Positive sign for women’s team racing

Courtesy of a unblemished 9-0 performance on day one, the St. Francis Yacht Club (San Francisco, CA) team narrowly held on among the ten teams to win the 2024 Women’s 2v2 Team Race on June 1-2 in Newport, RI.

But any notion that the West Coast team could coast through the five-team Gold Round Robin was squashed in the first few races. The New York Yacht Club led by Emily Maxwell team won twice—beating St. Francis for the second win—and Newport Harbor Yacht Club (Newport Beach, CA) won once. Just like that, two teams were each sitting one win away from a tie for the overall lead.

“Team racing is a a game where there are going to be mistakes made, where you can easily lose an advantage, lose control,” said Molly Carapiet, skipper and team captain for St. Francis. “It’s just about kind of shaking it off, and moving forward to the next move and what the next play is.”

Racing in provided Sonars, it took a few deep breaths before Carapiet and her teammates rediscovered their rhythm, winning their next two races to guarantee St. Francis the title with one race still remaining on their dance card.

“It feels great,” said Carapiet. “We had really great teamwork all weekend. And on each boat, the boathandling was really strong.”

Team Chesapeake emerged from a three-way tie to take second, with New York Yacht Club Maxwell third and Newport Harbor Yacht Club fourth.

While two-on-two team racing shares much with the more recognizable three-on-three format that is a mainstay of scholastic and collegiate sailing, it does have some subtle differences. The last-place-loses format truly means no race is decided until the first three boats cross the finish line.

Thus, to post a 9-0 scoreline for St. Francis was impressive. “There were a lot of really tight races,” says Carapiet. “It was holding our breath, just taking one race at a time, trying to keep it simple and keep moving forward.”

The penultimate race of the regatta pitted St. Francis against Newport Harbor, the two top teams from the full round robin. It was a thrilling match that featured aggressive team racing around the course and was decided by just a few feet, with Newport Harbor taking the win.

Ultimately, the race had no impact on the final standings with St. Francis guaranteed the overall win and Newport Harbor locked into fourth. But it was a positive sign for the future of women-only team racing.

“The depth in the women’s team racing has definitely increased over the past few years. I’ve been doing this a long time. It’s really cool to see the next generation, and, with women’s college team racing [on the rise], there’s another group of women coming coming through that are going to be really hard to beat in the future.”

Event details – Results – Team rosters