It was an unseasonably wet, dreary day in Newport, but at least somewhere, someone was having fun.  That somewhere was Rhode Island Sound where nearly 100 teams are competing in the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex on the second day of the split-format event’s final four days of buoy racing.  And that someone was Dawn Riley (Oyster Bay, N.Y.), who along with eight Oakcliff Sailing Center trainees, helped guide Art Santry’s (Oyster Bay) Ker 50 Temptation-Oakcliff to the top of the scoreboard in IRC Class 3after two victories in two races today.”We’re sailors; we get wet all the time,” said Riley, a veteran of America’s Cup and Whitbread Round the World Races who serves as executive director of Oakcliff in Oyster Bay.  She explained that the Center’s mission of raising the level of sailors and sailing in the U.S. was on artful display today, as the trainees worked side-by-side with Riley, on mid-bow, and six other seasoned sailors, including Santry, who skippers and sponsors the boat. According to Santry, the team played the shifts extremely well on three of the four upwind legs. “Our crew work was flawless, and the gybes and tacks were perfect,” he said, noting that yesterday Temptation-Oakcliff had been in third overall after finishing third in the opening race of the series.  “I’m exceedingly impressed with the Oakcliff program; these kids are great. They have been working together with us all season, and they are tough, enthusiastic and dedicated to the program. If the crew work maintains, we’re going to be tough to beat.” Class IRC 4 Start Pendragon ( Photo by Rolex / Daniel Forster) One race circle hosted four IRC classes, while another hosted one-design racing for J/109, J/111, Beneteau 36.7 and Swan 42 classes.  Due to a light-wind forecast, the Swan 42s elected to resume buoy racing today rather than compete in their originally scheduled distance race, but in the end, they—like the other classes—were met with a hearty 12-15 knots by mid-morning, when the heaviest rain showers had moved on. Large swells also figured in as the winds tapered off to 8-10 during the course of the afternoon. Another who had no problem making the most of the conditions was Craig Albrecht (Sea Cliff, N.Y.), skipper of the Farr 395 Avalanche in IRC Class 4.  His team defended its first-place position from yesterday by finishing 3-4 today to stay two points ahead of Greg Manning’s (Warwick, R.I.) X-41 Sarah. “Staying in the pressure was key, and changing gears up and down was important,” said Albrecht, whose team won the American Yacht Club Spring Series Regatta earlier this year. “The racing has been very close, and it has been exciting, especially at the mark roundings where many of the boats have overlapped.” John Hele’s (Toronto, CAN/Newport) Daring won both races today in the Swan 42 class, propelling him to first overall from third yesterday and giving him a better shot at taking the national crown that is being determined here. Following a general recall, an individual recall after the start of the first race brought Z-flag penalties against the teams of Arethusa, Barleycorn, Impetuous and Conspiracy.  Having not gone back to exonerate themselves from jumping the start gun cost the teams three positions on their scoring for that race. Defending national champion Ken Colburn (Dover, Mass.), helming Apparition, finished 4-4 today to drop to second from first yesterday. Swan 42 Fleet (Photo by Rolex / Daniel Forster) The J/109s, which are sailing their North Americans, also had individual recalls in their first race that saw yesterday’s leader Storm, skippered by Rick Lyall (Wilton, Conn.), return to the start line to successfully clear. The team fought back to eighth and finished first in the second race, but the performance was only good enough for a third in overall scoring. It left the proverbial door open for Ted Herlihy’s (S. Dartmouth, Mass.) Gut Feeling to take the top spot after that team finished 4-2 today.  With nine points, Gut Feeling’s overall score is shared with Skoot, skippered by Jim Vos (New Canaan, Conn.), which sits in second overall, so both teams are a slim one point ahead of Storm. The J/111 Class’s first day of competition went well for Henry Brauer’s (Marblehead, Mass.) Fleetwing, which took bullets in each of two races. “The first race was great, because it was good breeze; the second race was a bit more challenging because of the lighter wind and the lumpy seas,” said Brauer, who is new to the J/111 Class this year after having sold the J/105 Scimitar that he co-owned with Stewart Neff (serving as his tactician here) and with which he won the 2011 J/105 North American Championship.  “We got good starts, Stewart put us in the right place, and the team did a great job trimming the sails and keeping us going the whole time. The important thing to racing well is having a good team, so there are a lot of the same people onboard that I’ve sailed with in the past. Having that nucleus is very important.” In the Beneteau 36.7 Class, William Purdy’s (New York, N.Y) Whirlwind displaced John Hammel’s (Arlington, Mass.) Elan at the top of the scoreboard after winning both races today.  Elan finished 2-3 to take second overall, just one point behind Elan, and David Powers’s (Boston, Mass.) Agora is only one more point behind in third, on the merit of a 3-2 today. Yesterday, in the second of two races for IRC Class 1, Bob and Farley Towse’s (Stamford, Conn.) Reichel Pugh 66 Blue Yankee could not finish within the time limit and posted five points to the two posted by George David’s (Hartford, Conn.) Reichel Pugh 90 Rambler. Today the two teams split the victories in two races, so Rambler still holds a three-point lead in the two-boat series thus far. In IRC 2, Jim Swartz’s (Park City, Utah) IRC 52 Vesper still leads after finishing 1-5 today, while Austin and Gwen Fragomen’s (Newport, R.I.) IRC 52 Interlodge has moved into second place overall. Three more new classes will join the action tomorrow: Melges 32, J/105 and PHRF, the latter of which is sailing “navigator courses” instead of around the buoys. For complete results, daily video and blog for the 2012 New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, visit www.nyyc.org. (end) (Top-five Results Follow) New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex Results, July 20, 2012 J/111 (One Design – 6 Boats) 1. Fleetwing, J/111, Henry Brauer, Marblehead, Mass., 1, 1 (2) 2. Wicked 2.0, J/111, Douglas Curtiss, South Dartmouth, Mass., 3,2 (5) 3. Jazz, J/111, Rodney Johnstone, Stonington, Conn., 2, 3 (5) 4. Andiamo, J/111, Paul Strauch, Manhasset, N.Y., 4, 4 (8) 5. Partnership, J/111, David and Mary Ellen Tortorello, Bridgeport, Conn., 5, 5 (10) Beneteau 36.7 (One Design – 8 Boats) 1. Whirlwind, Beneteau 36.7, William Purdy, New York, N.Y., 3,1,1 (5) 2. Elan, Beneteau 36.7, John Hammel, Arlington, Mass., 1,2,3 (6) 3. Agora, Beneteau 36.7, David Powers, Boston, Mass., 2,3,2 (7) 4. Resolute, Beneteau 36.7, Junius Brown, Ridgefield, Conn., 4,7,4 (15) 5. Surface Tension, Beneteau 36.7, Lou Melillo, Middletown, N.J., 5,5,5 (15) Swan 42 (One Design – 15 Boats) 1. Daring, Swan 42, John Hele, Newport, R.I., 3,1,1 (5) 2. Apparition, Swan 42, Ken Colburn, Dover, Mass., 1,4,4 (9) 3. Stark Raving Mad VI, Swan 42, James Madden, Newport Beach, Calif., 6, 3, 8 (17) 4. Vitesse, Swan 42, Jon Halbert, Dallas, Texas, 2,7,9 (18) 5. Arethusa, Swan 42, Philip Lotz, Newport, R.I., 5, 13/ZFP, 2 (20) J/109 (One Design – 17 Boats) 1.Gut Feeling, J 109, Ted Herlihy, South Dartmouth, Mass., 3, 4, 2 (9) 2.Skoot, J 109, Jim Vos, New Canaan, Conn., 4,2,3 (9) 3.Storm, J 109, Rick Lyall, Wilton, Conn., 1,8,1 (10) 4.Rush, J 109, Bill Sweetser, Annapolis, Md., 5, 1, 4 (10) 5.Caminos, J 109, Donald Filippelli, Amagansett, N.Y., 6, 3, 6 (15) IRC 1 (IRC – 2 Boats) 1. Rambler, RP 90, George David, Hartford, Conn., 1,1,1,2 (5) 2. Blue Yankee, Reichel Pugh 66, Bob and Farley Towse, Stamford, Conn., 2, 3/TLE, 2,1 (8) IRC 2 (IRC – 5 Boats) 1.Vesper, IRC 52, Jim Swartz, Park City, Utah, 1,1,1,5 (2) 2.Interlodge, IRC 52, Austin and Gwen Fragomen, Newport, R.I., 2,5,2,2 (11) 3.Privateer, Cookson 50, Ron O’Hanley, Newport, R.I., 5,3,4,1 (13) 4.Flying Jenny 7, IRC 52, David & Sandra Askew, Annapolis, Md., 4,2,5,3 (14) 5.SLED, IRC 52, Takashi Okura, Tokyo, Japan, 3,4,3,4 (14) IRC 3 (IRC – 8 Boats) 1.Temptation-Oakcliff, Ker 50, Art Santry, Oyster Bay, N.Y., 3,1,1 (5) 2.Decision, HPR Carkeek 40, Stephen Murray, New Orleans, La., 2,3,4 (9) 3.White Gold, J 44, James D. Bishop, Jamestown, R.I., 5.5,2,2 (9.5) 4.Cool Breeze, Mills 43 Custom 43, John Cooper, Cane Hill, Mo., 1,4,5 (10) 5.High Noon, CTM 41, Steve and Heidi Benjamin, Norwalk, Conn., 5.5,6,3 (14.5) IRC 4 (IRC – 14 Boats) 1.Avalanche, Farr 395, Craig Albrecht, Sea Cliff, N.Y., 1,3,4 (8) 2.Sarah, X-41, Greg Manning , Warwick, R.I., 7,1,2 (10) 3.White Witch, King 40, Larry Landry, Newport, R.I., 3,10,1 (14) 4.DownTime, Summit 40, Ed and Molly Freitag, Annapolis, Md, USA – 6,7, 3 (16) 5.Settler, Peterson 42, Tom Rich , Middletown, R.I., 8, 2, 7 (17)

