The biennial Resolute Cup, which serves as the Corinthian Championship for U.S. yacht clubs, was won by the Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead, MA in 2022. Would it be the three-way bet of Corinthianism if the Corinthian Yacht Club of San Francisco (Tiburon, CA) took the 2024 title?

That’s the plan of San Francisco sailor Daniel Thielman, who will compete in the New York Yacht Club event in Newport, Rhode Island, September 11-14.

Thielman has been in top form on the national circuit this year, winning multiple championships in the Melges 20 class, where he is also the reigning world champion. He also claimed the 2024 IC37 national championship title, but this is the first time his club has fielded a team in the Resolute Cup.

Up to 28 teams compete against each other. Winning the Resolute Cup brings with it the bonus of participation in the prestigious Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, which uses the IC37 and will next take place in September 2025.

“Members of our Corinthian Yacht Club have purchased an IC37 in 2023 to prepare for the Invitational Cup,” says Thielman. “After a year of preparation, we have assembled a team ready to make a qualifying bid.”

Thielman will sail with trimmers Jen Canestra and Auric Horneman, who have been his constant and reliable teammates for over 10 years when we race Melges boats together, and with Nick Voss.

“We currently race the Melges 20, Melges 14 and IC37 one-design fleets across the country, and PHRF races our Melges 32 in the San Francisco Bay Area,” says Thielman. “We hope that adding Nick as a tactician for the Resolute Cup, with his extensive experience in junior, collegiate and adult team racing, will give us the edge we need to be competitive.”

While Thielman has that resume to draw on, the Resolute Cup will see him racing the Sonar, a displacement boat with a symmetrical spinnaker, which is a bit of a departure from what he and his team normally sail.

“Every boat we own and every fleet we compete in has asymmetrical kites,” he says. “We have done limited training on J/22s in preparation, but with our demanding racing schedule for championships in other fleets, we will be trying a symmetrical kite for the most part. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a slow start and then the results steadily improve.”

Other first-time participants in the 2024 Resolute Cup include Edgewater Yacht Club (Cleveland, Ohio), Bay Waveland Yacht Club (Bay St. Louis, Mississippi) and Charleston Yacht Club (Charleston, South Carolina).

A passion for sailing small to medium-sized one-design boats is the driving force behind Lee Sacket’s long-standing interest in the Resolute Cup. As a skipper representing Edgewater, he is excited by the diverse and skilled team his club has assembled.

“We are very fortunate to have Jeff Eiber. He has had great success in almost every fleet and can make any boat fast,” says Sackett. “My top priority was to get him on board for the event. Lance Polen is also an experienced sailor and has won the Highlander fleet several times, while Abby Probst has a wealth of experience sailing in multiple classes, primarily Lightning. I’m excited about the different assets each brings to the team.”

Representing the Bay Waveland Yacht Club is skipper Zak Fanberg, who sailed on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota as a child. He met his wife Sarah Taylor at the College of Charleston, where he was on the sailing team, and the two still race together.

The pair will race with friends Eugene Schmitt and David Blouin. Taylor was a crew member for Schmitt during his high school years, so the sailing connection between the Bay Waveland team is close.

“David and Eugene are both fantastic sailors in their own right. Eugene is a two-time All-American at the Naval Academy, he is one of the best Sunfish sailors in the country, and we often race Vipers together,” says Fanberg.

“Being in Newport at this time of year is phenomenal as it’s so hot down south, so this is a really good reason for our team to be competing in the Resolute Cup! We’re really looking forward to a fantastic competition; lots of old friends from college will be sailing in the event so it will be a bit of a reunion – it brings back memories of racing in college when we used to sail these types of short races.”

Details: https://nyyc.org/2024-resolute-cup

The Sonar Races, hosted by the New York Yacht Club, will take place on Narragansett Bay from September 11-14, with the fleet halved on the final day for three final double-point races.

Source: NYYC, Scuttlebutt