Detroit Cup: preview of racing

Detroit, MI (August 24, 2023) – The Detroit Cup is the second stop on the 2023 US Grand Slam series, featuring 12 teams competing in from August 24-27.

A talented field of 12 teams hailing from Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA will start Round Robin competition today in the 15th edition of the Detroit Cup, hosted by Bayview Yacht Club. This World Sailing Grade 2 match racing event, part of the World Match Racing Tour, is the second of four Grade 2 events in the US Grand Slam series and is raced in equally-matched Ultimate 20’s on courses set in front of BYC on the Detroit River.

“We’re really excited to once again offer world-class match race sailing here at Bayview,” said regatta chairman Lance Smotherman. “This club has a heritage of supporting not just this international event but national-level match racing as well, and we’re proud that the Detroit Cup always attracts some of the top talent in the game from around the world.”

The roster of skippers this year is impressive, starting with Chris Poole (USA) from Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, ranked No. 1 in the World Ranking List. Poole has not only done well here in previous Detroit Cups, he and his Riptide Racing Team won this year’s Congressional Cup, the only Grade 1 match race event in the US, as well as the World Championship in Sydney last December.

Next in the rankings is Megan Thomson (NZL) from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron at 19th in the Open rankings and 4th in the Women’s rankings, followed by Cole Tapper (AUS) from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia who is ranked 26th in the world, last year’s Australian Youth Match Race Champion and runner-up at this year’s Governor’s Cup. Tapper finished third at last year’s Detroit Cup.

Ruairi Finnegan (IRL) from Waterford Harbour Sailing Club is ranked 39th in the world and is also returning to Bayview from last year, as is James Pinder (GBR), ranked 101st in the world and back for his fourth Detroit Cup. Ryan Seago (USA) is Bayview Yacht Club’s local ace, having finished as runner-up at last year’s Detroit Cup and is ranked 71st in the world.

Max Paul (AUS) and his team from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron are ranked 160th in the world and are making their debut here in Detroit, as is Bridget Groble’s (USA) 186th-ranked Bow Down Racing team from Chicago Yacht Club.

Justin Callahan (USA) from Biscayne Bay Yacht Club is an undergraduate at Harvard, and while his team recently won the ICSA Team Race College National Championship he is relatively new to match racing, ranking 216th in the world. Like Callahan, Michael Kirkman (USA) is another Boston-based collegiate sailor also new to match racing, representing Bayview Yacht Club and ranked 438th in the world.

Matt Whitfield (GBR) representing Plym Yacht Club has a team that is racing for the first time together but all met through events at Bayview and the Governor’s Cup. Last but not certainly not least, Gavin Brady (USA) representing Annapolis Yacht Club is currently unranked in the world standings, having had a significant hiatus since his active years match racing in the 1990’s and ‘00’s in the America’s Cup and other events. His True Blue Racing team finished second in last weekend’s Chicago Match Cup, the first stop on the US Grand Slam Tour.

Racing is scheduled to start today at 10:00 AM, with the format of Round Robin, Quarter-Final, Semi’s and Finals running daily until August 27th.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Source: Dobbs Davis