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Dateline: 07:09:18 ADT Bermuda: George David’s 90ft maxi Rambler has smashed the 635 mile Newport Bermuda race record, clipping a massive 14 hours off the previous best time set 10 years ago by Roy Disney’s Pyewacket. The new record now stands at 39hr, 39 minutes, 18 seconds (subject to ratification) – an average speed of 16knots.

A delighted George David said. “These were perfect conditions. The most exciting moment was when we hit 26 knots. I’m so pleased with our performance. We have reduced the record by 25% – Not bad for a boat that is now 10 years old. This Rambler is the best boat I have ever owned!”

Rambler not only slashed the race record, her crew also spanked their rivals, with Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente crossing the lighthouse line 1 hour 43 minutes behind, followed 3 minutes later by Shockwave skippered by George Sakellaris.

On corrected time however, Shockwave beat Rambler by 33 minutes, followed by Belle Mente in 3rd and Team Tiburon 4th. Two yachts in class 10 are still racing.

 

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 More than 20 crew on board a racing yacht have been rescued after it capsized off the Irish coast.

The US registered racing boat, Rambler 100, was taking part in the Fastnet Race when it overturned about 12.5 miles from Baltimore, Co Cork, just after 6.30pm on Monday.

The Irish Coast Guard, which co-ordinated the rescue operation, said 16 crew members sitting on the hull of the vessel were airlifted to safety. Another five who were in a life raft were taken on board other yachts.

Ian Loffhagen, racing manager, said the yacht – skippered by George David – capsized between the Fastnet Rock and the Pantaenius Buoy. “All 21 crew have been rescued,” he added.

