Ryan Seago wins the 2025 Detroit Cup

by Bayview Yacht Club 25 Aug 2025 09:06 PDT 21-25 August 2025

International Match Race for the Detroit Cup 2025 © Trish Kirkman

In a masterful display of match race talent, sailing prowess in Bayview Yacht Club's Ultimate 20's and some clever gamesmanship, Ryan Seago (USA) and his team of Pete Peterson and Blake Stackpoole have won the 2025 edition of the International Match Race for the Detroit Cup.

This is Seago's second victory in the 17-year history of this Grade 2 event on the World Match Racing Tour.

With outstanding conditions of sunny skies and 10-16 knots of wind and in front of a capacity shoreside crowd at Bayview YC, the remainder of the Semi-Finals was completed in just two more matches to allow Seago to advance to the Finals. Runner-up Christian Prendergast (USA) had a longer road to the Finals, overcoming Semi-Final rival Tom Picot (AUS) who won their first match to win the next three.

In the Petit-Finals Picot recovered to defeat James Pinder (GBR) 2-0 in the first-to-two point series, a strong result especially given a late crew replacement for the afternoon's racing.

International Match Race for the Detroit Cup 2025 - photo © Trish Kirkman

With the Finals sparks flew right away in the first match. A mis-judged collision with Prendergast in the pre-start resulted in a 0.75 points deduction due to the damage, compounded by Prendergast winning the match. Seago stayed collision-free in Match 2 to win a point back, and in a windy Match 3 it was Prendergast's turn for points deduction due to damage: a full point for damage related to a broken bowsprit, with Seago winning a full point for winning the match.

The next match went to Prendergast, so the scoreline read Seago 1.25, Prendergast 1.0. What happened next was fascinating: perhaps in knowing the organizers were bound by their rule of not starting any match past 3:00 PM local time, yet still needing to win the next two matches to win the event, after Seago's entry at the start he slowly sailed upwind and down current halfway to the windward mark. Prendergast was first to turn and go back to the start with their spinnaker and against the current, with Seago following. The two were a full 2 minutes late in getting back to the start line.

Then Seago did what he did best throughout this event: masterful sailing on this course, passing Prendergast after an early deficit at the start and winning the match to bring the score to 2.25 points. While this was not enough to get to the 3-point minimum, the time of day was past the deadline, so Seago was awarded the win.

International Match Race for the Detroit Cup 2025 - photo © Trish Kirkman

The result is not what Prendergast wanted, but by finishing this event in 3rd place or better he does win the Grade 2 USA Grand Slam Series and an invitation to compete in next year's Congressional Cup held at Long Beach YC, the only Grade 1 event in the USA on the World Match Racing Tour.

"I would have preferred to have this shoot-out between two great teams decided on the water, but we have had some fantastic racing all week and I think our podium finishers are among the best we've had in the history of this event," said Dr. Gary Shoemaker, Chairman of this year's Detroit Cup. "With the strong support of our club, the race committee and umpires, our sponsors, our club staff and all who have made this event great, we are proud to continue the tradition of offering world-class match race sailing here at Bayview YC."