(Refiles clarifying full name of sponsor in paragraph eight)
By Alexander Smith
LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) – With a mix of Olympians, America’s Cup sailors, national champions and amateurs, interest in the inaugural New York Yacht Club Women’s International Championship last week was so strong that its organisers are already planning a follow-up in 2028.
“Having seen the success of this one, we’re committed for 2028. We will definitely do it again,” NYYC Commodore Clare Harrington said during the 20-team event, which ended in victory for a US crew skippered by Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick.
Harrington said the quality of the 200 skippers and sailors who committed to the event was impressive, citing New Zealand’s Megan Thomson, who had just completed the Ocean Race Atlantic, as one example.
“She (Thomson) finished the race in Europe and then flew right back over here to get on the IC37. So it’s really pretty cool,” Harrington told Reuters in a video interview.
Thomson’s team ended up 14th in the regatta, in which crews competed in the NYYC’s fleet of identical IC37s, a 37-foot keelboat which the club describes as “a powerful, sporty platform that rewards cohesive crew work and athleticism”.
For Harrington, who in 2025 was elected as the first female commodore in the NYYC’s 182-year history, getting this year’s women-only event onto the water in Newport, Rhode Island, was “kind of an experiment”.
“We kept the entry fee at $5,000 for this championship because we just weren’t sure how this was going to play out,” Harrington said, adding that this compared with around $35,000 for the club’s long-established Invitational Cup.
Financial backing was critical to staging the regatta, with the cost of sails alone totalling around $600,000, and NYYC was able to sign up major sponsors including State Street Investment Management SPY, Rolex and Helly Hansen.
NYYC also had what Harrington described as a “beautiful, spectacular” trophy specially made in Rhode Island by Tiffany.
Harrington said she was shocked and “beyond honoured” when she was made commodore.
“But I never at any point felt that I was appointed, nominated because I’m a woman,” she said, adding: “I would never have accepted it if I thought that was the case”.
“I didn’t come out of thin air. I paid my dues. I’ve worked hard for the club for many years,” she said, pointing out that she had for several years done “probably one of the most difficult jobs at the club” as chair of the race committee.
“I am the first woman, so I feel like there have been a lot of eyes on me,” she added.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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