Some 314 yachts are taking part in the Rolex Fastnet Race and set sail from Cowes on the Isle of Wight on Sunday.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s biennial event takes the fleet 608 miles along the south coast of the UK, across the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock off south west Ireland, before returning around the Scilly Isles to the finish in Plymouth.

The event has a fearsome reputation following the 1979 race which was devastated by strong winds and seas resulting in 15 deaths.

A spokeswoman for the Irish Coast Guard said the seas in the area were not very rough at the time of the capsize, but that the weather conditions were foggy.

The Baltimore RNLI lifeboat was first on the scene, followed by the Shannon and Waterford-based rescue helicopters and the Irish Naval vessel the LE Ciara.

The yacht’s personal locator beacon was activated when it overturned.

 

Follow up on the rescue.

Feel0ng lucky to be alive, Australian Mike Mottl stepped onto dry land at the pier at Baltimore, west Cork to cheers, applause and an emotional embrace.

One of five crew of the Rambler 100 to be separated from the vessel after it keeled over in heavy seas, Mr Mottl and four others spent two hours adrift before they were plucked from the water.

“I’m feeling lucky to be alive, happy to be here and it’s great to see the local people here to greet us,” Mr Mottl said as he stepped into an awaiting ambulance at the pier.

Erle Williams, from Auckland New Zealand was at the helm when disaster struck seven miles north west of the Fastnet.

“I’m sailing all my life I’ve never ended up in the water like this, it was pretty scary. We were very lucky to get out in time, the navigator put out the call just as boat was tipping over and it went over phenomenally fast,” he said.

Foggy conditions prevented other boats taking part in the race from seeing the stricken crew.

“We were yelling and hollering out to them but obviously they couldn’t see us, it was a pretty frantic time,” he said.

A number of the crew members were asleep below deck when the boat keeled over.

“Some of our guys were very lucky to get out from under the boat so we are counting out blessings,” Mr Williams said.

Michael Van Beuren (44) from Portsmouth, New Zealand said the boat capsized within 30 seconds.

“We were going upwind in heavy seas when the keel fin fractured, the seas were quite big. It is such a relief that we all made it ashore.”

Skipper and owner George David was among five crew members set adrift from the vessel. They were plucked to safety by the crew of the diving vessel, Wave Chieftan .

“We could see them drifting away, we spent two hours clinging to the boat thinking and worrying about them, they were our main concern,” Mr Van Beuren said.

Bob Wylie (48) from Lake Quarry in Australia spent two hours on the upturned keel of the yacht.

“My first priority was my own safety and then to try to help the others,” he said.

“I saw the liferaft drifting away so I threw a rope. It just couldn’t reach them and they kept drifting out to sea.”

One woman on board the vessel, the partner of vessel owner Mr David, was airlifted to safety suffering from hypothermia following the incident.

The Rambler 100 skippered by Mr David was first home in the Transatlantic Race earlier this year. The Rambler crossed the finish line on July 10th in an elapsed time of six days, 22 hours, eight minutes, two seconds.

The Rambler established a new record for the 2,975 nautical mile course from Newport, United States, to Lizard Point, South Cornwall, in Britian.

Mr David is the former chief executive of United Technologies Corporation, a conglomerate based in Hartford, Connecticut, whose vast holdings include such diverse companies as Otis Elevator, Sikorsky Helicopters, Carrier air conditioners and aerospace and industrial systems Hamilton Sudstrand. Mr David is an avid yachtsman and racer.

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Rambler 100, skippered by George David (Hartford, Conn.) crossed the finish line of the Transatlantic Race 2011 on Sunday 10th July at 16h 08m UTC.

The elapsed time for Rambler 100 was  6d 22h 08m 2s.

It has established a new record for the 2,975 nautical mile course from Newport, RI to Lizard Point, South Cornwall, UK, which is to be ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.
Sponsors of the TR 2011 are Rolex, Thomson Reuters, Newport Shipyard, Perini Navi and Peters & May, with additional support by apparel sponsor Atlantis Weathergear.

