Nicole Breault
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Nicole Breault is American sailor who is a four-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Open Championship. As of 2021, she sails out of St. Francis Yacht Club.
St. Francis Yacht Club
| Sport | |
|---|---|
| Sailing career | |
| Club | Niantic Bay Yacht Club St. Francis Yacht Club |
| College team | Yale University |
Breault grew up in Old Lyme, Connecticut and graduated in 1990 as class valedictorian from Old Lyme High School.[1]
She was two years old when she started sailing, and she grew up sailing with her parents, brother, and others.[1][2] By age seven she had joined Niantic Bay Yacht Club[3] and raced in the International 420 class in Long Island Sound and in world championships held in multiple countries.[2] Breault was the first woman to win the national championship for the International 420,[when?] and went on to win it a second time.[4][1] In her senior year of high school she was an all-state selection in girls' soccer and captained the sailing team to a state championship.[1] In college, she sailed for Yale University and graduated in 1994.[1] After college she returned to Old Lyme High School and taught history and coached soccer.[2]
Breault won the Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy for the winner of the U.S. Women’s Open Championship in 2015, 2016, 2018,[5] and 2021.[6] In 2018, she was undefeated during the championship event held at St. Francis Yacht Club.[7] She was again undefeated when she won in 2021; she sailed with Molly Carapiet and Karen Loutzenheiser during all four of her wins.[6] Other notable wins include the 2015 Mayor’s Cup ISAF Grade 3 Women’s Match Race in Long Beach, California;[2] and winning the gold medal at the 2015 ISAF Nation’s Cup Grand Final Women’s Division in Vladivostok, Russia.[2][4] Breault has raced in multiple classes including Lightnings, J/105. She prefers inshore one-design sailing, and sails in both match racing events and fleet racing events.[8] As of April 2021, Breault was the top ranked women's matching race sailor in the United States and #3 in the world; in the open rankings she is ranked #7 in the United States and #39 in the world.[9]
Sailing is in the family around Breault. Breault's husband, Bruce Stone, is a sailor and she has sailed with him at times serving either as skipper or main trimmer/tactician,[1][10] or doing doublehanded races in San Francisco Bay when the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed her 2020 racing plans.[3] Her father has stories of sailing his Dolphin 24 Marionette with Breault[11][12] and her brother Mike is also a sailor.[13] Breault enjoys coaching sailing, and has started a Learn-to-Sail program for women at St. Francis Yacht Club.[1]