Lilla - IRL 7600 - CNB Briand 76 yacht skippered by Simon De Pietro (Photo by Daniel Forster/PPL)

Hamilton, Bermuda, June 21, 2012 – ‘Lilla’, the big red Briand 76 (IRL7600) owned by Simon and Nancy De Pietro of Cork, Ireland and Mattapoisett MA, sailed a fast straight-forward Newport Bermuda Race and won Class 13 in the Cruiser Division. ‘Lilla’ also took first place in the whole Cruiser Division and will be presented with the Carleton Mitchell Finesterre Trophy for first place.

True - USA 22 - J160 production yacht yacht skippered by Howard B Hodgson Jnr (Photo by Daniel Forster/PPL)

‘Lilla’ led classmate ‘True’, a J-160 owned by Howard Hodgson of Ipswich MA by 1 hr 17 min on corrected time for the win in class and division. ‘True’ was second in both Class 13 and the division. Third place in the Cruiser division went to ‘Odyssey’ a Swan 55 sailed by Glenn Dexter from Halifax NS.

And there is Icing on the cake for ‘Lilla’. In 2011 she raced in the Marion to Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race and set the 645-mile course record from Marion MA to Bermuda at 68:58:45. That performance last year and her top finish in the Newport Bermuda Race earn her the Bermuda Ocean Cruising Yacht Trophy presented by SAIL Magazine. This special combined competition trophy goes to the captain who has the best performance in consecutive Newport Bermuda and Marion Bermuda races. ‘Lilla’ sailed from Newport this time— a 10-mile shorter course in 63:17:13, some 5 hours and 41 minutes faster.

“The only problem we had,” said navigator Nancy De Pietro, “was getting water to the forward head and shower. The water tank we were using was aft, on the port side [That was the high side on the long port tack all the way down from Newport] and the pump had trouble because it was sucking air up there.”

“The one great thing about sailing on this type of boat is that we get to shower after coming off of every watch,” said Simon De Pietro with a smile.

Not having water for showers would have been a crisis for this cruiser crew… all good friends and family. It was an international crew with sailors from Ireland, the Dutch West Indies, England, Canada, South Africa and the USA. ‘Lilla’ has a comfortable 3-cabin layout and is used for charter as well as offshore racing.

In addition to doing the Bermuda Races, she has also done the Caribbean 600. She is an aluminum yacht with just 8.5-foot draft. She does not go to weather well but on a reach her waterline works and she is good and fast. The De Pietros thought of entering the St. David’s Lighthouse Division but needed to be able to use the power winches.

‘True’ a 53 foot J-160— also in Class 13— finished an hour behind ‘Lilla’ Her navigator Richard Casner of Dedham MA said, “The conditions were perfect for ‘True’ we had entered as a non-spinnaker boat and we think that paid off. We were right next to the Swan 60 ‘Lady B’ when she set a chute and we were able to walk away from her. The double headsail rig we used was just right for this boat in this race.”

The Newport Bermuda Race had 6 divisions and 17 classes. The Cruiser division had 30 entries. More than 100 prizes will be awarded Saturday evening on the lawn of Bermuda’s Government House. His Excellency Mr. George Fergusson the Governor of Bermuda will present the prizes along with Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Commodore John Brewin and the Cruising Club of America Commodore Dan Dyer.

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Carina -USA 315 - McCurdy & Rhodes 48 yacht skippered by A Rives Potts Jnr, making the most of the blustery conditions. Carina is the provisional winner of the principal St David's Lighthouse Trophy for the third time. (Photo by Barry Pickthall / PPL)

Going into Monday evening, LLwyd Ecclestone’s ‘Kodiak’ crew was hopeful of winning the St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy, the most coveted of the three main Newport Bermuda Trophies awarded to the corrected time winner of the large amateur division. Then came ‘Carina’ to steal the show.

It looks as though, Based on provisional results, Rives Potts’ McCurdy and Rhodes 48-foot ‘Carina’ (Westbrook CT) won Class 3 and the silver scale model St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy for first in the Division and probably more loot to boot. ‘Carina’ with Potts at the helm won the same first place trophy in the 2010 race and in 1970 ‘Carina’ won it under Richard Nye. This ties ‘Carina’ with ‘Finisterre’ as the boat with the most lighthouses on her trophy rack. ‘Finisterre’ won three in a row under Carleton Mitchel 1956, 1958 and 1960.

