Twenty nine boats and a moggy complete Transatlantic Race

Published on August 14, 2015 by admin   ·   No Comments

Among the finishers of the 30th Transatlantic Race were 14-year-old Breana Rath, her dad Colin, and Wasabi the family cat who completed the 2,800 miles on their liveaboard Hanse 55 aptly named ‘Persevere’.

The Race started on 28 June 2015 when the first 13 boats set off from the New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island, to race across the Atlantic.

It was the first of three starting dates for the 34 boats participating.

A further 21 set off on 1 July, including Sir Robin Knox-Johnston sailing his Open 60 ‘Grey Power’.

The four fastest boats; ‘Comanche’, ‘Rambler’, ‘Phaedo 3’ and ‘Paradox’, left the New World behind them a day after Independence Day on the 5th.

There was a definite animal theme to the locations this year – the start was just west of Goat Island and the competitors crossed the finishing line at the Lizard before they headed to the closing parties at Cowes.

However, whales were avoided with the fleet sailing south of the Right Whale Critical Habitat area of Nantucket and then east to avoid the unusually large and widespread collection of icebergs on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland before finally heading north to the Great Circle Route.

The Transatlantic Race has a long history, the first Race set off on 11 December 1866 at the Sandy Hook Lightship in New York Harbour with only three participants.

After 3,000 miles of sailing, all three finished the Race within hours of each other – reaching the finish line at Cowes on Christmas Day.

This year’s Race was organised by the Royal Yacht Squadron, the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Storm Trysail Club. Of the 34 starters only 29 made it to the finish line.

Two boats, ‘Brigand’ and ‘Altair’, suffered early technical issues and limped back to Newport. A further three boats, ‘Amhas’ (sustained mast damage), ‘Shearwater’ (retired due to rigging problems), and ‘Solution’ (rudder damage – clearly no solution found) – all successfully reached Horta in the Azores.

First past the post happened to coincide with the winner in this year’s race.

Bryon Ehrhart’s Reichel/Pugh 63 ‘Lucky’ was the first boat in the Transatlantic Race 2015 to cross the finish line at the Lizard and also pipped all the others under the IRC handicap to win the race overall. ‘Lucky’ (by name and by nature) took 8 days 22 hours 5 minutes and 3 seconds to complete the 2,800-mile crossing.

Lloyd Thornburg’s MOD70 trimaran ‘Phaedo 3’ was the fastest multihull in a time of 7 days 2 hours and 4 minutes.

Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze-Clark’s 100ft maxi ‘Comanche’ recorded the fastest monohull crossing in 7 days 11 hours and 35 minutes. Impressively, during the race, ‘Comanche’ broke the record for distance travelled in a 24-hour run with a distance of 618.01 miles.

But the Race isn’t all about the podium places, the last boat to round the Lizard was ‘Persevere’. After problems with rigging they had to revisit Newport and missed a crucial weather window. They returned to the race as soon as they could but still finished in 17 days 8 hours and 28 minutes.

So congratulations to all the winners, well done to all those that finished, and a pat on the head and a bowl of cream to Wasabi the Transatlantic cat.

via Twenty nine boats and a moggy complete Transatlantic Race | MarinaLive Gibraltar.