An interview with Jen Glass about Team Cascadia and the NYYC's Women's International Championships
by David Schmidt 3 Feb 08:00 PST
September 12-19, 2026
Cascadia Sailing practicing aboard Westerly, their West Coast-based IC37 © Seattle Yacht Club
In late October of 2024, the New York Yacht Club announced that it would host its inaugural Women's International Championships on the waters off its Harbour Court facility, in Newport, Rhode Island, from September 12-19, 2026. Forty-eight teams applied to compete, and the NYYC whittled this list of accomplished sailors down to 20 teams that received an invitation to compete at this world championship-level keelboat event aboard the NYYC's fleet of 20 identical IC37s.
The biennial, all-women's event is set to unfurl on even-numbered years, while the NYYC's mixed-gender Invitational Cup (established 2009), which also uses the NYYC's fleet of IC37s, is contested on odd-numbered years.
While the Women's International Championships is new, competitors and spectators can expect a sky-high level of competition once the starting guns begin sounding in September. Among the competing skippers and sailors are Olympic medalists and campaign veterans, national- and world-championship winners, collegiate champions, and winners (and veterans) of high-level events including the 2024 PUIG Women's America's Cup and The Ocean Race (née the Volvo Ocean Race).
Flash forwards some months, and I caught word of Cascadia Sailing, a cross-border American-Canadian team that earned one of the 20 invitations to the NYYC's Women's International Championships.
The Pacific Northwest-based team is being led by American Christina Wolfe (US Sailing's 2023 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, amongst many accolades), who serves as the team's skipper, and Canadian Joy Dahlgren, who serves as the team's leader and main trimmer.
The team is still finalizing its roster and some onboard positions, however the current crew list includes Americans Lindsay Bergan, AnaLucia Clarkson, Jen Glass, and Jaime Mack, as well as Canadians Maura Dewey, Zoe Folsetter, Tara Golonka, Becky Kelly, Grace Poole, Kate Sargent, and Sarah Turpie.
Additionally, Dahlgren and her husband, Stuart, own an IC37 (Westerly; see below), which the team is using as their training vehicle.
I checked in with Glass, who serves as the team's tactician, via email, to learn more the team's involvement in this year's Women's International Championships.
Can you please tell us about Cascadia Sailing's multinational and trans-regional crew?
Well, it all started when the Women's International Championship was announced. Joy Dahlgren who lives in Victoria, BC, was keen on the event. She reached out to the best skipper she knew, Chris Wolfe, who lives on Orcas Island, Washington.
The two decided to form a team and [they] naturally wanted to pull together the best female sailors they knew. This led to a multi-national team!
A few of us in Seattle had been talking about the event, and when Chris reached out, we were more than excited to team-up.
The experience of putting together a team of 11 women is a really cool example of the Pacific Northwest sailing network. We didn't all know each other before coming together as a team, but we knew someone who knew someone who made a recommendation. "Oh, you should talk to so-and-so, they're really talented!".
What is really cool about the team is there is a true variety of sailing backgrounds represented. Offshore sailors, keelboat sailors, dinghy sailors, people who have focused in many different areas of our sport.
There is so much to learn from the other members of the team, everyone is truly very talented.
How long has the team been sailing together as a group and specifically training for the NYYC's inaugural Women's International Championships?
We had our first practice in July of 2025 and held a total of three practice weekends [last] fall, and raced Seattle Yacht Club's Grand Prix [last] October. At our November practice, we were lucky enough to have Ben Mumford, the skipper of Royal Vancouver YC's Invitational Cup team and the past owner of Joy's IC37. He was an incredible help as we continue to improve our boathandling and sail trim specific to the IC37.
We will continue to ramp up with some online training this winter, and then start to practice multiple times a month starting in March when the days get a little longer. Of course, Joy [her husband] Stu sail their IC37 more frequently as well with their Westerly team.
How do you see this changing or increasing in frequency as the calendar winds towards mid-September?
Starting in March we'll train and/or race at least twice a month. We're just in the process of finalizing our schedule now that the Seattle Area Racing Calender is out, but we are planning to race in many of the local buoy regattas, starting with Puget Sound Spring Regatta.
When we practice by ourselves, we focus on IC37-specific skills. These are things like maximizing our time at and above targets in a straight line, mark roundings, and starts. We'll also sail in many local regattas, particularly those that are round-the-buoys where we can put our practice to the test with other boats around. Finally, we're planning to attend one IC37 regatta in Newport this summer to focus on local knowledge, and also the unique setup of the NYYC boats.
