NYYC Invitational
Royal Cork YC getting the best of a start in the 2021 NYYC Invitational

It's one of the hottest tickets in international Corinthian sailing, and invites to take part are like gold dust.

It's the biennial New York Yacht Club Invitational, raced in Mark Mill-designed IC37s in the sacred waters off Newport Rhode Island.

Yet although Royal Cork YC with Anthony O'Leary as skipper had made something of a speciality of being Ireland's sole representative with regular appearances in the top three, it seems that Howth YC's debut last year with a crew led by Darren Wright has passed muster, as they've been invited back for 2023's series.

But with the Howth offshore racing division currently experiencing an upsurge of success, team selection is going to be a hot topic, and HYC Commodore Paddy Judge has asked for realistic proposals for potential teams by Friday, May 20th (yes, that is indeed this coming Friday) as the NYYC plans to have the lineup confirmed by mid-June 2022, nearly 14 months in advance.

WM Nixon

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WM Nixon

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

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New York Yacht Club’s biennial Invitational Cup

Ireland has a proud history in New York Yacht Club’s biennial Invitational Cup, with Irish participation from the very start and a podium result in 2019.

In 2009, two Irish Clubs,  Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire and Royal Cork in Crosshaven, entered into New York's newest sailing competition that was reminiscent of Newport’s America’s Cup days when 19 yacht club teams from 14 nations descended on this “City by the Sea”.

The Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is a competition between yacht clubs, with strict eligibility rules ensuring that each team is comprised exclusively of amateur sailors.

The competition, which was first run in 2009, has drawn entries from 49 clubs from 22 nations on all six inhabited continents.

The New York Yacht Club won the inaugural event in 2009, with the Royal Canadian Yacht Club winning in 2011 and 2013, England's Royal Thames Yacht Club winning in 2015 and Southern Yacht Club from New Orleans winning in 2017.

In 2019 the regatta was sailed for the first time in the New York Yacht Club’s fleet of IC37 yachts, and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, from Australia, became the first Southern Hemisphere club to win the trophy. And it was in this edition that Anthony O’Leary’s Royal Cork team took the bronze medal.