“We’ve seen this movie before.”
That thought had to be running through the minds of the nine sailors on the San Diego Yacht Club team—and their fan base watching the live broadcast back at home—as they found themselves in the blender at the top of the first beat of the deciding race of the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. In 2019, the team’s first bid to win this prestigious Corinthian competition came undone when they missed the layline for the second windward mark in Race 10. Was it about to happen again?

“We had an unexpected crash tack come at us, which forced us into that low lane,” said tactician Adam Roberts, who was also the team’s shot-caller in 2019. “By the time we were trying to come back, everybody was stacked up on the layline and there was nowhere to go. We ended up ducking everybody. It was a definite down moment.”

TracTrac’s race tracker had San Diego in seventh as they approached the mark. The team rounded in 17th, well behind Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, the two teams that were mathematically alive for the championship.

Over the course of the next three legs, the virtual lead in the regatta pinballed between the three clubs. Royal Hong Kong made its move with a jibe set at the first mark. Royal Vancouver was more methodical, grinding down the boats in front of them. As the fleet approached the second leeward mark, with just one beat remaining in the regatta, Royal Hong Kong was fourth, Royal Vancouver was seventh and San Diego sat in 13th. The race for the championship was a virtual three-way tie.

“It starts with that leeward mark rounding, for sure, and just making sure that you have a really clean exit,” said Roberts. “Luckily, we did. Then we had a quick tack, found our wheels, had clean air, even though we were in the back of the pack, and that’s what it takes. We found a nice righty at the top to take it into the finish.”
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club was able to hold the fourth place they’d earned on the first downwind leg and when Royal Vancouver finished just a few feet behind San Diego and Royal Prince Alfred, it was Royal Hong Kong that moved into second in the final standings.

Two years ago, sailing on the edge of a hurricane, San Diego won the final race and there was no doubt about who won the regatta. This year, it took a little more time for the realization to set in.

“It was one of those moments where we were waiting for a spectator boat to celebrate for us,” said Roberts.

“We’re not math people, so we really wanted that validation, but we thought we had it.

“Then, once we got the thumps up, it was game on. It was relief, like just a huge weight off our shoulders. But also, extreme excitement. It’s such a difficult event. I feel like this was one of the strongest Invitational Cups ever. Everybody brought their A-game, everybody prepared in these boats. And though we had a nice cushion in the middle of the regatta, we knew it was still going to be a grind to the end, and it certainly was.”

Rounding out the top five were Corinthian Yacht Club in fourth and Royal Cork Yacht Club, the only foreign club to have attended all nine editions, in fifth. New York Yacht Club didn’t have the regatta it hoped for, finishing ninth, but ended on a strong note winning the final race by a wide margin.

San Diego Yacht Club team: Jake La Dow, skipper; Adam Roberts, tactician; Rick Merriman, Anderson Reiter, Nick Martin, Kara Voss, Lucy Wallace, Max Hutcheson, David Dempsey, crew.

Of the 20 teams competing in this year’s Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup, ten were members of ICOYC. Congratulations to all ICOYC Member Clubs that competed:
– Eastern Yacht Club
– Royal Canadian Yacht Club
– Royal Cork Yacht Club
– Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
– Royal Swedish Yacht Club
– Royal Thames Yacht Club
– Royal Vancouver Yacht Club
– San Diego Yacht Club
– Yacht Club Italiano
– Yacht Club Punta Del Este

Final Results (Races 1-12) >>