Many people are surprised with the amount of practice we have and will do on our own. There really is so much that you can practice by yourself. It does require a strong work ethic to push yourself to be better and faster. You can't just go out for a cruise.
One of the adjustments we're planning to make as we move towards September is having more coaching. For our first few practices we have just been sailing on our own figuring out who is in each role, learning how to sail with 10 or 11 sailors, etc. We're making the shift to really getting precise with our boathandling and speed, and that is where having a coach will really help accelerate our learning. We're working on a plan with a couple of world-class coaches to take our practice this year to that next level.
Your team is comprised of many of the West Coast's best sailors, male or female. What's it like sailing as part of a high-octane all-women's crew versus a mixed-gender crew?
For me, the experience has been amazing. As I said, every member of the team has a varied and really impressive background. Every day I'm learning about new experiences or successes from other team members. It is exciting and motivating when you're surrounded by this much talent.
In terms of sailing with 11 women, well, it is pretty different as any other 11-person team in sailing likely has 0-2 women, on average.
There are funny differences...we eat healthier than any boat I've ever been on. We do have to think about some physical tasks differently. No one on our boat weighs more than 160 lbs. So, if we need some big strength or weight to throw at a task, we need multiple people, or to find a different way.
Stereotypically, women in sailing often take a back seat, or feel-out a situation until they are comfortable taking the lead, whereas men may be more likely to jump into the lead right away, no matter what.
I do see a bit of that on our team, and the cool thing is that it gives us space to figure out who really should be doing each task, rather than it just being the person who speaks up first.
How are you feeling about how the team building has been going so far? Also, what do you see as the biggest hurdles that the team has to collectively overcome to be competitive against the fleet this fall?
We have specifically spent time focused on team building already and have more we plan to do. I highly recommend this as a part of any team.
So far, I'm pleased with how we are coming together. I find the best thing is to build trust through sharing our strengths, weaknesses, fears, and personality quirks. It takes time, and willingness to be vulnerable. We did a specific activity on the Friday before our last training weekend, and I could feel the difference the next day in how the team worked together, supported each other, and the overall vibe was just better.
One of the most important training steps to be competitive this fall is to practice doing the exact thing we'll be doing at the Championship. Racing in a fleet of IC37s in Newport. We're working to fundraise to attend one of the IC37 fleet events in Newport, and hope that we can do that fast enough to be able to register. Having access to one-design racing in these boats will be critical to refining speed and seeing how you stack up around the racecourse before September.
I think that you guys have one of the only—if not the only—IC37s that isn't on the East Coast. How did this come about?
This is correct (as far as we know!). Ben Mumford, the skipper of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club's Invitational Cup team, originally purchased the boat for their team to train locally. They competed in the Invitational Cup many times before finishing third and being a title contender this past year.
The interesting part of the story is that Dhalgren and her husband Stu purchased the boat through a trade with Ben for their Santa Cruz 70 Westerly. So, Ben Mumford is now racing the SC70 and Joy and Stu [are racing] the IC37. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Building on that last question, how important do you think it is for your team to have an IC37 to train on, rather than a different keelboat? Also, do you think that this will translate into a racecourse advantage compared to other teams that don't have an IC37 to train on once the starting guns start sounding in September?
There is no question that having experience on the boat will be incredibly helpful. Our goal is to show up with the best boathandling of any team there. That is a tall order given there are teams racing in the Newport IC37 fleet, but what is a goal if you don't shoot for the moon!
That said, great sailors are always able to jump into a new situation and learn quickly. I expect the racing to be very close, so it will really come down to quick decision making and execution around the racecourse. It will be exciting; I think our hearts will be pumping all the way around the buoys!
Is there anything else about Cascadia Sailing that you'll like to add for the record?
Our goal is to use this opportunity to shine the light on women's sailing opportunities and encourage others to join. We are so grateful to the NYYC and Rolex for creating this event. It truly is unique as there are so few events that have this many women, and are truly dedicated to women sailors, and really similar to the type of sailing that most women in the sport do.
Sailing with 11 people means you have the opportunity to spread the word much further. We're excited to show young women sailors, and those not so young that there are opportunities at the highest level for them in keelboats.
We're pretty active on social media, so I would encourage anyone interested to follow us on Facebook or Instagram at @CascadiaSailing. Anyone interested in donating to help us achieve our goal—such as making sure we make it to a Newport, Rhode Island practice event! You can make a tax-deductible (USA or Canada) donation to us by following the country-specific links on our website, www.cascadiasailing.org. We are also open to corporate sponsorships or in-kind donations, let's talk!