News

June 22, 2008

George David owner of Rambler and Alex Jackson on Speedboat, the two men vying for line honors in their respective classes, will have to put their record-breaking ambitions on hold for two more years. A light wind blowing up the rhumb line directly from Bermuda has dashed their hopes. Speedboat’s navigator had predicted an ETA of 1500hrs on Sunday. Now, it may be 1500 on Monday before they reach Bermuda, a day late and a little short.

The race has two records, one for Open Division boats, 48hr, 28min, 31sec set by Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory in 2004, and the ‘official’ record for traditional designs set by Roy Disney’s Pyewacket at 53hr, 39 min 22 min.

Both Rambler and Speedboat will have to settle for line honors now. But we have to remember how the much smaller 66 foot Bella Mente skippered by Hap Fauth slipped over the line well ahead of the 98 foot super-maxi Maximus back in 2006. The new 69 foot Bella Mente is within striking distance if the big boats falter.


Race commentary 3 by Chairman Nick Nicholson

Late Saturday, Thirty-two hours into the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race, two entirely different strategies emerged. The fastest boats have chosen to effectively ignore the characteristics of the Gulf Stream and concentrate on sailing the fastest angle, using Bermuda as the waypoint. Alex Jackson’s 99ft super maxi Speedboat has gone well to the east—about 25 miles—and it appears that navigator Stan Honey is gambling on two things: a weakly-defined area of southward-flowing warm water south and east of the stream, and a potential wind shift into the southeast as the boat approaches Bermuda Sunday afternoon. Andrew Cape, Puma‘s Il Mostro navigator, has been closely following in Speedboat’s wake, but the Volvo 70 can’t match the speed of the new Juan K designed 99-footer.

George David’s 90-foot Rambler, the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse division scratch boat, has sailed a more conservative course, and lines up about five mile east of the rhumb line some 25 miles behind Speedboat and eight miles closer to Bermuda than Puma’s Il Mostro at 2000 EDT Saturday. In the amateur-helmed St. David’s Lighthouse Division, Andrew Short’s Shockwave 5 has a 10-mile lead over Hexe, her closest rival.

The best action, however, is further back in the field. The Double-Handed Division is tightly packed to the west of the rhumbline, with Bjorn Johnson’s Valkyrie dead even with Jason R Richter’s Paladin, some 452 miles from Bermuda. Bruce and Dorsey Beard’s Sabre 386 Esmeralde is close to her rivals, some 13 miles behind. Paladin, a J/35, appears to have the better of her rivals on corrected time at this point.

In Class 1, the smallest of the of the St. David’s Lighthouse Division boats, CCA Vice-Commodore Sheila McCurdy’s McCurdy & Rhodes 38 Selkie is dead even with Hiroshi Nakajima’s Swan 43 Hiro Maru on both rating and distance to go. The two boats are leading their Class 1 rivals at this point in distance to go. Selkie’s average speed over the last two hours suggests that she has found the heart of the warm eddy to the west, and is making more than 8.5 knots over the bottom.

Those chasing the warm eddy may have paid a high price to get there, with Paul McMahon’s Tartan 41 Family Affair reporting biting the bullet to take a hitch away from Bermuda to the west in order to catch the positive current. Now that she’s in it, the big question will be whether the gamble of tacking away from the rhumb line will pay off.

Given the way that the bulk of the fleet is spread out to the west of the rhumb line behind the faster boats to the east, some are likely to be losers with this strategy, but a race winner may lurk among this group.

In the Cruiser Division, Erling Kristiansen’s Swan 56 Mensae—scratch boat in the division—has a 15-mile lead over Arent H Kits Van Heyningen’s IMX 45 Temptress, her closest rival. Temptress won the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division in 2006, but her new owner has elected to compete in the Cruiser Division in 2008.

Late Saturday night and early Sunday morning is the time when the main portion of the fleet reaches the Gulf Stream, and the water quickly rises in temperature from the cooler slope waters to the 80-plus degree water of the main portion of the Stream. Before the days of through-hull temperature transducers, veteran sailors knew they had reached the Stream when the water hitting them in the face was warm rather than cool. Today, constant tracking of surface temperature allows navigators to fine-tune their course relative to the warm, fast current.

This year, the goal is just to get across the stream at right angles to the main axis as quickly as possible, as there is no benefit to be had from spending time in the northeasterly-flowing main body of the current.

For most of the fleet, it’s a clear night with a nearly-full moon, but local convection over the stream itself is always a threat. Ken Campbell of Commander’s Weather is predicting S to SW winds of 10 to 15 knots for most of the fleet Saturday night. On Sunday, winds should back more into the south and gradually build, with boats expected to have a bumpy ride late that night and on Monday. Today’s close fetch for westerly-placed boats may turn into a dead beat for the first part of the second half of the race. By that time, the biggest boats will already be tied up at the Royal Bermuda YC. Cold beers and a warm shower will be the reward for hitching a ride on a big, fast boat.

