Resolute Cup: Can your club bring it?

The Resolute Cup, a Corinthian championship for U.S. yacht clubs, will return to its original format in 2020, utilizing two fleets of keelboats for the sixth edition of this signature biennial competition. Hosted by the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court in Newport, RI, racing will be from September 16 to 19.

A two-day qualifying series will see 24 teams of amateur sailors representing yacht clubs from around the United States split their races between fleets of 23-foot Sonars and 21-foot RS21s. For the final two days, the championship fleet will sail exclusively in the RS21s while the silver fleet will sail the Sonars.

“This event was created to reward the best team from the strongest club, not necessarily the sailors with the most experience in a certain class,” says Chris Culver, Vice Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. “Using two very different designs—one with a traditional spinnaker, the other with an asymmetric flown off a sprit—will ensure that the 2020 Resolute Cup champion is truly the best team of amateur sailors in the event.”

The Resolute Cup was first run in 2010 as the U.S. Qualifying Series for the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. The biennial regatta, which is sailed out of the New York Yacht Club Harbor Court, has since developed an identity of its own.

Yacht clubs from around the United States send their best amateur sailors to Newport, R.I., to compete for national bragging rights in addition to a trip to the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, sailing’s premiere international Corinthian big-boat regatta.

Racing in two distinct fleets of boats was a hallmark of the first four editions of the Resolute Cup. The Club’s fleet of Sonars, designed by longtime Club member Bruce Kirby, have been a consistent part of the regatta, while the second fleet has rotated through a series of designs. In each event, however, winning the regatta required seamlessly adapting crew responsibilities, tactical strategy and boat speed techniques to each design.

Teams intimately familiar with one of the designs found any advantage muted by the dual fleets and the regatta’s use of identical, provided sails and standardized rig tuning. Perhaps more than any other event in sailing, the Resolute Cup is decided by a team’s skills, cohesion and sound decision-making on the water.

As an amateur-only event, teams shall consist of three or four crew members with at least one male and one female on the crew (event details). The request for invitation (click here) process has been extended until Friday, February 7.

Source: NYYC