The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Admiral’s Cup team of Caro (Max Klink) and Callisto (James Murray) are third overall after four races.

The Admiral’s Cup, also known as the AC (but the other AC), opened with the Channel Race, and Callisto won that race both on overall IRC and AC2. But this is a team event, and while the divisional and overall results are great for morale, it’s the TEAM EVENT that gets awarded the beautiful golden Admiral’s Cup trophy.

Callisto. 2025 Admiral’s Cup. Tuesday 22nd July. Photo: Suellen Hurling / Live Sail Die for PredictWind

Callisto has come out strong, and are leading AC2 after the first four races, with Caro 7th in AC1.

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Beau Geste and Beau Ideal are currently leading on 31 points. Beau Geste has the most Mastercard Youth Training Programme graduates on board, with Gavin Brady, who completed the programme in the ’90s, on the helm.

Other graduates on board are Nick Egnot-Johnson, Bex Hornell, and Dave Sweete.

Gavin Brady at the helm of Beau Geste. 2025 Admiral’s Cup. Tuesday 22nd July. Photo: Suellen Hurling / Live Sail Die for PredictWind

The second day of inshore racing only saw one race completed. The PredictWind forecast was accurate, stating that the breeze would shut down in the afternoon – and it did. The Race Officer was hopeful that the breeze would come in, but after having to abandon the second race of the day due to the conditions, time was finally called to send the fleet back to dock and schedule three races for Thursday 24th July.

If all three races aren’t completed on Thursday, then the fleet will be forced to race on Friday 25th July – which is scheduled to be a rest day ahead of the Rolex Fastnet Race – and will be used with the goal of completing six races of the inshore series.

Callisto. 2025 Admiral’s Cup. Tuesday 22nd July. Photo: Suellen Hurling / Live Sail Die for PredictWind

The Rolex Fastnet Race is a triple-point scoring race of the Admiral’s Cup (the Channel Race was a double-point scoring race, the inshore races are single-scoring). Only one drop is possible after four of the inshore races are completed.

Team RNZYS are on 46 points overall so far. Second place, Team Yacht Club de Monaco are in second on 32 points, with Team RHKYC on 31 points. That might seem like a big cap to close for RNZYS, however with four races to go, the Admiral’s Cup is still very much up for grabs.

YTP Graduate James Dagg on Callisto. 2025 Admiral’s Cup. Tuesday 22nd July. Photo: Suellen Hurling / Live Sail Die for PredictWind

Regarding the series as a whole, Dean Barker, on board Callisto, said:

“I still remember very clearly when New Zealand won the Admiral’s Cup in 1987. I was a young nipper watching all these heroes from New Zealand come here and win it. To see the event back is really, really cool.”

“The round-the-cans race — the second one — was a real challenge, with the rain squalls and the huge wind shift, sort of 40–50°, as the different rain squalls came through.”

“The difference between the sail choices between the boats was quite interesting. Both were performing better on some legs than others.”

“This event will go down to the wire.”

Dean Barker. Callisto. Photo: Suellen Hurling / Live Sail Die for PredictWind

While the races aren’t live streamed, each boat is fitted with a tracker so that spectators around the world can watch the racing unfold in real time.

2025 Admirals Cup – The Schedule

• Saturday 19 July – Short Offshore Race (Channel Race)
• Monday 21 July – Lay Day
• Tuesday 22 July – Inshore Races
• Wednesday 23 July – Inshore Races
• Thursday 24 July – Inshore Races
• Friday 25 July – Lay Day (Rolex Fastnet Race Briefing)
• Saturday 26 July – Rolex Fastnet Race

Live Results of the Admirals Cup will be available as they are received.

By Suellen Hurling – Based in Cowes for the Admirals Cup representing PredictWind

The Admiral’s Cup/ Photo: Suellen Hurling / Live Sail Die for PredictWind