Over the weekend of August 10-12, twelve SDYC members had the opportunity to represent our club at undoubtedly the most prestigious team race, The Morgan Trophy at New York Yacht Club Harbour Court. This invititation only, three-day team race is held in Sonar type boats with a crew of four. Merely getting an invitation is a true honor as the fleet was a collection of the most reputable programs in the USA/Great Britain. Even though the SDYC keelboat team-racing program is brand new, we are already taking the scene by storm.
The event started with a single round robin, where we sailed against every team once. We certainly started our event a bit rusty compared to the much more experienced competition. However you cannot keep a good team down, and once we had shaken the rust off a bit, we started collecting some W’s. We sailed a solid first round and clinched a spot in the gold fleet. Half way through day two, we started the Gold fleet rounds against eventual winner Seawanhaka YC, Larchmont YC, Newport Harbor YC, NYYC 1 and NYYC 2. All of these teams had leaps and bounds more experience on the keelboat team racing scene, so when we were taking wins away from them, it felt extra special. We sailed to a slightly disappointing 4-6 record in the Gold fleet, which put us in 6th place overall for the event.
Beyond the racing we were treated to some of the most scenic after racing get togethers you could possibly experience. If you have never had the pleasure of making it to NYYC Harbour Court, put it on the bucket list. On Saturday night there was a lovely catered coat and tie event with all of the competitors. A few great speeches and many thanks were given to the host club NYYC for hosting an amazing event with an immense amount of talent.
There is no way that we would have been able to make an appearance without the support of the SDYC Competition Syndicate Fund and to all those who make it possible. A huge thank you from the SDYC Morgan Trophy team: Mikee Anderson-Mitterling, Tyler Sinks, John Reiter, Austin Dias, Morgane Renior, Parker Mitchell, Mandi Markee, Brian Stanford, Frank Tybor, Eric Heim, Nick Martin and Adam Roberts. We all look forward to not only representing SDYC again very soon, but also being a part of the development of the SDYC Keelboat Team Racing Team, and eventually bring. Next goal is to bring the circuit to SDYC!
We all agreed that our overall result does not adequately represent how well we sailed as a whole, however there is no denial team SDYC is on the fast track to the top. One cannot help but think about all the talent we possess within the walls of SDYC. Between the College Sailing All Americans, Rolex Sailors of the year, Olympians, America’s Cup legends, World Champions and etc., we have the foundation to field a star-studded unbeatable team racing team. However, without we need your participation in the practices and other regattas it is never going toto make it happen. If you are thinking that keelboat team racing might be fun, do not hesitate to step in and sail because the more the merrier.
Thank you again!
-SDYC Morgan Team