Defiance - NA 23 - Navy 44 training yacht skippered by Bryan Weisberg (Photo by Daniel Forster / PPL)

‘Carina’ finished at 6:16PM in Bermuda and had a corrected time of 45:08:16. The US Naval Academy’s new Navy 44 ‘Defiance’ was second in Class 3 behind ‘Carina’ and also second in the St. David’s Lighthouse Division. Her corrected time was 45:42:50. The US Naval Academy’s older Navy 44 Class 2 boat, ‘Swift’, was first in her class and third overall for the division with a corrected time of 46:09:04. It was a pretty tight race with just 26 corrected minutes between these top two boats in the division after a 635-mile sleigh-ride.

For Potts and crew, this is his second St. David’s Lighthouse win in a row. “We had a fantastic race,” Potts said. “ Pretty straight forward. We powered through the stream and then played two big shifts down the rhumbline further south. We gybed twice and then tacked twice for the finish when the wind got lighter and went forward. We finished under a light #1 headsail.” These gybes and tacks were more than most of the other boats in the race made and probably helped ‘Carina’ win overall.

“The boat just got back from a circumnavigation and racing in the world’s top races three weeks ago. My son and nephew did a great job of getting ‘Carina’ ready for Bermuda. In a race like this, preparation is one key to winning. Crew work is another and we had a family based crew working together.” Potts added.

The crew of ‘Carina’ is made up of four fathers and five sons. One of the fathers, Bud Sutherland, is Rives Potts’ brother-in-law and his son Rives Sutherland is the Captain of ‘Carina’ who took her on her global trek.

Change happened overnight in the Double-Handed Division, too. Perennial double-handed winner Hewitt Gaynor (Fairfield CT) slipped his J120 Mireille into first in Class 15 and first in the division. Joe Harris (South Hamilton MA) who sailed such a fast race in his Class 40 ‘Gryphon Solo2’ was alone on the leader board Monday. Harris had an elapsed time of 60:20:26 while Gaynor’s was 74:12:34. On corrected time, ‘Mireille’ beat ‘Gryphon Solo2’ by roughly 4 hours.

Shockwave - USA 60272 - a mini maxi yacht skippered by George Sakellaris (Photo by Daniel Forster / PPL)

The provisional Gibbs Hill Division winner is ‘Shockwave’ a Reichel/Pugh 72 skippered by George Sakellaris of Farmington MA. Sakellaris will win the silver replica of the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, a top prize along with the St. David’s Light. ‘Shockwave’ took double silver snatching the North Rock Beacon Trophy, the third important prize for the IRC corrected time winner, which is a silver replica of the 1960-1990 North Rock Light Tower that once warned mariners of the rocky approach to Bermuda from the North.

Med Spirit - FRA 1575 - Welbourn 92 maxi skippered by Michael D'Amelio. (Photo by Daniel Forster/PPL)

‘Med Spirit’ sailed by Michael D’Amelio (Boston, MA) in the Open Division is the other winner that seems clear under the provisional results for the Royal Mail trophy. Six boats started in this division that featured boats from 40 feet to 100 feet in length. Their common denominator was moveable ballast, either canting keels or water ballast. The 3 Class 40 boats all had water ballast and were fully crewed so they did not qualify to sail against the 3 Class 40’s that went double-handed in Class 15.

The Wally 100 ‘Indio’ under Mark Fliegner (Monaco) came second. ‘Donnybrook’, in her maiden race skippered by Jim Muldoon (Washington DC) had to retire with damage to her daggerboard and daggerboard trunk. Under corrected time only about 5 hours separated the winning 100-footer and the bottom Class 40.

‘Spirit of Bermuda’, the Bermuda Sloop Foundation sail-training vessel, was the sole entry in the new Spirit of Tradition Division. She finished Monday night at 11:20 ADT.

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Shockwave - USA 60272 - a mini maxi yacht skippered by George Sakellaris (Photo by Daniel Forster/PPL))

By John Rousmaniere

As of 1800 Sunday, six boats have finished the race, each of them breaking an elapsed time course record. In finishing order, they are Rambler (Class 10), Bella Mente (Class 10), Shockwave (Class 10), Team Tiburon (Class 10), Med Spirit (Class 16), and Kodiak (Class 8). Shockwave and Kodiak are the current corrected time leaders in the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division and St. David’s Lighthouse Division, respectively. Med Spirit is the current corrected time leader in the Open Division.

