New York Yacht Club wins inaugural Great Grandmasters Team Race

New York Yacht Club wins Inaugural Great Grandmasters Team Race © Julia Boron / New York Yacht Club

The inaugural Great Grandmasters Team Race proved that age is just a number as competitors aged 60 and greater battled it out in gusty conditions spurred by nearshore passage of Hurricane Erin late last week. The New York Yacht Club team went undefeated throughout the competition, winning all seven of its races in the round-robin series and clinching the title with a 2-0 win over Noroton Yacht Club in the finals.

"Whenever we start a regatta—and we've now had 4 team race regattas—it seems like we do very well and are most likely winning, but then as our good neighbors who come from other yacht clubs get into the game, they get better and it gets more difficult to win," said George Hinman, skipper and co-captain of New York Yacht Club. "So we had to make sure that we won this regatta. We were lucky to go 9-0 and that does not happen very often in team racing. We have a nucleus of people that have team raced for over 20 years, and it's a lot of fun."

The New York Yacht Club helped usher in a new era of adult team racing with the creation of the New York Yacht Club Invitational Team Race Regatta for the Commodore George R. Hinman Masters Trophy in 2000. That race, which requires skippers to be at least 45 years of age and crew to be over 40, was soon followed by the New York Yacht Club Invitational Team Race Regatta for the Morgan Cup, an all-ages event, in 2003 and, in 2010, the New York Yacht Club Grandmasters Team Race Regatta, which mandates skippers be at least 60 years of age and crew at least 50. This year, the Club has added the New York Yacht Club Great Grandmasters Team Race Regatta to the schedule, for skippers 70 or older and crew 60 or older. The team races are traditionally held over consecutive weekends in August at the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court, using the Club's fleet of 22 Sonar keelboats, and annually attract some of the best adult team racers in the United States and Europe. New York Yacht Club Regatta Association sponsors for 2025 include Helly Hansen, Peters & May, and Safe Harbor Marinas.

Despite sporty conditions on Thursday with wind speeds starting in the mid-teens and building into the low 20s with higher gusts, the great grandmasters made the most of the competition, showing up and showing out.

"I think it gave us an edge because we know how to sail in really heavy air," said Hinman. "This is the Great Grandmasters, so you're 60 to crew, 70 to skipper, and it's blowing up to 25; I felt really proud of the sailors out there because they did a spectacular job. It just tells you that the old guys still want to sail."

With the addition of the Great Grandmasters, the New York Yacht Club will now annually host five team races each spring and summer.

"We have a lot of people who have done this for a long long time and are sort of aging out [of grandmasters racing]," said former Commodore Phil Lotz, main trimmer and tactician for New York Yacht Club. "They're very capable sailors. This event gives people who are still interested in sailing and want to participate and have a lot of friends here an opportunity to get together and do some sailing. As a Club, a leader in the sport and very committed to team racing, this was our opportunity to create a situation where they can go sailing."

Go sailing, and reconnect with old friends and rivals. As the age minimums increase with each event, so too does the enjoyment of reconnecting with people they have sailed with and against for many years, or maybe haven't seen for decades.

"I think that's what it's all about," said event chair Scott MacLeod. "Getting all these people together that have known each other for all these years and being able to play this game out on the water but also come in and socialize and see people you haven't seen in 20 years and reengage with them is fantastic."

(Left to right): Vice Commodore Clare Harrington, Martha Altreuter, Chip Whipple, Lynne Whipple, Steven Wolff, Ted Moore (skipper and co-captain), Past Commodore George Hinman (skipper and co-captain, Bill Tripp (skipper), Sam Altreuter, Past Commodore Phil Lotz, Danielle Tripp and Peter Benedetto [not pictured: Doug McKeige]. - photo © Julia Boron / New York Yacht Club

Overall Results:

Final Knockout

New York Yacht Club def. Noroton Yacht Club, 2-0

Semifinal Knockout

Noroton Yacht Club def. Storm Trysail Club, 2-0

Silver Round Robin

4. Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Newport Harbor, Calif. (4-0) 5. Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, La. (3-1) 6. Texas Corinthian Yacht Club, Kemah, Texas (2-2) 7. St. Petersburg Yacht Club, St. Petersburg, Fla. (1-3) 8. San Diego Yacht Club, San Diego, Calif. (0-4)

• Final series details
• Complete Round Robin details