To follow the race via tracker and get real insight into life on board via the blogs, visit www.transatlanticrace.com

Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TransatlanticRace2011 and Twitter @TransatRace2011 http://twitter.com/TransatRace2011

More about the Transatlantic Race 2011
The Transatlantic Race 2011 charts a 2,975 nautical mile course from Newport, R.I., to Lizard Point, South Cornwall, England.  Pre-start activities took place at the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, while awards will be presented at the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Cowes Castle clubhouse on the Isle of Wight.  Three separate starts – June 26, June 29 and July 3 – featured 26 boats ranging from 40 to 289 feet in length.  In addition to winners in seven classes (IRC Class 1 Racer, IRC Class 2 Racer, IRC Class 3 Racer/Cruiser, IRC Class 4 Racer/Cruiser, Classic, Class 40, and Open), whichever yacht finishes the course with the fastest elapsed time will set the benchmark for a new racing record from Newport to Lizard Point, to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Council.  Rolex watches will be awarded to the record holder and the overall winner (on corrected time) under IRC.

The Transatlantic Race 2011 is also the centerpiece of the Atlantic Ocean Racing Series (AORS), which includes the Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race, RORC Caribbean 600, the Annapolis to Newport Race, Rolex Fastnet Race, Biscay Race and the Rolex Middle Sea Race.  Of the seven races in the AORS, three races, including the TR 2011 must be completed to qualify for a series victory.  Each race is weighted equally in overall series scoring with the exception of TR 2011, which is weighted 1.5 times.  All entered yachts are scored using their two best finishes in addition to the TR 2011.  Awards for the AORS will be presented in November, 2011, at the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Awards Dinner in Manhattan.

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Since 1866, the cornerstone of offshore yacht racing has been transatlantic races, due, in part, to legendary yachts sailed by icons of the sport.  Few, however, would disagree that the impending showdown between Rambler 100 and ICAP Leopard ranks right up there with the best battles of all time.

Sunday, July 3, the third and final start for the Transatlantic Race 2011 will commence at 1350 Eastern Daylight Time, when the warning signal is fired at Castle Hill Lighthouse.  Six yachts will then begin this historic and epic race across the wilds of the Atlantic Ocean.  The following day as 4th of July celebrations are underway ashore, the action out on the race course is sure to be every bit as explosive.

While Rambler 100 and ICAP Leopard, sailed by George David (Hartford, Conn.) and Clarke Murphy (New York, N.Y.), respectively, are likely to contest for line honors in the Transatlantic Race 2011, the other combatants are not just filling out the numbers.  The conditions will play a big part in deciding the overall class winner in IRC Class One and the victor will claim the Cape May Trophy, which James Gordon Bennett – winner of the first-ever Transatlantic Race in 1866 — presented to the New York Yacht Club in 1872.

For Sojana, whose owner Peter Harrison (London, U.K.) is a member of New York Yacht Club, the Transatlantic Race 2011 is an opportunity to resolve unanswered questions.

“When they announced they were doing it again we were delighted to enter, because, for Sojana, it is unfinished business,” said skipper Marc Fitzgerald (Gurnard, U.K.).  “We had a dramatic race in 2005.  We had a medical evacuation when one of the crew broke his arm and we diverted to drop him off for surgery.  We were leading our class at the time and lost 36 hours in the race.  At that time we were on for the course record.  Obviously we had no hesitation in getting treatment for the injured crew, but this race is unfinished business.  That race was wet, windy and cold, which is not a problem on Sojana.  We have hot showers, comfortable beds and proper food.  If we have an advantage it will be in heavy air reaching and horrible conditions, simply because the conditions onboard the high performance race boats will be uncomfortable for their crew.  We are a superyacht in with the racing yachts.  We like playing with the big boys, but we are under no illusions, we are not even thinking about giving them a hard time.  However, we did beat Leopard on corrected time in the RORC Caribbean 600, so it’s not impossible.”