First to finish Rambler, a 90-foot Reichel/Pugh sloop owned by George David (Hartford, Conn.), broke the course record decisively, averaging 16.06 knots down the 635-mle course in a time of 39 hours, 39 minutes, 18 seconds. She clipped 9 hours off the previous course record set in 2004 by Morning Glory, which averaged 13.06 knots for Open Division boats and 14 hours from the ‘Official’ Record. Med Spirit set the new Open Division record of 45 hours, 26 minutes, 28 minutes… three hours faster than the previous record.

Sailors had vivid descriptions of high-speed, extremely rough conditions on the long, fast reach that prevailed from start to finish. Scott King, Team Tiburon, reported that after starting under a spinnaker, once the boat cleared the Narragansett Bay entrance buoys the crew set a double-headsail rig with a topsail over a jib. They then took in and shook out reefs in the mainsail as the conditions warranted, with one or two sailors always working the mainsheet.

Team Tiburon sailed Wizard a 74-foot sloop designed by Reichel/Pugh and chartered by Mark E. Watson III, a Bermuda business CEO. They covered 385 miles in her first 24 hours in the race, averaging almost 17 knots. “She felt slow when the speed dropped to 11,” King said. “I’ve been in boats where 11 knots was not even part of the plan.”

King said the water was always rough, with some waves 8 feet or higher and water constantly on deck, pushing sailors around. The Gulf Stream crossing was not as rough as he expected, he said, but it was spectacularly beautiful.

“Just before we entered the Stream we saw a long streak of phosphorescence in the water, as though a full moon was out and shining right down on it.” The phosphorescence disappeared when the boat charged into the main body of the Gulf Stream, but reappeared. “Dolphins were torpedoing through all this, right in front of us,” King said.

As they neared Bermuda on Sunday morning, Team Tiburon sailed into a series of rain-squalls with stronger winds that pushed the boat to over 20 knots as she crossed the finish line off St. David’s Head.

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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(Photo by Barry Pickthall/PPL)

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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Newport Bermuda Race 2010 Start (Photo by George Bekris)

Entry List for Newport to Bermuda 2012

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Rambler 100 (Photo courtesy of Storm Trysail Club)

Even though it moved along at only five knots for several hours and briefly “parked” three times when the wind switched off completely, Rambler 100, George David’s (Stamford, Conn.) rocket ship built for speed, broke–by 42 minutes and 45 seconds– Boomerang’s 2002 record in the Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race.  The 186 nautical mile race, a Long Island classic that has been held annually for 66 years, started on the Friday afternoon of Memorial Day Weekend and sent 59 boats in eight classes (six IRC and two PHRF) on a course from Stamford, Conn. (where host Stamford Yacht Club is located), down Long Island Sound, clockwise around Block Island (R.I.), and back. Rambler 100 finished early Saturday morning after sailing for just over 15 hours and 43 minutes, while the last boat finished Sunday afternoon just after 4 p.m.

Though gaining an edge in the Block Island Race typically means correctly choosing between two current-ridden passages –Plum Gut and “The Race”–for the fastest transport to Block Island (and then again coming back from it), this year’s key to success seemed to lie in getting to the Long Island shore as quickly as possible after the start.

“Whoever got there got the new breeze first,” said Event Chair Ray Redniss, explaining that the fleet started upwind in 9-12 knots when in past years spinnaker starts have prevailed.   Rambler’s class was the last to start, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s (Kings Point, N.Y.) Reichel/Pugh 65 Vanquish, sailed by the youthful Oakcliff All American Team, made the move to shore first, while others who were in the middle of the Sound seemed stuck.  According to Rambler 100’s manager and crew member Mick Harvey (Newport, R.I.), his team was becalmed just a half hour after the start but overtook Vanquish about 1 ½ hours into the race after the southwest breeze kicked in and “surprisingly held steady” enough to carry the team out of the Sound and around Block Island.  Rambler 100’s navigator Peter Isler chose to pass through Plum Gut both coming and going, but it was during the return from Block Island to the Gut where the wind lightened to 5 knots or so for a couple of hours.

