London (19 January 2024) – St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco and Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis have once again teamed up to host the top women’s match racing teams at back-to-back events as part of the 2024 Women’s World Match Racing Tour.
Following the success of the inaugural Casa Vela Cup at St. Francis Yacht Club, and the return of the popular Santa Maria Cup after ten years at Eastport Yacht Club last year, both clubs have coordinated their Grade 2 international women’s match racing events to run back-to-back for 2024 with Eastport YC’s Santa Maria Cup set to open the 2024 women’s world tour season from 23-26 April (practice day 22 April).
The Casa Vela Cup at St. Francis Yacht Club will run from 2-5 May (practice day 1 May) allowing a 4-day travel window for teams to travel from East to West coast. Both events will be in the respective club provided fleets of J/22’s.
Both of the 2023 events were highly competitive with teams from across the globe competing. The Casa Vela Cup saw Celia Willison (NZL) and her Edge Women’s Match Team defeat Sweden’s Anna Östling and her Wings team in a tense final. After a quick cross-country trip, the Santa Maria Cup had things reversed, with the Swedes beating the Kiwis. Third and fourth places in both events ended the same with the USA’s Nicole Breault of Vela Racing winning out over New Zealand’s Megan Thomson and 2.0 Racing Team.
The 2024 Casa Vela Cup and Santa Maria Cup will both join Season 3 of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour, currently the world’s only global professional sailing series for women. 32 teams and over 140 female athletes competed on the first two seasons of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour since it was re-launched in 2022 with events in the USA, France, New Zealand, Greece and Denmark.
The full 2024 Women’s World Match Racing Tour schedule will be announced in late January with events planned in USA, France, Sweden and Denmark.
For requests for Invitation and to download the Notice of Race, follow the links at:
Casa Vela Cup 2024 and Notice of Race, visit CASA VELA CUP NOTICE OF RACE enquiries to racing@stfyc.com
Santa Maria Cup 2024 Invite Request, visit Invite Request (santamariacup.org), and Notice of Race at SANTA MARIA CUP NOTICE OF RACE.
About Santa Maria Cup
Santa Maria Cup is an international women’s match race regatta hosted by the Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, MD. In 2023, it returned after a 10-year break, the 2024 regatta will be the 23rd running of this event. Past competitors in this series include Olympic sailors, Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year, and other international stars of women’s sailing. Some of the American past winners are JJ Isler, Dawn Riley, Julia Trotman, Jody Swanson, Betsy Alison, Cory Sertl, Liz Baylis, Sally Barkow, and Anna Tunnicliffe. Originally a minor offshoot to the Columbus Cup professional match racing regatta series in Baltimore, Santa Maria Cup relocated to Annapolis in 1993 when Eastport Yacht Club (EYC) became the organizing authority. www.santamariacup.org
About Casa Vela Cup
Casa Vela Cup is an international women’s match racing regatta first hosted in 2023 by the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, CA. Competitors were drawn from the top 20 women match racers in the world, and most went directly from San Francisco to Annapolis to race in the Santa Maria Cup as both were stops on the Women’s World Match Racing Tour. In 2024, Santa Maria Cup is scheduled first and then Casa Vela Cup. www.stfyc.com
About Women’s World Match Racing Tour
The Women’s World Match Racing Tour was launched in 2022 to continue the hugely successful legacy of the WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) providing a global match racing series for female sailors. The name of the series was re-launched as the Women’s World Match Racing Tour with its continued mission to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level. The Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the world’s first and only professional sailing series for women providing a valuable pathway for aspiring female world champions in the sport of sailing. womenswmrt.com