Breault and Team Qualify for US Match Racing National Championship
On May 6 and 7, the St. Francis Yacht Club hosted one of the many qualifiers for the US Match Racing National Championship. The regatta was won by StFYC’s own Nicole Breault and her Vela Racing team, finishing with an 11-3 record.
Breault, the five-time women’s match-racing national champion, qualified for the 2026 Match Racing National Championship for the Prince of Wales Trophy in San Diego in mid-October. Sailing with her were Molly Vandemoer, Hailey Thompson and McKenzie Wilson.
“We were put to the test by the competition and the boat handling,” Breault said of the regatta, per StFYC’s press release. “So much fun, and so necessary to dig deep to pull off wins!”
The regatta, which was sailed in StFYC’s fleet of J/22s on the San Francisco Cityfront, saw two round robins completed. After the first round robin, Breault was not in the pole position. The Vela team was 4-3, with losses to Molly Carapiet (StFYC/SFYC), Shawn Bennett (StFYC) and 2026 California Dreamin’ Series winner Cameron Feves (CBYC). Breault was behind all three in the standings after the first round robin, with both Feves and and Carapiet at 5-2 and Bennett at 6-1. His only loss in the first round robin came at the hands of Lindsey Baab.
It was in the second round robin that Breault would put the pedal to the metal. She and her team swept through the second round robin in classic fashion, winning all seven of their races to give them the opportunity to compete for the Prince of Wales Trophy in the fall.
Coming into the day with three teams ahead of her, and Bennett sitting two wins ahead, Breault was going to need help, and she got it. Feves lost two races, to current Boston College sailor Tor Svendsen (StFYC) as well as Breault. Carapiet had a challenged day, winning only one race. Bennett dropped three races, to Breault, Feves and San Diego Yacht Club’s Kelly Holtus, creating the perfect storm for Breault to catapult herself from off the podium into first place.
It will be a busy fall for Breault as she competes in New York Yacht Club’s inaugural Women’s International Championship in mid-September (covered in detail in the June edition of Latitude 38), and then a week later in the US Women’s Match Racing National Championship. Having now also qualified for the Prince of Wales Trophy, she will be set up for a potentially very special (and certainly very busy) season of sailing.
You can find the full scores for StFYC’s 2026 US Match Racing Championship Qualifier here.