The Tucker Thompsom video and commentary of the start of the Newport Bermuda Race is on www.t2p.tv/ and you can follow the race through commentary by Race Chairman Nick Nicholson on the race website www.bermudarace.com and through the iBoattrack official web site found at www.iboattrack.com/racetracking.html

Bermuda – feel the love



New boats, new rigs, new sail inventories, modified blades, complicated logistics and many months of planning have gone into the Newport Bermuda Race 2008 whether you are a boat owner, crew, support or regatta organizer. When the gun went off, crews settled into offshore racing mode. Everyone has their job. They maximize their efforts during their watches and they’ll cherish their few hours of sleep every time that they are off watch. As the thrash through the Gulf Stream becomes but a memory and the boat streams through Sargasso seaweed en route to St. David’s Lighthouse, crews will begin to look forward to everything that Bermuda has to offer.

This year, as in years past, the calendar is loaded with activities once boats arrive in Hamilton. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club is opening its doors for sailors and non-sailors alike and all the people of Bermuda to enjoy the club’s facilities and to join in on the festivities. Sunday evening’s Finish Line and Inspection Committee reception at the St. David’s Lighthouse kicks off the week.

From Monday, June 23rd through Sunday, June 28th, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club will offer a buffet breakfast and a buffet lunch. The club’s snack bar will be open during the late afternoon into the early evening throughout the week. Every night the colours will be lowered at sunset to the accompaniment of a bagpiper or bugler.

Daily highlights include: A DJ on the terrace on Wednesday night; the Tucker’s Point Golf Tournament on Thursday; a live band playing at Barr’s Bay Park on Thursday night; and the RBYC Anniversary Regatta, Prize giving and Official Post-Race Celebration hosted by Gosling’s Rums on Friday. Private parties and receptions will be taking place throughout the week and skippers, navigators, their guests and a limited number of crew will covet the tickets to the infamous Prize giving Reception at Government House on Saturday Evening. Don’t forget to see the island. Bermuda is breathtaking.

While carefully navigating around Bermuda’s famous reefs and keeping in mind Commodore Ralph Richardson’s comment at the skippers meeting, “On the approach to Bermuda it’s Reefs 187, yachts 0,” the sailors’ first glimpse of Bermuda is the St. David’s Lighthouse on the eastern end of the island chain. Regardless of which trophy you are competing for, you should make it a point to visit the other Lighthouse on Gibbs Hill and climb the stairs to the top for a panoramic view of Bermuda. The other special treat at the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse is the Tea Room, which serves breakfast and brunch on the weekends and sumptuous meals on certain nights of the week.

If you want to play golf with your sailing buddies, consider signing up for the Tucker’s Point Golf Tournament and attending the reception later that evening. Travel & Leisure Golf readers voted Tucker’s Point Club’s golf course and restaurant among the top three in the Caribbean in 2005 (the readers were wrong about one thing, Bermuda is not in the Caribbean). Find out for yourself if they were right about the rest. While you are there, spend some time at the club’s beach club, hotel, spa and residences.

Transportation options are plentiful in Bermuda. Your first inclination may be to rent a scooter. Be careful. The roads are narrow. There are no shoulders between the side of the road and the razor sharp coral walls. The roads are slick in the rain and you will be driving on the left side. The central ferry terminal is right next to Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Ferries run on time and can take you to nearby destinations and to distant scenic spots such as the Dockyard at the west end of the island and St. George’s on the east end of Bermuda. You’ll find plenty of shops, restaurants, art galleries, museums and breathtaking landscapes and seascapes in Hamilton, St. Georges and Dockyard.

No sooner will the sailboat fleet clear out than all of the offshore fishing boats will swarm to Bermuda for a month of tournaments. The waters are warm now, so consider fishing for yellowtail or even marlin off Bermuda or its nearby banks. Viewing marine life is easy in Bermuda. There are plenty of dive boats. The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) is situated between the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Royal Hamilton Dinghy Club and for a quick thrill you can always head over to XL Capital’s headquarters on Bermudiana Road and gawk at the fish tank in the lobby.

International Sailing returns to Bermuda October 7-12 with the King Edward VII Gold Cup presented by Argo Group. This is a spectacular World Match Race event sailed just off the marina in Hamilton Harbour. The world’s top ranked professional match race sailors vie to place their name on top of the famous list of winners and take home a big slice of the $100,000 prize purse.

As Bermuda’s people say, “Welcome back to Bermuda… feel the love.”

Bermuda Tourism Department provides essential resources about Bermuda vacations and more. 1800-BERMUDA. www.bermudatourism.com/