Please select your home edition
Edition
Hyde Sails 2024 - One Design

U.S. Qualifying Series - Storied yacht clubs to take part

by Stuart Streuli on 5 Aug 2014
The Southern Yacht Club team sailed to second in the Silver Fleet in 2012 U.S. Qualifying Series Billy Black / NYYC
Founded in 1849 and 1875, respectively, Southern Yacht Club and Chicago Yacht Club are two of the oldest and most respected sailing organizations in the United States. Come September, in Newport, R.I., four amateur sailors from each of those two clubs will compete against teams from 22 other U.S. yacht clubs—old and young—in the 2014 U.S. Qualifying Series for the 2015 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup presented by Rolex.

The USQS, as the regatta is commonly known, is the lone pathway for domestic clubs looking to compete for the Invitational Cup, sailing’s premiere Corinthian big-boat competition. Both events are hosted by the New York Yacht Club at Harbour Court in Newport, R.I. The top three teams in the USQS, which is sailed in J/70s and Sonars from September 2 to 6, will earn a berth in the 2015 Invitational Cup, which is sailed in the New York Yacht Club Swan 42.

Both clubs have mined their respective talent pools to assemble competitive teams. Chicago Yacht Club (at right), which is participating in the USQS for the first time, tabbed former U.S. Sailing Team member Mark Teborek to skipper its entry.

Teborek is no stranger to high-pressure sailing events, but this one is different from most of the regattas he has done since graduating from Boston College a decade ago.

'There is an added pressure when you are not just representing yourself,' he said. 'From the start we have tried to involve as many people as possible. We have the goal of qualifying, yes, but our ultimate goal extends beyond this one regatta. We want to do keelboat team racing and other national events, and get more sailors in their 20s and 30s involved in racing at CYC. In short, we are taking a long-term perspective.'

Having missed the qualifying spots in 2010 and 2012, Southern Yacht Club (at left) is hoping the third time will prove to be the charm.

'I would love to come back to the club having qualified us for the IC,' said skipper Zak Fanberg, a first-time USQS competitor who was an All-American sailor at the College of Charleston. 'The Club has done [the USQS] a few times. I’d like to be the one that gets us qualified first.'

To do that, Fanberg and Teborek, and their respective crews, will have to revisit the skills that helped them succeed on the college sailing circuit. While the boats for the USQS are 23-foot keelboats—as opposed to the light 14-foot dinghies used in college sailing—the format is nearly identical. The boats are provided, as are the sails, the rig tuning is locked for the regatta, and the races are short. Boatspeed differences across the fleet, which help the best sailors separate from the pack in most regattas, are minimal.

'You have to know you’re not always going to get a good start,' said Fanberg. 'It’s the teams that can turn an eighth place at the top mark into a fifth, or turn a fifth at the first mark into a second, that will do well. It’s a lot of minimizing mistakes because everybody is going the same speed.'

The 24 clubs will be split into two groups for qualifying, with each group sailing in both the J/70s (at right) and the Sonars. The fleet will then be split into Gold and Silver fleets, with the former sailing in the J/70s and the latter in the Sonars.

Preparing for two different boats—among other differences, the J/70 carries an asymmetric spinnaker while the Sonar has a more traditional symmetric spinnaker—is one of the many unique challenges of this regatta.

'We have been practicing twice a week since mid-June,' said Teborek. 'We went up to Harbor Springs to race a J/70 in the Ugotta Regatta. Lastly, we have coordinated with Bayview Yacht Club who is coming in to do a weekend training session in Sonars. Overall, it was a tremendous effort to get our keelboat team off the ground, but I believe it will pay dividends going forwards for the club. We have a dedicated team and a very supportive club.'

Sea Sure 2025RS Sailing 2021 - FOOTERC-Tech 2020 Battens 2 728x90 BOTTOM

Related Articles

Marine Auctions: Special July Online Auction
The bidding will end on Tuesday 22 July at 2pm AEST The alternative way of selling any type of vessel or marine asset with proven and successful results.
Posted today at 4:03 am
Transpac 2025 underway
Sixteen boats hit the line for the first start, departing LA for Hawaii Sixteen boats hit the line for the first start of three in the 2025 Transpac. Next stop: Hawaii.
Posted today at 1:13 am
GKSS Match Cup Sweden & Nordea Women's Trophy D2
A challenging southerly breeze and short three-lap course put teams to task A challenging southerly breeze and short three-lap course put teams to task on the second day of racing at the GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women's Trophy in Marstrand, Sweden.
Posted on 1 Jul
Stan Honey's 3 ways to win (or lose) the Transpac
Stan breaks down all three race segments Taking a breather from pre-race prep on the largest boat in the fleet, Stan breaks down all three race segments and provides a pre-race weather report.
Posted on 1 Jul
Rolex TP52 Worlds in Cascais - Practice Day
Will Platoon Aviation's big breeze, big pressure experience prove key to their fourth world title? Of the three past and present world championship winning crews which completed their final practice today in typically muscular 25 knot breezes and big waves out of Cascais, Portugal it was Harm Müller-Spreer's Platoon Aviation which showed best today.
Posted on 1 Jul
Some thoughts on provisioning for distance sailing
A new perspective on provisioning and time spent at sea One of the great joys of distance racing unfurls the moment that the dock lines are untied. Suddenly, the myriad packing lists that inevitably define most trip-planning efforts become about as relevant as a tax return from eight years ago.
Posted on 1 Jul
LA28 sailing venue decision driven by politicians
The LA28 Olympic "dinghy" events will be sailed alongside a working container port. The decision to stage the Los Angeles "dinghy" events alongside a working container port appears to have been a determination by local politicians.
Posted on 1 Jul
Freestyle Pro Tour Paros day 3
The return of Super X Day 3 at the FPT Paros 2025 was a slower one - with a lay day with no wind anticipated and a late skippers meeting at 13:00 to assess the conditions, there wasn't much initially filling up the schedule.
Posted on 1 Jul
Bill Guilfoyle on the 2025 Transpacific Yacht Race
Bill Guilfoyle discusses the 2025 Transpacific Yacht Race When it comes to offshore sailing in the United States, the biennial Transpacific Yacht Race reigns supreme for its distance and promise of off-the-breeze sailing angles.
Posted on 1 Jul
McIntyre Mini Globe Leg 2 update
The Mad Bastard may be right! When the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race set off—the first solo, non-stop circumnavigation—many thought it impossible. But one sailor proved them wrong: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, sailing his beloved Suhaili!
Posted on 1 Jul