Celebrating the NYYC's Women's International Championship, StFYC's Rolex Big Boat Series, and SailGP
by David Schmidt 22 Sep 08:00 PDT
September 22, 2026
2026 NYYC Women's International Championship Day 5 © Paul Todd /
www.outsideimages.com
This past week marked the inaugural edition of the New York Yacht Club's Women's International Championship (September 12-19), which took place on the waters off of Newport, Rhode Island, and which was contested aboard the NYYC's fleet of identical Mark Mills' designed IC37s. Forty-eight teams initially applied to the NYYC to compete, and the club winnowed this list down to twenty top-flight international skippers who were invited to form all-women's teams and compete at this championship-level event.
After ten races, Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick (USA) and Team Vigilant took top honors, finishing the regatta 23 points ahead of skipper Michelle Lahrkamp (USA) and her Fair American team, who finished in second place, and 28 points ahead of skipper Hannah Swett (USA) and her Team MO-Amundsen, who finished in third place.
"When we started the project, the goal was to win this event," said Stephanie Roble, who raced as tactician aboard Team Vigilant, in an official event report. "But there's so much that goes into it. Over the last few years, we really focused so much on the process of becoming the best version of ourselves in order to show up here and be the best. It's been a really rewarding process as a team, and there have been a lot of highs and lows throughout two years of training. We're just really proud that it all came together at the right moment."
While the point spread describes a regatta that was dominated by one team, at least for first place, a glance at the granular results reveals that eight teams took home bullets, with only two teams (Team Vigilant and Team MO-Amundsen) collecting two individual race wins.
This also created fierce competition for second and third place, and seven teams entered the regatta's final day with just ten points separating their standings.
"We had the remainder of a northerly out there which is really tricky, very sheery, and then the easterly came in, brand new sea direction," said Lahrkamp in a regatta report. "We did not see that the previous day, so very new, very exciting. We just stayed very heads out of the boat. The speed team was really dialed in."
This obviously worked, and Lahrkamp's Fair American team took second place, leaving Swett's Team MO-Amundsen to tussle with skipper Sarah Douglas (CAN) and her Team Defiant for the podium's final step.
"We started the day, literally, with a bang, so that was pretty awesome, winning the first race," said Swett in a regatta report. "Going into the final day with eight boats that could get on the podium, we just had to do well. In our first race, we did really well. Then, boy, did we have a shocker in the second race. But then the third race, we played the shifts, and credit to my whole team for keeping the boat going. It was a very hard day. But we ended well."
Ultimately, just a single point separated Swett's Team MO-Amundsen and Douglas's Team Defiant, once the finishing guns fell silent.
"It's a bittersweet ending to be so close to the podium and just shy of it, but today we put together some good racing, and to come away with a bullet, the team was so excited, and it just speaks to how high level the racing is," said Douglas in an official report. "You make one mistake and you fall out of the podium position. But overall, our team couldn't be happier. It's so inspiring to see all the female sailors come together, and to be on the starting line with them all is a real honor."
Sail-World tips our hat to all 20 star-studded teams that competed in Newport at the Women's International Championship, and we are excited to see future editions of this high-level keelboat event play out in coming years.
Meanwhile, on the left coast, St. Francis Yacht Club's annual Rolex Big Boat Series (September 16-20) also recently took place on the waters of Sn Francisco Bay.
In addition to delivering great racing in the Classics, J/105, J/88, and Express 37 classes (see below), the regatta also served as the 2026 ORC North American Championship.
"This year's Big Boat Series was the perfect test for our ORC North American Championship," said ORC Deputy Chairman Matt Gallagher, in an official ORC report. "The cooperation with St Francis Yacht Club was superb, the organization of the event was outstanding, and there was a wide range of wind conditions to test the fleet. The teams on the podium had to work hard for their positions, and we congratulate them on this achievement."
After six races, Victor Wild's TP52 FOX won ORC A, while James Nichols's J/125 Velvet Hammer cleaned up in ORC B. Peter Wagner's J/111 Skeleton Key delivered a near-perfect scorecard (1-1-1-1-1-2) to claim the win in ORC C, while Zach Berkowitz's J/100 Feather gave a master class on how to build a picket fence (1-1-1-1-1-1) in ORC D.
As for the Classics, Richard Leand's Fairwyn beat out five other teams to take the win, while Randy Hecht's Niuhi beat out 29 other teams to take top honors in the always-competitive J/105 class. Mark Chaffey's Loca Motion won the Express 37 class, while Brice Dunwoodie Ravenette team won the seven-strong J/88 class.
Finally, this was also a big weekend for SailGP in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix (September 19-20) unfurled on the waters of Lake Geneva. Racing took place in two groups, with seven teams racing in Group A and six teams competing in Group B for the five fleet races.
This produced a Grand Final on Sunday afternoon that saw four teams—Diego Botin's Los Gallos, Sebastian Schneiter's Explora Journeys, Nicolai Sehested's Rockwool Racing, and Tom Slingsby's Bonds Flying Roos—square off for the regatta bragging rights and valuable season points.
Ultimately, Botin's Los Gallos beat out Slingsby's Bonds Flying Roos to take the regatta win, with Sehested's Rockwool Racing completing the podium.
"We said before this event that winning here would need some luck, and it felt a bit like that as well," reported Botin in a SailGP report. "We're super happy with the win. I think we've been working really well in these light conditions, which were probably the conditions where we were feeling the weakest. So yeah, it's a good boost for the rest of the season."
The rest of the season, however, begs some pointed questions.
A glance at SailGP's calendar reveals that there are two more events in 2026, namely the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix (November 21-22) and the Mubadala Adu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix (November 28-29).
While SailGP still sounds bullish on the prospects of both of these events happening as planned, at least based on the language they are employing in the in-house communications, a glance at the mainstream headlines reveals a geopolitical quagmire-cum-fresh forever war that's actively roiling many things, including, of course, international energy markets.
Sail-World has our fingers crossed that the world can find an offramp from this mess and return to focusing on much nicer things, such as international sports competitions, and whether Slingsby's Flying Roos can capture a fourth SailGP season title.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor