Morgan Cup Team Race

Newport Harbor Yacht Club (Newport Beach, CA) won the 2024 Morgan Cup Team Race, topping the keelboat event held August 9-11 in Newport, RI. Hosted by New York Yacht Club, the 3 vs 3 format attracted ten teams for racing in Sonars.

“This is super exciting,” said Jake La Dow, team captain for NHYC. “This is an event that we’ve targeted for a long time. We got second last year with the same core group. Our goal this year was to come back and win. We were just thrilled to cross that last race in a 1-2-3 [winning combination]. We knew that if we won that final race, we would win the event, and so as soon as we crossed the line we started cheering.”

Second place was decided via a tie-breaker with New York Yacht Club – Levesque edging out Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead, Mass., on the basis of a better head-to-head record. Great Britain’s Royal Thames Yacht Club finished fourth with Larchmont (N.Y.) Yacht Club rounding out the top five.

While the conditions covered a broad range over the three-day event—with gusts into the mid 20s on Friday and then a morning delay Sunday while the teams waited for the breeze to fill in—consistency on the racecourse regardless of the wind strength was crucial to the overall win.

“As a team, we started very consistently all event,” said La Dow. “I think we only had maybe one or two races where we were really disadvantaged off the starting line. So [our keys to victory were] being very consistent on the starts, being disciplined in our team racing, really focusing on sailing the boats well first and just keeping it simple.”

La Dow was quick to credit the entire 12-person squad, especially when it came to having success in the breezier conditions that kicked the regatta off with a bang on Friday.

“The skippers get a lot of the credit,” said La Dow. “I’m doing this interview, but any of our team could be doing this right now. It really is a huge effort for the crew. Just sailing the boats is hard, and it takes all four people in the boat to do that well, nailing the pole on the jibe, flying the spinnaker correctly. If any one piece is out of place or not working at a high level, the whole mission fails. For those ranges and conditions, especially, it’s all down to the crew.”

And when it comes to getting the crew trained for these events, there’s no substitute for an engaged yacht club.

“It starts with our club, Newport Harbor Yacht Club,” said La Dow. “We have a ton of support to go out and do these types of events. We get out for weekly practices and weekend regattas quite a lot throughout the year. It’s a big club effort.”

Event details: https://nyyc.org/2024-morgan-cup

Final results
1. Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Newport Beach, Calif., 15 race wins
2. New York (N.Y.) Yacht Club – Levesque, 13
3. Corinthian Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass., 13
4. Royal Thames Yacht Club, London, Great Britain, 9
5. Larchmont (N.Y.) Yacht Club, 9
6. Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Centre Island, N.Y., 7
7. Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass., 9
8. New York (N.Y.) Yacht Club – Merson, 4
9. San Diego (Calif.) Yacht Club, 4
10. Annapolis (Md.) Yacht Club 3

2024 Morgan Cup winning team, Newport Harbor Yacht Club: Alex Curtiss (skipper), Walter Banks, Brooks Clark, Colin Voigt, Jake La Dow (skipper & team captain), Beth Fay, Andrew Person, Serena Vilage, Sean Segerblom (skipper), David Hanscom, Meredith Megarry and Chris Segerblom (not in order of photo, with event chair Steve Kirkpatrick, far left).