Mark Thomas (Perth, Australia), watch captain on ICAP Leopard, gave an overview of the 100’ canting keel super maxi as final preparations were being made dockside.

“ICAP Leopard has a 47m cathedral rig,” said Thomas.  “All of our mast locks are rated for 16 tons, which means the tack of the sail loads can take up to 14 tons.  Leopard has got to have locking halyards – they take compression out of the rig and without them you would need to have massive halyards.”

Thomas added that the rigging is made from an exotic material called PBO and solid thermoset carbon fiber from Future Fibres.  The running backstays cost roughly $8,000 each and are an essential part of trimming the sails, “however, the most important piece of equipment we have onboard is the toasted cheese sandwich machine.  It will be a dark day when we run out of bread, as the rest of our rations are freeze dried.”

The young sailors on the Oakcliff All-American Offshore Team are absolutely thrilled to be taking part in this race and are reveling in the thought of crossing the start line with some of the legends of the sport.  Vanquish, the Reichel Pugh 65, has two young women in crew — Kaity Storck and Molly Robinson – who are both in their twenties.

“Although I am just 65kg there is little I can’t do on the boat,” said Storck (Huntington, N.Y.), an Inter-collegiate Sailing Association All-American.  “These sails are heavy and need a group of people to drag them into place.  Weight distribution is also very important.  The pedestal grinders onboard are very efficient and most of the time fitness is more important than brute strength.  Also, when we need the weight off the rail, if one of the lighter crew comes down to trim the main, the boat doesn’t heel over as much.  I have done a lot of match racing and 470 sailing before and the basic principles are just the same.  One of the big differences is that when you race inshore, if you fall out with someone you can just walk away and resolve it later.  In the middle of the Atlantic that is not an option, everybody has to get along, all the time.  We all take part in many different roles onboard and for me to drive a 65’ racing yacht is fantastic.”

Prior to joining the Vanquish crew Robinson (San Francisco, Calif.) was primarily crewing on 29ers.  “This is a big step up for me and very different.  We might be bathing in sunshine now, but we could well be heading up into the northern latitudes where it will be cold and the weather can be pretty bad.  We all realize how lucky we are to be part of this program and we hope that the team will be able to carry on after this race and compete in others such as the Rolex Fastnet Race.”

The Farr 80 Beau Geste, skippered by Karl Kwok (Hong Kong), was in fine form in the Annapolis Newport Race, beating both Rambler 100 and ICAP Leopard overall after time correction.  Watch captain Gavin Brady (Auckland, New Zealand) is an America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veteran who has been sailing with Kwok for many years:  “The ideal conditions for us will be a variety of wind angles and wind speeds.  The other yachts will prefer one type of condition the whole way across.  Puma, for example, is half the weight of Beau Geste and will go better in light conditions.  All of the canting keel boats have dagger boards that give zero leeway and in heavy upwind conditions, that is a big advantage.  Virtually all of our competitors are extreme boats, but Beau Geste was designed for a variety of wind angles and if we get upwind, downwind and reaching conditions that would be our perfect scenario.  I also think that it is important to stress that this race rewards good seamanship, handling the boat well and pre-empting changes will be rewarded and that’s a good thing.  The overall winner will probably be the boat that is sailed the best; we should all get the result that our performance deserves.”

George David, skipper of Rambler 100, explained that his maxi yacht is a very complicated machine, and it takes a very high level of skill to sail it.  “It has been a lot of fun to take a boat like this and modify it to improve it,” said David.  “One of the biggest changes was to the sail plan.  The forestay is now out on a bowsprit, which has increased the foot of the headsails by over four feet making the headsails 30% larger.  The mainsail was reduced in size and these changes have allowed us to rebalance the boat, especially to get the bow out of the water to promote the boat onto the plane.  The sprit is also designed to deflect water off the deck.  In extreme conditions several tons of water can come down the deck; this affects performance and also can cause some serious problems for the crew.  Green water smashing down the deck at 30 knots is not easy to work with.”

