America's Cup: New US Challenger steps up to the plate
by Riptide Racing 4 Dec 2025 15:56 PST
Riptide Racing's Chris Poole hold the Congressional Cup aloft © Ian Roman
Riptide Racing has announced in partnership with Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, an attempt to challenge for the 38th America's Cup in 2027.
After discussions with supporters, investors, and partners, we feel we can mount a challenge and secure enough initial backing to meet our funding timeline within the Late Entry Deadline of January 31st, 2026. While the challenge of the America's Cup is an incredibly difficult one, we have been in discussion with the America's Cup regarding the Protocol, America's Cup Partnership, and the fundamentals for entering the America's Cup. We believe the rules and protocol in place today make our challenge achievable.
Our mission in this initial campaign is to assemble a winning high-performance team around World #1 Match Race skipper Chris Poole, as well as develop advanced cutting-edge technologies and strategies that will help position us to compete at the highest level in the 38th America's Cup in 2027.
"To compete in the America's Cup has always been a dream and my goal when we created Riptide Racing, says Chris Poole, Riptide Racing's CEO & Skipper. “Our focus is to take our winning formula and bring it to the pinnacle of yacht racing. Chris goes on to say, “The USA has been immersed in the America's Cup since the beginning, and in recent years the shift to foiling has opened new opportunities for sailors, and brought in new followers to the Cup. With the possible absence of an American team in the next cup, the country involved in the competitions founding, there's an opportunity for new
American sailors like the team from Riptide Racing to continue the campaign and bring the Auld Mug back to the United States.
The target plan is to acquire an existing America's Cup AC75 package and support assets from one of the America's Cup teams. This approach provides our team with immediate access to proven assets, design data, and infrastructure - positioning us to compete at a high level from the outset.
To achieve this plan we have set a fundraising goal of $50 million dollars for our first challenge, as we believe this will get us on the starting line in competitive form for the 38th America's Cup. Joining the fundraising effort of this campaign will be the team's partner 501c3 foundation, The American Sailboat Racing Foundation, which has supported Riptide Racing in past fundraising efforts.
The Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club is no stranger to the America's Cup, although it has been over 100 years since its name last graced America's Cup news when the “Seawanhaka Rule" was used from 1893-1903.
“We are excited to support Chris Poole and Riptide Racing in their effort to try and challenge for the 38th America's Cup. Riptide Racing has been the number one team in match racing for the past four years, and as we all know, the America's Cup is still a match race. The Club will do everything it can to support Chris and his team to get this challenge off the ground by the January 31, 2026 Entry Deadline, says Seawanhaka Commodore Julian Fisher.
More details about our challenge and who will be involved will be made public in the coming weeks on the team's website. Our initial focus now is on securing our target funding goal through individual and corporate support to go ahead with the challenge by January 31st, 2026.
Riptide Racing Team
Riptide Racing is a sailing team founded in 2012 and based out of Oyster Bay, NY, sailing for Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club. After competing on the World Match Racing Tour with historic performances, it is time for the team to take the next step!
Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club
Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club established in 1871 has a proud tradition of Corinthian sailing. From its early years of innovation in the sport, which helped set the foundation for members to achieve world renowned recognition in both match and team racing, the Olympics, and world championship titles in many disciplines of sailing. The passion for competing at the highest levels of our sport runs deep within our membership.
Find out more at www.riptideracing.com