Underdogs Turn Form Guide on its Head on Day 1 of Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup
On a day when Rhode Island Sound served up some very shifty conditions, helmsman Cristian Frers and the Yacht Club Argentino crew posted a dominant scoreline of 2-1-2 to take the early lead at the eighth Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, the premiere one-design regatta for Corinthian sailors, with the low score of 5 points.
Jordan Stevenson and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron crew are second with 11 points, followed closely by Filip Englebert and the Royal Swedish Yacht Club team with 13 points. In a regatta where the boats are very evenly matched in boatspeed, every bit of clear air is an ingredient to success. And the three leaders set themselves apart from the pack by picking the shifts that led to clear sailing lanes.
“Today was a great day. For us, we liked sailing outside. It’s more like the racing we do at home in Argentina,” said Frers, the nephew of famed yacht designer Germán Frers. “In the first race we got a bit lucky because we didn’t have a great start, but we were able to clear fast and had clear air. Our tactician, Emilio Miguel, was really bright today, and the trimmers were very good shifting in the changing conditions. It was a fantastic day.”
Day 1 results can be found here.
