(Annapolis, Maryland – June 7, 2025) – USA’s women’s match racing team Team Baam skippered by Allie Blecher from California (crew Beka Schiff, Rose Edwards, and Ali Blumenthal Stokes) won the 2025 Santa Maria Cup today, defeating Vela Racing team skippered by Nicole Breault (crew Evan Brown Cahill, McKenzie Wilson, Julie Mitchell) 3-0 in a tense light-air final on the Severn River. The Santa Maria Cup is one of the longest running women’s match racing regattas in the USA for over 20 years, hosted by the Eastport Yacht Club and an official event of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour since 2022.
As forecast earlier in the week, there was a long wait for the breeze to arrive before the petit-final and final matches were able to take place. As the sea breeze arrived early in the afternoon, the final four matches headed to the racecourse in front of the famous U.S Naval Academy.
Defending Santa Maria Cup champions, Team Wings from Sweden skippered by Anna Östling, were keen to make amends in their petit-final match against Australian Easy Tiger Racing skippered by Juliet Costanzo. Östling and crew had a disappointing day yesterday as they were narrowly beaten by Allie Blecher and Team Baam USA in the semi-finals to miss their chance at defending their title. The Swedish team defeated the Australians 2-0 in the first-to-two points semis to secure the last podium place.
Sadly, it was also a disappointing day for Nicole Breault and the Vela Racing team in the final. Despite the challenging light-air conditions, their opponents Team Baam USA were able to find the extra boat speed to defeat Breault in three straight wins and take the Santa Maria Cup title.
“We are delighted with the win today!” said Team Baam USA’s skipper Allie Blecher. “It was super light and very stressful in each match, but I am fortunate to have a team to keep me calm and collected, and we were just able to keep our bow down and stay ahead in each race.”
“The better team won today” added Breault. “The conditions were very tricky and although we were keeping close, Allie and her team were just able to extend where it mattered, congratulations to them!”
The 2025 Santa Maria Cup marks the second stage of the 2025 Women’s World Match Racing Tour with Nicole Breault and Vela Racing topping the leaderboard with a combined 22 points including their second-place finish at the opening event in San Francisco last week. Blecher and Sweden’s Anna Östling move to second and third on the leaderboard which will count the top three results of the five-event tour concluding in Bermuda in late October.
“It has been a very exciting start to the 2025 women’s world tour with these two back-to-back US events” added Women’s Tour Executive Director James Pleasance. “San Francisco and Annapolis are both ideal match racing venues and it has been great to have over fifty female athletes compete across both events. We are now looking forward to the third stage of the tour in Marstrand Sweden at the end of this month.”
2025 Santa Maria Cup Final results
- 🇺🇸 Allie Blecher, Beka Schiff, Rose Edwards, Ali Blumenthal Stokes
- 🇺🇸 Nicole Breault, Evan Brown Cahill, McKenzie Wilson, Julie Mitchell
- 🇸🇪 Anna Östling, Linnéa Wennergren, Annika Carlunger, Svea Sahlin
- 🇦🇺 Juliet Costanzo, Sarah Parker, Clare Costanzo, Rachel Bower
- 🇺🇸 Lindsey Baab, Kate Shiber, Ayaka Okawa, Abigayle Konys Moreno
- 🇺🇸 Bridget Groble, Morgan Collins, Marley Mais, Madison Bashaw
- 🇺🇸 Caroline Bayless, Emma Montgomery , Noelle Owen, Savannah Young
- 🇳🇿 Ella Willcox, Gwynie Dunleavy, Miia Newman, Sydney Monahan
For full results, see www.matchracingresults.com
For more information on the Women’s World Match Racing Tour, visit https://womenswmrt.com/
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About Santa Maria Cup Santa Maria Cup is the second stop on the 2025 Women’s World Match Racing Tour. Returning after a 10-year break in 2023, the 2025 regatta will be the 23rd year 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, 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 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. See womenswmrt.com