According to George David, who steered the boat, “We thought our chances (for breaking the record) were gone over the last 12 miles coming back into the Gut.  This was the lightest sustained air for us…then it changed right at the Gut, and we carried 12+ knots (at the masthead) all the way past Stratford Shoal and up to three miles from the finish.  The record looked more and more likely as we came down the Sound and the breeze held, which we hadn’t expected at all.”

Breaking the record despite some light breezes may have had much to do with Rambler 100 being 20 feet longer and 10 tons lighter than Boomerang, with a mast 30 feet higher to harness more wind aloft, but the accomplishment also had sentimental meaning for David. “We had three runs at it with the 90 footer (Rambler), so we’d have to say we were looking for it,” said David.

Noting that Rambler 100’s mission is to break existing records and establish a new record from Newport to The Lizard (Cornwall, U.K.) in the 2011 Transatlantic Race later this summer, Mick Harvey added, “If we had had breeze the whole way in the Block Island Race, we might have taken only 10 hours to get around.”

Peter Rugg (New York, N.Y.) on the J/105 Jaded, also saw the advantage of going to the Long Island shore right away, but since he started first in the 11-boat double-handed class (sailing with Dudley Nostrand of Hamilton, Mass.), he had no other classes to follow there. “The NOAA forecast said five knots out of the southeast for the next couple of days, but because we didn’t have that at the start (it was out of the east and even a bit north of that), we didn’t think it would hold.  We were the first boat to tack to the Long Island shore, and when we saw other boats sailing there in a 15-knot southerly to southwest breeze, we said ‘holy smokes this is important.’”

About a mile from Plum Gut, Rugg noted that only those with code zero sails were able to stay high enough on shore to avoid “running into competing doldrums” in the middle of the Sound.  “When we got close to the Gut, the breeze died, but we had just enough wind to squeak around the corner and be flushed through the Gut on a fair current,” said Rugg.

Rugg said Jaded ran into a bit of a drifter on the north side of Block Island, but the south side greeted them with more wind, some chop, and the lasting impression of baby nurse sharks all around.  “The last two miles to the finish were the worst,”  said Rugg. “The wind dropped, the tide was taking us away from the mark, and we were rolled by another double-handed boat.  We just had to finish before we gave away our time to the other boats.”

Jaded did that successfully, winning not only the Gerold Abels Trophy for the best performance by a double-handed team but also the Harvey Conover Memorial Overall Trophy, awarded to the boat that has won her class and, in the judgment of the Flag Officers and Race Committee, had the best overall performance.

Rambler 100 won both the Governor’s Race West Trophy for best elapsed time in the IRC fleet and the William Tripp Jr. Memorial Trophy for best corrected time. It also won the Commodore’s Trophy, which goes to the boat that has won her class and has beaten the 2nd and 3rd place boat by the greatest margin of time.

In PHRF class, Threebeans, owned by Christopher Rosow (Fairfield, Conn.), won both the Terrapin Trophy and the Governor’s Race East Trophy (best corrected and best elapsed time, respectively)

The Block Island Race was first held in 1946 and is a qualifier for the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy (IRC), the Double Handed Ocean Racing Trophy (IRC), the New England Lighthouse Series (PHRF), and the Gulf Stream Series (IRC). The Block Island Race is also a qualifier for the Caper, Sagola, and Windigo trophies awared by the YRA of Long Island Sound and the ‘Tuna’ Trophy for the best combined IRC scores in the Edlu (40%) and the Block Island Race (60%).

About the Storm Trysail Club

The Storm Trysail Club, reflecting in its name the sail to which sailors must shorten when facing severe adverse conditions, is one of the world’s most respected sailing clubs, with its membership comprised strictly of skilled blue water and ocean racing sailors. In addition to hosting Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex in odd-numbered years, the club holds various prestigious offshore racing events (among them the annual Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race and the Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race); annual junior safety-at-sea seminars; and a regatta for college sailors using big boats.

For more information on the Storm Trysail Club and its events, including the Block Island Race, visit the official website www.stormtrysail.org.