According to Tony Mutter (Auckland NZ) watch captain on PUMA Ocean Racing’s Mar Mostro, “this is a very important race for us.  We will be racing with the full PUMA team and in full race mode.  Time on the water is very important, as the rules for the next Volvo Ocean Race do not allow us to test with two boats, so this race will be part of our learning process with the boat.  So far we have sailed about 3,000 miles in the new boat.  The Transatlantic Race 2011, followed by the trip to our training camp in The Canaries will double our time on the water.  We hope to get a variety of conditions to test the systems onboard and especially to look at a variety of sails.  This is all extremely valuable training, but so is racing.  Also with so many boats getting a head start it will give us something to go for.  I don’t think we can catch them all but it will be a good motivation to push as hard as we can.”

Sponsors of the TR 2011 are Rolex, Thomson Reuters, Newport Shipyard, Perini Navi and Peters & May, with additional support by apparel sponsor Atlantis Weathergear.

For more information, visit http://www.transatlanticrace.org/.

Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TransatlanticRace2011 and Twitter @TransatRace2011 http://twitter.com/TransatRace2011

More about the Transatlantic Race 2011
The Transatlantic Race 2011 charts a 2,975 nautical mile course from Newport, R.I., to Lizard Point, South Cornwall, England.  Pre-start activities will take place at the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, while awards will be presented at the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Cowes Castle clubhouse on the Isle of Wight.  Three separate starts – June 26, June 29 and July 3 – will feature 30 boats ranging from 40 to 289 feet in length.  In addition to winners in seven classes (IRC Class 1 Racer, IRC Class 2 Racer, IRC Class 3 Racer/Cruiser, IRC Class 4 Racer/Cruiser, Classic, Class 40, and Open), whichever yacht finishes the course with the fastest elapsed time will set the benchmark for a new racing record from Newport to Lizard Point, to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Council.  Rolex watches will be awarded to the record holder and the overall winner (on corrected time) under IRC.

The Transatlantic Race 2011 is also the centerpiece of the Atlantic Ocean Racing Series (AORS), which includes the Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race, RORC Caribbean 600, the Annapolis to Newport Race, Rolex Fastnet Race, Biscay Race and the Rolex Middle Sea Race.  Of the seven races in the AORS, three races, including the TR 2011 must be completed to qualify for a series victory.  Each race is weighted equally in overall series scoring with the exception of TR 2011, which is weighted 1.5 times.  All entered yachts are scored using their two best finishes in addition to the TR 2011.  Awards for the AORS will be presented in November, 2011, at the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Awards Dinner in Manhattan.

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George David’s maxi yacht, Rambler 100, crossed the finish line in Antigua in the early hours of Wednesday morning in an elapsed time of 1 day 16 hours 20 minutes and 2 seconds.

Subject to official confirmation, Rambler 100 has broken the monohull race record set by race rival, Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard by nearly four hours.

Two of the world’s most impressive racing yachts have been locking horns over 600 miles of high-speed action in a fight to the finish. Competing against each other for the first time and battling it out to snatch the record for the third edition of the RORC Caribbean 600.

The Rambler crew contained the entire compliment of the Puma Ocean Racing team which will be competing in the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race, tired but elated, Puma skipper, Kenny Read commented dockside in Antigua:

“That was a lot of fun but hard work for a while, you do something like sail around the world and that is almost easy compared to this, because there is no time to take any sleep, you’re taking so many corners and turns but it is also a gorgeous course, it’s a dream come true type of event. I am glad we came and that George invited me. Probably the most memorable part of the course was at night with a full moon at the top of St. Maarten, big breeze and massive breaking waves, it was huge fun and really cool, we came out of their doing 26 knots, it has been a real adventure and a this course and Rambler 100 is a whole new dimension for sailing.”

