Breault Wins Record Fifth USWMRC Title on Home Waters

The US Sailing Women’s Match Racing Championship was sailed at the St. Francis Yacht Club (StFYC) on August 15 through 17. Ten teams from across the country competed, but it was the three local teams sailing under the burgee of the host yacht club that dominated. StFYC teams swept the podium, taking all of the top three spots over the three days of racing. The advantage of familiarity with the StFYC J/22s, the home venue, and the hours of Monday match-racing practices were apparent.

Nicole Breault and her Vela Racing team, the eventual champions, lost only one race throughout the three days of sailing en route to lifting the Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy. The win marked Breault’s fifth title, breaking a tie with Allie Blecher of California Yacht Club, who had won the previous three titles. The Vela Racing Team is made up of Breault, Molly Vandemoer, McKenzie Wilson, and Hailey Thompson.

“It feels really good to win here,” Breault tells Latitude. “It’s a very tough venue … there are just so many variables that you have to piece together and stay strong through. We saw a bunch of people up on the race deck watching, which was very exciting. It’s just a beautiful place to race, and I can’t describe it: It’s very special to me.”

Breault went undefeated in the round robin. She then swept Marilyn Cassidy’s (California Yacht Club) team and Caroline Bayless’s (Annapolis Yacht Club) team to reach the final. The other semifinal was an all-StFYC showdown between Lindsey Baab and Molly Carapiet’s teams, which went all five races and saw the final race decided by a few inches and an umpire call.

“We were watching the excitement of the semifinal between Molly Carapiet’s team and Lindsay Baab’s team, and they just were totally at war,” Breault says. “They were close in all their matches; they went all the way to five races. We didn’t know who was going to win as they finished across the line. They were just tangled up — it was on a call; it could’ve been either one of them, and I was just like, ‘Wow, this club has some really good sailors.'”

After winning the first race of the final, Breault finally saw a blemish on her scoresheet as Baab took race two. Breault and her team quickly regrouped, winning races three and four to claim the title, which was punctuated by champagne celebrations on the water and then on the dock.

“[Molly Vandemoer and I are] both a little bit older than the average sailor here,” Breault reflects. “We’ve sailed with, trained, and coached a lot of these sailors, and the ones in particular that we knew we were going to meet today. We were really excited about it; we’re really excited about how they’re sailing. Of course you can’t resist a day in the sun. We gave it all we could and I’m happy that we came away with a win. but as I said, ‘The train is a-comin’.’ These teams are good and they want it. They’re hungry, and I’m really proud of them.”

Full results of the 2025 US Sailing Women’s Match Racing Championship can be found here.