Women’s 2v2 Team Race
Two teams built in very different ways clashed in the deciding race of the second annual Women’s 2v2 Team Race, hosted over the weekend the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court.
The team from Lauderdale Yacht Club (Fort Lauderalde, Fla.) was based around a core of young sailors who currently race for Boston College and recently finished second at the inaugural InterCollegiate Women’s Team Race Championship. Bristol (R.I.) Yacht Club used a grass-roots approach, cultivating interest and skill with regular Monday night team racing sessions each summer for the past four years. By the slimmest of margins, the kids from Florida won out.
“We were really slow off the starting line,” says Lauderdale team captain Erika Reineke, recalling the deciding race. “So, we struggled to get out ahead immediately. Bristol rounded [the first mark] in [first and second] and [fellow Lauderdale skipper] Sophia [Reineke] and I split on the downwind. Luckily the girls in our boats were really good at flying the kite. We got ahead and had a small luffing match at Mark 3. We just kept fighting, and fortunately it went our way. You never know in team racing.”
The Women’s 2v2 Team Race took place June 4 and 5 out of the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court in Newport, R.I. In 2021, this event joined the Club’s fabled trio of coed keelboat team races—the Morgan Cup, the Hinman Masters and the New York Yacht Club Grandmasters. Ten yacht clubs from around the country sent their top team racers to Newport for a weekend of competition and camaraderie. The regatta was sailed on Narragansett Bay utilizing the New York Yacht Club’s fleet of 23-foot Sonar sailboats.
Erika Reineke is now two for two in this regatta, having been a part of the winning New York Yacht Club team in 2021. The opportunity to sail with her younger sister, and introduce to the regatta a number of younger sailors, enticed her to sail for the club where she learned to sail and remains an active member.
Overall Results: (detailed results )
1. Lauderdale Yacht Club, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 12pts
2. Bristol (R.I.) Yacht Club, 11pts
3. Larchmont (N.Y.) Yacht Club, 10pts
4. College of Charleston (S.C.) Yacht Club, 8pts
5. Corinthian Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass., 6pts
6. New York (N.Y.) Yacht Club 3pts
7. Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, 3pts
8. The San Francisco Yacht Club, Tiburon, Calif., 3pts
9. Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass., 2pts
10. American Yacht Club, Rye, N.Y., 1pt