Rambler 100′s George David, an avid sailor and member of the New York Yacht Club, has been sailing with Kenny Read for 17 years.

“Rambler 100 is quite a handful, it’s like a Volvo 70 on steroids and this is a big fast race, which favours us,” commented David. “It is part of the Atlantic Ocean Racing Series, the RORC Caribbean 600 has been a great race as part of that series. We never took this win for granted, we have carried out some optimisation towards the IRC rating and we really didn’t know how we would perform, as this is the first time that the boat has been raced to be IRC competitive. Leopard is a powerful boat and they are a good team that has been sailing together for a number of years.

Thank you to the RORC and the Antigua Yacht Club, a lot of people have put a great deal of effort into making this a great race, I think this race is going to attract a lot of competitors, we have a record fleet this year and I can only seeing it growing, I think we will be back next year.”
IRC Overall Provisional Results
 
1.  USA25555  Rambler 100     JK 100            George David   
2.  CAN84248  Vela Veloce     Southern Cross 52 Richard Oland  
3.  GBR115L   Sojana          Farr 115          Peter Harrison  
4.  AUS5299   Jazz            Cookson 50        Chris Bull  
5.  GBR1R     ICAP Leopard    Farr 100  Mike Slade Mike Slade/Clarke Murphy
6.  IRL5005   Lee Overlay Partners Cookson 50   Adrian Lee   
7.  GBR22N    Aegir           Carbon Ocean 82   Brian Benjamin  
8.  GBR4321R  Oystercatcher XXVIII Humphreys 54 Richard Matthews  
9.  NED46     Tonnerre de Breskens 3 Ker 46     Piet Vroon  
10. LTU1000   Ambersail       VO 60             Simonas Steponavicius  
11. US60006   Venomous        Carroll Marine 60 Derek Saunders  
12. USA60271  Ocean’s Seven²  Fauroux 104′ OSML Ltd JP Chomette
13. NED001    Windrose Of Amsterdam Dijkstra 40m Schooner Andrew McIrvine 

 
Follow the rest of the fleet as they complete the race on the Carribbean 600 race tracker brought to you by Yellowbrick
HERE

Rambler 100 Launches off a wave (Photo by Tim Wright)

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George David’s (Hartford, Conn.) Rambler 100 (formerly Speedboat) takes Line Honors in the Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race 2011.

The Pineapple Cup Race Committee has awarded Hugo Stenbeck and the USMMA crew of the 97’ canting keel super maxi Genuine Risk the 2011 Pineapple Cup trophy for the best performance by a monohull boat.

 

George David’s Rambler 100 took line honors for the 2011 Pineapple Cup Race with an elapsed time of just under 3 days and 2 hours, but Genuine Risk finished close behind to win the Silver Seahorse trophy for first place corrected time in IRC Division. 

James Muldoon’s venerable Santa Cruz 72’ Donnybrook won the PHRF Division and was awarded the Arawak Perpetual trophy for first place corrected time in the PHRF Division.

 

Major awards presented by the Montego Bay Yacht Club at the prize giving ceremony on Friday evening were:

SILVER ROSE BOWL PERPETUAL TROPHY
For 1st monohull boat to finish.
Presented to Rambler 100 – Skipper George David

SILVER SEAHORSE PERPETUAL
For 1st overall IRC rated boat.
Presented to Genuine Risk – Skipper Hugo Stenbeck / USMMA

ARAWAK PERPETUAL TROPHY
For 1st overall PHRF rated boat.
Presented to Donnybrook – Skipper James Muldoon

E.J. GARMHAUSEN PERPETUAL TROPHY
For 1st overall IRC & PHRF navigators.
Co-Presented to:   Genuine Risk Navigator –  Peter Tans
Donnybrook Navigator – Kurt Lowman

SILVER PINEAPPLE CUP PERPETUAL
For Best overall performance by a monohull boat.
Presented to Genuine Risk – Skipper Hugo Stenbeck / USMMA

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