5th Thayer Trophy Women's Invitational Team Race at the Corinthian Yacht Club - Preview

2024 CYC Thayer Trophy Women's Team Race © Bruce Durkee

When the Corinthian Yacht Club launched the National Women's Invitational Team Race for the Thayer Trophy in 2021, the goal was to give women sailors the opportunity to compete in a high-intensity format on par with the world's most renowned team racing events.

The first and only three-versus-three women's regatta in keelboats with spinnakers started with an "If you build, it they will come," approach meant to inspire clubs to develop women's teams and provide a proving ground that would lead to those sailors playing more key roles in co-ed competition.

"There's a lot of us out there, but we don't always get the chance to team up together and prove that we are just as competitive as the guys," said Royal Thames Team Captain Jemima Lawson. "I hope that events like this, combined with some great changes in the professional sailing world, encourage younger girls to continue competitive sailing well beyond juniors."

The Chesapeake Yacht Racing Association (CBYRA) team, sailing in the Thayer Trophy for the fifth time, has seen its training for the event morph into broader regional engagement across ages and genders.

"Our practices and training locally out of the Gibson Island Yacht Squadron in their Sonar fleet has fostered an entire team racing movement locally," said Team Captain Ashley Love. "Every Monday between April and the Thayer, women, men, college-age sailors, even kids, have been driving in from Annapolis, DC, Baltimore and parts of Virginia for pick-up style team racing... we form teams to go to the NYYC Women's 2v2 team race and other events in the fleet and match racing disciplines and offshore races."

CBYRA has podiumed at Thayer three times but has yet to win it. Last year's regatta was a close battle that came down to the final race, and this time around, the competition could be equally fierce as all six teams, Eastern Yacht Club, Newport Harbor YC, Royal Thames YC, CBYRA, two-time Thayer winner New York YC, and the home team from Corinthian YC, are stacked with talent, including many veterans of the event.

"Since Corinthian started the Thayer Trophy in 2021, team racing has taken off as a predominant format for competitive sailing, supported by new events like the College Sailing Women's Team Race National Championship," said Thayer Trophy Event Chair Miranda Bakos. "One of our favorite aspects of the Thayer Trophy is how the teams blend recent college graduates with more broadly experienced sailors, creating an impressive and diverse field of competitors — as well as a really fun event. Corinthian is proud that this regatta continues to advance high-level women's team racing, and we are thrilled to have support from sponsors like BNY Wealth and Zhik who are aligned with our mission."

Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead will host the 2025 National Women's Invitational Team Race for Thayer Trophy June 20 to June 22. Racing will take place just outside historic Marblehead Harbor. The regatta is a traditional round-robin format with the potential for sailing 50 or more races in club-provided Sonars, 23-foot, one-design keelboats typically sailed with four or five crew. Regatta details can be found on the event site.