Ocean Racing

Report from the Barcolana

by Kimball Livingston, Posted October 13, 2010

Ross Stein, who races Corsair 24 #357, Origami, out of San Francisco Bay, sends this report from Italy’s big, crazy, beautiful Barcolana race, or Coppa d’Autunno. With turnouts in the thousands for a course only 19 miles long, there’s not much that compares. The race is sailed in the Gulf of Trieste, with one of four marks laid in the waters of neighboring

Emirates Team New Zealand Retains Title

by Chris Getman, Posted September 30, 2010

For the first time in history of the series, Emirates Team New Zealand, under leadership of skipper Dean Barker, has won back-to-back Audi MedCup Circuit Championships. On September 25, the New Zealand team finished the season 48.5 points ahead of the U.S. team Quantum Racing, which came in second.Emirates Team New Zealand began its second championship

Uphill Both Ways

by David Schmidt, Posted September 23, 2010

“Orcas! Two-o’clock!” The call from the on-deck watch filters into the thin, relative warmth of the cabin on JAM, John McPhail’s J/160. I look through the cold, spitting rain at the sea’s tumultuous surface. It takes a few moments to spot the orcas’ distinctive white spots amid a sea of whitecaps. Then three majestic mammals appear, obviously interested in the parade of raceboats

The Longest Starting Sequence

by Meredith Laitos, Posted September 23, 2010

On Memorial Day weekend in 1972, four sailing buddies came up with a great idea. “Let’s sail from Hyannis to Nantucket, spend the long weekend there, then sail back—and let’s race.”It was so much fun they decided to do it again, inviting other friends to join in. By 1978, there were more than 75 boats on the starting line, and the newly established race committee added a lay-day in

Galley Gourmets

by MacDuff Perkins, Posted September 21, 2010

If the crew of an ocean racer sails on its stomach and a happy, well-fed crew is a skipper’s strongest asset, then the cook is as crucial as the navigator.We asked some competitors in this year’s Newport-Bermuda race how to keep a crew well fed and ready to go. All had years of experience provisioning for offshore racing, leading to as many galley philosophies as there were boats.On

Minis in North America

by Jesse Rowse, Posted August 9, 2010

n early 2007, I sat down with the offshore committee of the Newport Yacht Club and, after much debate, was told that the 21-foot Mini 6.50—the same boat used for Europe’s Mini Transat Race from France to Brazil—would be granted its own division in that year’s Bermuda 1-2 Race.Since then, the number of Minis actively sailing in the United States has doubled, to about 30 boats. Although this

104th Newport Bermuda Slow and Steady

by Rebecca Fenton, Posted July 6, 2010

It was a slow start for the 183-boat fleet as nearly 2,000 sailors began the 635-mile race across the Gulf Steam from Newport to Bermuda on June 18. With 16 classes underway, this year’s Newport-Bermuda race boasted the third largest fleet in the race’s 104-year history.By sunset on the second day, Alex Jackson’s 100ft maxi sloop Speedboat took the lead from Tom Hill’s Titan

Singlehanded Transpac Finishes Up

by Kimball Livingston, Posted July 6, 2010

No matter where you go in the world it’s “never like this” when they switch the weather on. So it goes with distance events as well. The 2010 edition of the Singlehanded Transpac has been slow going much of the time, with difficult seas and opposing sets kicked up by distant storms. A thirteen-day crossing is certainly not the best-possible time for a

The Fleet Arrives in Bermuda

by Chris Museler, Posted June 24, 2010

There was a fine welcome when I arrived at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for the first time. When the 75-footer Titan XV pulled in Monday morning, the sun was shining, the bar was open and a few sailors were quietly sipping their first dark ’n stormy. I thought, “This could not get any better. This is paradise.”Then came Tuesday morning. As boats began to flow into the basin like

Aggressive Starts at Bermuda Race

by John Rousmaniere, Posted June 20, 2010

The Newport Bermuda Race fleet made their upwind starts in 16 classes over a period of more than two and a half hours on Friday afternoon. There now are 183 boats, after Avatar didn’t start. In addition, Blue sailed back to the shipyard to get her broken centerboard cable fixed; she’s expected to start again after the repair. (text continued below video)