Perfect conditions graced the opening day of the 2025 Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis, USA, Stage 2 of the 2025 Women’s World Match Racing Tour following the tour season opener in San Francisco last week.

Eight of the top women’s match racing teams including defending 2023 champion Anna Östling and her Team WINGS from Sweden, and teams from the USA, Australia and New Zealand have gathered this week at the Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, host of the Santa Maria Cup for over twenty years and an official stage of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour since 2023.

After a short wait ashore while the sea breeze filled on the Severn River in front of the Eastport Yacht Club and famous U.S Naval Academy, Principal Race Officer Sandy Grosvenor sent the teams out in a building southerly breeze in beautiful sunshine to complete the first of two qualifying round-robin stages.

 2025 Santa Maria Cup Day 1 – Anna Östling, SWE / Team WINGS (crew Linnéa Wennergren, Annika Carlunger, Svea Sahlin) © Ted Morgan

USA’s Nicole Breault and her Vela Racing Team, runners-up at last week’s opening tour stage at the Casa Vela Cup in San Francisco, had a strong opening day in Annapolis leading the first round-robin on a tie break over defending champion Östling and Team WINGS from Sweden. Both teams completed the day each with six wins and one loss. The Swedish team remained undefeated during the day, faltering in the last match of the day after incurring two penalties against opponent Breault and Vela Racing.

Finishing the first round robin in third place is Australian skipper Juliet Costanzo and her Easy Tiger Racing from Sydney with four wins and three losses, tied with USA’s Bridget Groble/ Bow Down Racing from Chicago. Costanzo, Groble and New Zealand skipper Ella Willcox join the Santa Maria Cup as new teams from last week’s San Francisco stage.

2025 Santa Maria Cup Day 1 – Lindsey Baab, Kate Shiber, Ayaka Okawa, Abigayle Konys Moreno – photo © Ted Morgan

“We had a pretty sporty pre-start in the last race” added Breault. “Anna [Östling] put us under pressure early, but we managed to win the right and draw a penalty on her. We were both over the start line early – we cleared and our opponent did their turn not realizing they were over, which gave us the lead.”

“We had a great day with solid racing until the last start where we made a few mistakes,” added Team WINGS’ Anna Östling. “We managed to wipe our first penalty, but then got another one which we will have to unpack in the debrief. We saved all our mistakes for one race, which is always nice – but we are excited to reset and get back out there tomorrow.”

Racing resumes tomorrow with the second round-robin to determine the top four to advance to the semi-finals. The event runs through to Saturday 7 June.

Full results can be found here.

by Women’s WMRT