San Diego Yacht Club successfully defended its title at the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup on Saturday, overcoming a disastrous start to the final race to capture its second championship in three years.
The California club finished with 63 points after 12 races, edging Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club by five points in a thrilling finale that saw the lead change hands multiple times over the final four legs.
San Diego appeared headed for heartbreak when they rounded the first windward mark in 17th place, well behind the two clubs that could still mathematically win the championship. But a remarkable comeback over the final three legs — highlighted by a surge from 15th to eighth place on the last beat — secured the victory for skipper Jake La Dow and his nine-member crew.
“It was one of those moments where we were waiting for a spectator boat to celebrate for us,” said tactician Adam Roberts, who was also the team’s shot-caller during their unsuccessful 2019 campaign. “We’re not math people, so we really wanted that validation, but we thought we had it.”
The championship was decided in stadium-style racing on Narragansett Bay under perfect conditions, with sunshine and a forecasted sea breeze that arrived on schedule at 1 p.m.
San Diego’s troubles began early in Race 12 when an unexpected crash tack forced them into the low lane on the first beat.
“By the time we were trying to come back, everybody was stacked up on the layline and there was nowhere to go,” Roberts said. “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, but they rounded in 17th — their worst position of the day when it mattered most.
Over the next three legs, the virtual championship lead pinballed between San Diego, Royal Hong Kong and Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Royal Hong Kong made its move with an aggressive jibe set at the first mark, while Royal Vancouver methodically ground down boats ahead of them.
As the fleet approached the second leeward mark with just one beat remaining, Royal Hong Kong sat fourth, Royal Vancouver seventh and San Diego 13th. The race for the championship had become a virtual three-way tie.
The breakthrough came at the final leeward gate when a boat that rounded just ahead of San Diego was flagged by umpires, opening an exit lane. With four-time event champion Rick Merriman locked in on the mainsheet and Roberts calling the tactical shots, La Dow guided his team from 15th to eighth in the space of one leg.
“It starts with that leeward mark rounding, for sure, and just making sure that you have a really clean exit,” Roberts said. “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.”
San Diego’s eighth-place finish was enough to pip Royal Vancouver at the line and clinch the championship. Royal Hong Kong held fourth place to finish second overall with 68 points, while Royal Vancouver took third with 70.1 points.
“We passed San Diego twice, and it just didn’t materialize in the end,” said Royal Vancouver skipper Ben Mumford. “Hong Kong sailed an amazing series, and San Diego just crushed it, just top notch.”
Duncan Gregor, the 21-year-old tactician for Royal Hong Kong, was pleased with his team’s aggressive approach that nearly delivered a championship.
“The pressure was pretty strong down that side, and we had to go aggressive,” Gregor said of their key jibe set. “Ideally you do a straight set and early jibe, but we were a bit deeper, so we thought we’d just go for it.”
The victory marked San Diego’s second title in the prestigious Corinthian competition, following their 2023 championship. Two years ago, they won the final race in dramatic fashion during hurricane conditions with no doubt about the outcome.
This time required more patience and mathematical calculation before the celebration could begin.
“It was relief, like just a huge weight off our shoulders,” Roberts said. “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.”
Rounding out the top five were Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead, Mass., in fourth place and Ireland’s Royal Cork Yacht Club — the only foreign club to attend all nine editions — in fifth.
The host New York Yacht Club finished ninth overall but ended the regatta on a high note, winning the final race by a wide margin.
Twenty teams from 12 countries competed in the ninth edition of the biennial regatta, which has attracted top amateur sailors from 52 of the world’s most prestigious yacht clubs since 2009. The event was sailed in the IC37 class designed by Mark Mills, with each boat owned and maintained by the New York Yacht Club to ensure a level playing field.
The San Diego team consisted of La Dow, Roberts, Merriman, Anderson Reiter, Nick Martin, Kara Voss, Lucy Wallace, Max Hutcheson and David Dempsey.
