The 2019 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup came down to the final race, as it should. Two teams of accomplished and motivated amateur sailors from opposite corners of the globe battling on a lumpy, windy Narragansett Bay for one of Corinthian sailing’s most-prized trophies.

Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and San Diego Yacht Club started the 12th and final race separated by 6 points, which was anything but a safe margin in this competitive 20-boat fleet. The Australian team had the edge in the overall standings, but skipper Guido Belgiorno-Nettis and his team put the regatta title right in play with a sub-par start while San Diego bolted to the head of the fleet and was, for a while, back in the virtual regatta lead.

Using the superior boatspeed and sterling tactical acumen that had gotten them out of trouble all regatta, Royal Sydney ground back into the top 10 and then into the top five, leaving San Diego hoping for a miracle that wouldn’t come. The RSYS team was simply too polished. After 12 races in a full range of conditions, they sailed through the final finish line in fourth place to become the first Southern Hemisphere club to win the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Belgiorno-Nettis shortly after a dockside celebration with his team. “You can’t describe the feeling of coming all the way from Australia, to be able to put a team together who I love dearly, every one of them, starting with my wife, to actually win a championship like this. The New York Yacht Club Invitational is one of great regattas in the world.”

The Invitational Cup is a biennial regatta hosted by the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court in Newport, R.I. Since the event was first run in 2009, it has attracted top amateur sailors from 43 of the world’s most prestigious yacht clubs from 21 countries. After five editions in the Swan 42 class, the 2019 event was sailed in the IC37 by Melges, designed by Mark Mills and built by Westerly Marine in Santa Ana, Calif., and FIBRE Mechanics in the United Kingdom. The strict one-design nature of this new, purpose-built class combined with the fact that all 20 boats are owned and maintained by the New York Yacht Club, ensures a level playing field unique to amateur big-boat sailing.

Save for one bad race on the regatta’s third day, the San Diego YC team had sailed a nearly flawless regatta through nine races. Even though they carried a 1-point lead into the final day, it was hard to bet against the youthful West Coast squad. But then came the second windward mark rounding of the final day’s first race. With Royal Sydney rounding ahead, in third place, San Diego tried to squeeze just too much out of a thin layline and ended up pasted to the windward mark while the bulk of the fleet sailed past. A certain top-10 finish became an 18th.

Now trailing first place by 13 points, SDYC skipper Tyler Sinks and crew showed remarkable resilience with a win in the second race while Belgiorno-Nettis and crew (at left) struggled to an eighth. That brought the title back into reach for the final race. With the pressure on, the Australians rose to the occasion.

“Luckily for us, we’re good in the [stronger winds] and there was quite a lot of wind in that last race, and we were able to get the boat rumbling,” said Belgiorno-Nettis. “Mike Dunstan, my main trimmer, and my other trimmer on jib, David Edwards, they just set up the boat so it was easy for me to sail. I could just punch the numbers out. It’s all about being consistent. So we were able to chip our way up from quite deep. We were in 12th at the start and ended up in fourth. That was pretty good. Occasionally I’d look around and see where people are…think to myself ‘oh how did that happen?’”

While most of the attention was focused on the battle for first, there were a number of developments deeper in the standings. Anthony O’Leary and the Royal Cork Yacht Club team once again showed they love to sail in heavy air. They went 5-2-1, won the day, and took advantage of a couple of tough races by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club to claim Royal Cork’s first Invitational Cup podium.

“We’re absolutely thrilled. This is our sixth visit, first time to make the podium, so it makes it very special,” said O’Leary. “We were eight points behind Canada [starting the day] which is a lot in one respect, but with three races anything is possible. We had one dreadful result on Thursday. You just got to wait and see how the cards fall. We had a five [in the first race today] and you’re thinking, ‘They’re may be two more races, maybe one.’ Things seemed to go better and better for us. We’re delighted.”

Another team that spent the day on the up escalator was the crew representing the host New York YC, led by co-skippers Andy Fisher and Ray Wulff. After an inconsistent regatta, the team found its groove on the final day. With three solid races, including a wire-to-wire win in the day’s first race, Fisher, Wulff and Co. moved from 10th to sixth in the overall standings.

“As a team we just came together, and each day we were getting stronger and stronger,” said Wulff. “Today we just felt, ‘You know what, we’ve just got to go out there and sail as strong as we can.’ Representing the Club, we wanted to make sure we finished on a strong note.”

