Fair American: A shift to race mode

The inaugural New York Yacht Club Women’s International Championship arrives in 2026, with 20 teams to compete in the Club’s fleet of IC37 keelboats in Newport, RI. Fourteen nations will be represented on September 12-19, and the high caliber of crew are coming prepared. Carolyn Russell from American Yacht Club (Rye, NY) shares a training update… here’s an excerpt:

There was a noticeable shift during NYYC Race Week at Newport. Not just in our results, but in who we are as a team. For the first time, we felt less like a group of individual sailors racing an IC37 and more like a team racing one boat.

Since the spring of 2025, the American Yacht Club Women’s Team has been training with one goal in mind: being prepared to compete at the New York Yacht Club Women’s International Championship this September.

Along the way, fourteen women—our race team and reserves—have committed themselves to practices, regattas, fitness, strength training, boat work, and countless hours learning how to make an IC37 go fast.

Last summer was about learning the boat—maneuvers, communication, boat speed, and understanding what it takes to race together. The off-season became a commitment to becoming stronger, fitter, and more prepared.

This spring, we kicked off the season at the AYC Spring Regatta, earning a second-place finish in sporty Long Island Sound conditions before heading to Newport for training and the IC37 season opener. Since then, we’ve raced the Bay, the Ocean, and back home in Rye—winning the AYC Cruising Boat Championship while learning patience in light, shifty conditions and continuing to refine our gybe set, affectionately known as a “Sambuca.”

Every regatta and every practice session has been an important building block, but when sailing the mid-July IC37 National Championship in Newport, those blocks finally started to feel like a foundation. The first day was humbling. At least from the bow, it felt catastrophic. But instead of letting frustration define the weekend, the team responded the way a championship team needs to.

Day two brought 15–22 knots of breeze. After a frustrating first race, we committed to simply sailing the boat fast. We trusted our preparation, executed our maneuvers, and finished the day with fourth- and second-place finishes.

The final day tested us again. The Race Committee initially signaled reefed mains and jibs before shaking out the reefs just before racing. Another to-do item checked off our growing IC37 playbook.

Both starts were executed perfectly—zero seconds, zero meters. In a competitive fleet of twenty IC37s, finding a clean lane with speed is a massive achievement.

Our helm, Michelle Lahrkamp, has been relentless in refining our starting sequence, focusing on the precision of timing and distance. That hard work was evident as we hit the line accelerating in clear air.

The course was puffy with constant shifts and lulls, but something felt different. From the rail, calling pressure and communicating breeze, you could feel the boat working as one.

Fair American stayed balanced, accelerating through pressure instead of reacting to it. Our speed team had her perfectly trimmed, constantly adjusting to keep her moving forward. Every maneuver became smoother. Every communication became quieter. Every sailor trusted the people around them to simply do their job.

Then a quick gybe and douse around the final leeward mark. We rounded cleanly, rolled into passing mode. It wasn’t just another maneuver—it was the moment when more than a year of work suddenly came together.

We’re certainly not done improving, but this team has earned the right to line up against the best women’s teams in the world—not because of one regatta, but because of the commitment every sailor has made over the past fifteen months.