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Storm Trysail Club’s 66th Block Island Race
Overall Results

Finish Position, Yacht Name, Yacht Type Length, Skipper, Hometown

IRC Doublehanded (IRC – 11 Boats)

1. Jaded, J 105, Peter Rugg , New York, NY, USA – 1, ; 1

2. Choucas, Jeanneau SF 36, Frederic Cosandey , New York, NY, USA – 2, ; 2

3. Skye, Farr 395, James T. Anderson , Riverside, CT, USA – 3, ; 3

IRC-35 (IRC – 6 Boats)

1. Carina, Custom 48 48′, Rives Potts , Westbrook, CT, USA – 1, ; 1

2. Afterglow, Express 37 37, Bill Walker , Easton, CT, USA – 2, ; 2

3. KYRIE, Tartan 4100 41.25, John DiMatteo , Centerport, NY, USA – 3, ; 3

IRC-40 (IRC – 12 Boats)

1. Beagle, J 44, Philip Gutin , New York, NY, USA – 1, ; 1

2. Christopher Dragon, J 122, Andrew Weiss , Mamaroneck, NY, USA – 2, ; 2

3. Soulmate, J 120, Joseph Healey , Chestnut Ridge, NY, USA – 3, ; 3

IRC-45 (IRC – 4 Boats)

1. Dragonfly , J 130, Colin McGranahan , Larchmont, NY, USA – 1, ; 1

2. Xcelsior, IMX-45, Todd LaBaugh , Rye, NY, USA – 2, ; 2

3. Tiburon, Swan Club 42, M/N Kevan Stoekler , Kings Point, NY, USA – 3, ; 3

IRC-50 (IRC – 8 Boats)

1. Bombardino, Santa Cruz 52, James Sykes , New York, NY, USA – 1, ; 1

2. Gracie, MH Sloop 69, Stephan Frank , Darien, CT, USA – 2, ; 2

3. Magic, Santa Cruz 52, Kenneth Laudon , Croton on Hudson, NY, USA – 3, ; 3

IRC-ZERO (IRC – 3 Boats)

1. Rambler 100, JK 100, George David , Hartford, Ct, USA – 1, ; 1

2. Vanquish, Reichel/Pugh 65, Oakcliff All American Offshore Team , Kings Point, NY, USA – 2, ; 2

3. Zaraffa, Reichel/Pugh 65, Huntington Sheldon , Shelburne, VT, USA – 3, ; 3

PHRF-1 (PHRF – 11 Boats)

1. Patience, Tripp 33, Rick Royce , Glen Cove, NY, USA – 1, ; 1

2. Gringo, Pearson 37, Michael McGuire , Darien, CT, USA – 2, ; 2

3. Audacious, Frers 33, Robert Farnum , Oxford, CT, USA – 3, ; 3

PHRF-2 (PHRF – 5 Boats)

1. Threebeans, Santa Cruz 37, Christopher Rosow , Fairfield, CT, USA – 1, ; 1

2. Red Stripe, Flying Tiger 10M, Charlie Reynolds , Southport, Ct, USA – 2, ; 2

3. Eagle, J 120, Steven Levy , Greenwich, CT, USA – 3, ; 3

66th Block Island Race – Overall Trophies

George Lauder Trophy - Best performance by a Vintage boat (15 years old +)

Carina Rives Potts

Commodore’s Grail Trophy – Best corrected time in IRC below 1.08

Carina Rives Potts

Governor’s Race West Trophy – Best elapsed time in the IRC Fleet

Rambler 100 George David

William Tripp Jr. Memorial Trophy – Best corrected time in the IRC Fleet

Rambler 100 George David

Terrapin Trophy - Best corrected time  –  PHRF

Threebeans Christopher Rosow

Governor’s Race East Trophy – Best elapsed time – PHRF

Threebeans Christopher Rosow

Gerold Abels Trophy – Best Performance Double-Handed

Jaded Peter Rugg / Dudley Nostrand

Roddie Williams Team Race Trophy

Storm Trysail Red      Gracie / Skye / Dragonfly

Tuna Trophy - for the best IRC combined scores in the Edlu (40%) and the BI Race (60%)

Christopher Dragon Andrew Weiss

Commodore’s Trophy – To the boat that has won her class and has beaten the 2nd and 3rd place boat by the greatest margin of time.

Rambler 100 George David

Harvey Conover Memorial Overall Trophy – Awarded to the boat that has won her class and, in the judgment of the Flag Officers and Race Committee, had the best overall performance.

Jaded Peter Rugg / Dudley Nostrand

Jaded (Photo courtesy of Storm Trysail Club)

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