Yacht Club Argentino
Buenos Aires, Argentina
This will be the YCA's fifth appearence in the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cups, having competing in every event since 2011. The club's best finish was eighth in 2013 and 2017.
YCA was founded in 1883 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since then, it has been the role model and leader in the promotion of the core values of yachting in Argentina and South America, including the organization of many major yachting events. The Club is headquartered in Buenos Aires City, but has five other locations, one in San Fernando, two in Mar del Plata, and one in the Delta of Tigre (Isla Zarate). YCA has produced many great sailors, including Olympic gold medalist Santiago Lange and top yacht designer dynasty Germán Frers (Senior and Junior.).
Team Profile
The YCA team for this year's Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup is a mix of seasoned sailors, some of whom raced the 2017 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational and won the Corinthian Spirit Award, and young sailors from the Club’s sailing program. In preparation for this year's IC, the base of the crew sailed together all year in the Soto 33 fleet, a boat which in many ways is similar to the IC37
YCA's skipper for this year's Invitational Cup, Emilio Miguel (left), returns to Newport after placing eighth in the 2017 IC. Hailing from Key Biscayne, Fla., with 40 years of racing behind him, Miguel has experience on his side. This year alone, he placed second at the YCA Blitz Regatta 2019 and 30th at the Miami Bacardi Cup 2019, both at the helm. Apart from racing, Miguel is the Argentina national representative in Optimist, Cadet, 470, Soling, Lightning, J24 and ORC, and is a member of both YCA and Key Biscayne Yacht Club.
Cristian Frers (right) will be the Tactician for the YCA team in the 2019 IC. Like Miguel, he was a member of the YCA's 2017 Invitational Cup team. Frers has raced for 40 years, and in his role as a tactician he placed second in both the YCA Blitz Regatta 2019 and the YCA Semana de Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, Argentina, is home for Frers, and he is deeply involved in both yachting and philanthropy in his community; he is a Board member at YCA and Head of Yachting Commission, and both a Board member and co-manager of ASANA, a pro-bono association to support kids with down syndrome.