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NEWPORT, R.I. — To describe the tactical approach which led Eastern Yacht Club to the low-point score of Day 3 of the 2017 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, Ben Richardson used a word not often associated with successful big-boat sailing: reactionary. “You had to be pretty reactionary,” said Richardson, a former Laser Masters World Champion and Pan Am Games competitor. “We never went into any particular race saying, ‘Oh, you’ve got to go left,’ or ‘You’ve got go right.’ You had to continually adapt up the beat and see where the pressure was. There were pretty big pressure differentials and you had to connect the dots up the beat, and on the run.”

Eastern Yacht Club moved from fourth to third in the overall standings and now has a 15-point advantage over a pack of boats clumped in fourth to ninth. Southern Yacht Club finished third on the day, but only two points behind Eastern, and leads the regatta by 9 points over Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, which won two of the day’s three races.

The 2017 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup takes place September 9 to 16 at the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court, in Newport, R.I. Amateur sailors representing 14 yacht clubs from around the globe have converged on Newport to race in the ultimate one-design, big-boat competition. The boats and sails are provided and the rig tune is standardized across the fleet. The Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is sponsored by Rolex, Porsche, Nautor’s Swan, AIG and Helly Hansen and is being broadcast live via the web.

One of the key calls of the day came well before the first start. Principle Race Officer Ron Hopkins initially sent the fleet to the offshore course, but when the fog rolled in he reversed coursed and moved the fleet north of Gould Island, inside Narragansett Bay, where the water is flatter, the wind is a little less predictable and the racing is more frenetic.

Not surprisingly, some teams that had struggled offshore came alive on the “inside” course, including the Japan Sailing Federation, which scored a third, fifth and seventh on the day and moved from 10th to seventh in the overall standings.

“For us, the outside course was not so good,” said Yasutaka Funazawa, the skipper for the Japan Sailing Federation. “So we have to change something. We are getting better. Today was more the team working well.”

Also making the most of “moving day,” as the middle day of a long regatta is often known, was the host New York Yacht Club, which found its rhythm after a string of tough races to start the regatta and moved from 11th to sixth on the strength of a fifth and two fourths.

“I went to school at Boston University and sailed in the Charles River, so shifty conditions have always been good for me,” said tactician Brad Read. “We’re starting to get more confidence. We’ve been working really hard, out there between races we’re doing timed runs at the start. We just haven’t been very good at it [during the first six races]. So practice makes perfect, and we’re practicing really hard between races to get our time and distance right.

“Our motto going into today was: it’s the start of the fourth quarter and its 28-9,” Read added, referencing the New England Patriots’ improbable comeback last February in Super Bowl 51. “It’s just picking away, every tack is important, every jibe is important, every mark rounding is important. We’re doing the little things now and it’s making it more fun to go sailing.”

Not surprisingly, however, the teams that were really strong on the first two days, continued to shine. Great teams transcend the conditions. Southern Yacht Club and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron combined to win all three races and take four of nine podium positions today. The Australian team knocked a point off the 10-point lead Southern enjoyed in the overall standings to start the day and both boats, along with Eastern, moved further clear of the rest of the fleet.

“Two years ago we got off to a similar start,” said Richardson. “[In 2015] once we moved inside during the last few days of the regatta, we really turned a corner and came right back in it. The same thing happened today. Our starts were improved, but as everybody knows, getting away from other boats makes a huge difference.”

Richardson also noted that after six days of practice and racing, each team has found its comfort zone in the Swan 42s.

“If you give away a little bit, that’s something you’re not going to get back,” Richardson said. “We’ve all been sailing for six days, and some teams came more prepared than others. But every team is getting it down now.”

The race for first has really come down to three boats, and two of them will need some help from the current leader if they want to hoist the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup trophy on Saturday. Another strong day by Southern tomorrow may well sort out the overall podium. The most interesting racing may focus on the battle for fourth, with six teams all within 8 points of that spot. Those positions are unlikely to be decided until the final beat of the final race.

Racing for the 2017 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup will start Friday and Saturday at 11 a.m. There are three races remaining in the 12-race series. Tune in to the event Facebook page for live coverage of the regatta.

For full results: http://mailchi.mp/nyyc/experience-runs-throughout-15-strong-fleet-for-2017-rolex-nyyc-invitational-cup-570485?e=91dffca147

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