Three Resolute Cups in a row

Corinthian Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA) continued their winning streak in the Resolute Cup, a biennial Corinthian Championship for US Yacht Clubs. The eighth edition was their third straight title, with racing held September 30-October 3 in Newport, RI.

Twenty-three teams representing 12 states competed in 2026, with racing in Sonars provided by host New York Yacht Club. Corinthian was dominating up to the final day, with skipper Wade Waddell posting an average of 3.6 points per race. The team had more finishes inside the top three than outside it.

But then came a fifth in the first medal race, with the fleet reduced from 23 to 12 and the points doubled. And the next race was soon looking significantly worse as Waddell and his crew—Doug Sabin, Miranda Bakos and Duncan Swain—took a few wrong turns on the first beat and rounded the first mark in dead last.

With San Diego Yacht Club sitting fourth, the 11-point lead Corinthian enjoyed at the start of the race was now a virtual 5-point deficit. “We made it stressful at the end with three medal races, and the second one we rounded the top mark in last,” said skipper Wade Waddell. “We had to battle back.”

Main trimmer Doug Sabin added, “We stayed with it, we got out to the left a little bit, got a big shift, got a little lucky—sometimes you need a little bit of luck —and crawled back into the middle of the fleet.”

An eighth in the second medal race, against San Diego’s third mean the two teams were virtually tied going into the final race. One race for the 2026 Resolute Cup Championship and, if both teams became too preoccupied with each other, Newport Harbor Yacht Club was in position to strike.

Neither Corinthian nor San Diego had a strong start in the final race of the regatta, but Corinthian quickly rediscovered its mojo and sliced through the fleet to round the first mark in the lead. From there Waddell and team clamped down on the race.

Bayview Yacht Club would win that final contest, but a third for Corinthian to San Diego’s fifth secured the championship and, as it is a qualifier, a return trip to the 2026 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, where Corinthian will try to improve upon its second in 2023 and fourth in 2025.

“That was a testament to the team,” said Waddell. “We dug deep there. Feels amazing to come away with the win here. Three Resolute Cups in a row. We’re fired up.”

San Diego wound up five points out of first with Newport Harbor, which finished second in each of the medal races, five points further behind in third.

While Corinthian seemed to be on turbo-charged cruise control for the entire regatta, the feeling wasn’t matched onboard the San Diego boat.

“It was an absolute scratch and claw the whole event,” said Adam Roberts, the San Diego skipper. “It felt like we were just trying to dig our fingernails in and stay as close to Corinthian as we could going into the medal races. We just wanted to keep it tight and I think all the other teams in the top four had that mentality. Going into the medal races, it was tight. It wasn’t over until the end.”

Newport Harbor was seventh heading into the medal race and 13 points out of third place. But the team liked what it was seeing from the wind. Unlike the previous two days, where the southerly had built throughout the day, the northerly breeze was starting to dwindle as the clock ticked past noon and the race committee rolled into the medal races.

“In general, the weirder the conditions, the more confident we feel, especially in a place like Newport where we maybe don’t have the best speed advantage in a Sonar because we don’t sail them all the time,” said Alex Curtiss, the team’s skipper. “With the double points medal races, we felt like we had an opportunity to move up the leaderboard.”

And move up they did, from seventh to fifth after a second-place finish in the first medal race, and then to third after another second.

A strong start in the final race saw Curtiss and team round the first mark in third, one spot behind Bayview, which was the team sitting fourth. However, when Bayview leaped into the lead and Newport Harbor fell to fourth, suddenly that hard-fought spot on the podium was in peril.

“It was super tight,” said Curtiss. “Our tactician, Chris Segerblom, did an awesome job of just staying calm and executing the next right now. So all the credit to him.”

The key move proved to be an early jibe around the final windward mark, which pointed the team right toward the finish, with only Bayview in front.

“At that point, we felt pretty good about where the race was heading,” said Curtiss. “We’re super happy. The goal is always to win because we would love to come back to the Invitational Cup. We know there’s an outside chance that maybe somebody doesn’t partake, and we can slide in there. We leave here feeling awesome and that we salvaged a great regatta.”

Bayview Yacht Club, of Detroit, Mich., was fourth—five points out of third. Annapolis Yacht Club took fifth, with Eastern Yacht Club just a fraction of a point behind in sixth. Rounding out the top 10 were host New York Yacht Club, The San Francisco Yacht Club, Chicago Yacht Club and Charleston Yacht Club.

Details: https://nyyc.org/2026-resolute-cup

Source: NYYC