Grand Prix Sailing: SailGP and Women’s Match Racing
The Women’s Match Racing Tour and SailGP both held grand prix world tour events on the East Coast last weekend.
Women’s Match Racing Tour
California sailors flew east to bring silver back west from the 2025 Santa Maria Cup for Women’s Match Racing. It was hosted on Chesapeake Bay by the Eastport Yacht Club. First was taken by Team Baam, skippered by Allie Blecher from California Yacht Club, with crew Beka Schiff, Rose Edwards, and Ali Blumenthal Stokes. In the final they defeated Vela Racing team, skippered by Nicole Breault from the St. Francis Yacht Club, with crew Evan Brown Cahill, McKenzie Wilson, and Julie Mitchell. It was a light-air final, with Allie taking the title 3-0. Having run for over 20 years, the Santa Maria Cup is one of the longest-running women’s match-racing regattas in the USA. Hosted by the Eastport Yacht Club, it’s been an official event of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour since 2022.
The Santa Maria Cup in the Chesapeake was preceded by the Women’s Match Racing Vela Cup hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club. Again, four-time women’s match-racing champion Nicole Breault made it to the finals but ended up second to the winner, French match-racing skipper Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink Normandy team. This was another close-fought battle where races were decided by seconds.
The next event on the Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the Nordea Women’s Trophy, to be held in Marstrand, Sweden, June 30 to July 5.
SailGP
Last weekend was the next SailGP event in New York, which saw all 12 teams back on the line after skipping the event in Brazil. The downtime was used to rejigger the rigs on all the boats to prevent another catastrophic wing collapse like the one that occurred on Team Australia’s boat in the last event on San Francisco Bay.
As in the last event on the Bay, it was Diego Botin and the Spain SailGP team that took the prize money in the three-boat final. Spain had a start-to-finish lead in the final race against New Zealand and France. Overall conditions in New York Harbor were light, with only three-person crews on Saturday and full crews on a somewhat breezier Sunday. After a win on the Bay and in New York, the Spanish team is in the lead for the season, followed by BONDS Flying Roos in second, and Peter Burling and New Zealand in third.
Once again Team USA found it all hard going. With a top finish of seventh, they ended the series in last place. Brazil demonstrated their potential, with female skipper Martine Grael notching their first race win and finishing the series in fourth place, just missing the three-boat final. Complete results here.