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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The waiting is nearly over: the 44th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race, one of the great ocean challenges is just 2 weeks away. With a staggering 350 entrants at the ready, 1979’s record-breaking tally of 303 participating yachts will almost certainly be surpassed. The sheer size of the fleet is impressive. Its quality and diversity quite breathtaking. Inspiring and exhilarating in equal measure, there is every reason to believe that the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race will maintain the event’s pioneering and prestigious tradition.

The numbers game
Due to the Rolex Fastnet’s unique allure, event organisers the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) never have any difficulty ensuring that there is a large and impressive fleet in attendance. This year is no exception. Entries came in thick and fast and were closed within ten days of opening in January. However, the requests kept arriving. After being inundated with additional enquiries from the Volvo Open 70s, the IMOCA 60s, Class 40s and Multihulls to join the 608-nautical mile marathon, the RORC adjusted the entry limit to allow these ‘professional’ classes to be counted above the initial cut-off mark.

The Rolex Fastnet Race commences from Cowes on Sunday 14 August (the first signal sounds at 10:50 BST). Whilst crews with the ambition of being the fastest to the finish will hope to spend only one or two nights at sea, spare a thought for those at the back of the pack, for whom a near week in often punishing conditions may be the order of the day.

Rambler 100 enjoying Leopard hunt
Short of a catastrophic breakdown, the fastest boat on the water at the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race will be the 100-foot trimaran, Banque Populaire (FRA), which just broke the round the Britain Isles record by almost a day and a half. However, the battle for monohull line honours is the most anticipated clash and is expected to be the privilege of two other 100-ft challengers: Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard (GBR), first elapsed-time finisher in the past two editions, and arch-rivals George David’s Rambler 100 (USA). The two crews know each other extremely well, given their series of tussles in recent months. A head-to-head battle in the Transatlantic Race, which saw Rambler 100 ease to line honours after ICAP Leopard lost her bowsprit, the freshest encounter.

“Having won the Rolex Fastnet Race twice, the big play is to win three in a row, which would be quite exceptional,” explains Slade, whose yacht also holds the course record of 1 day, 20 hours and 18 minutes [set in 2007]. “During the RORC Caribbean 600, Rambler 100 proved to be the faster boat in her ideal conditions. However, Rambler 100 may also need to protect herself in bad weather, more than ICAP Leopard. We feel we have a good chance in light and heavy airs, it is the bit in between that we might have a problem! I am really looking forward to the Fastnet, it should be a very exciting race but above all else, I don’t want to lose our record to Rambler 100, that would be heartbreaking and we will vigorously defend it.”

Rambler 100 is as keen to renew hostilities. “We’re anticipating sailing in Cowes Week from 9-11 August and hope ICAP Leopard and others will be competing as well,” explains David, “we’ve had three races together already, the Caribbean 600, the Annapolis to Newport and now the Transatlantic Race. Rambler 100 took line honours and corrected ahead of ICAP Leopard in all three.”

David is fervent about the upcoming Fastnet Race and describes his own personal highlights of the parcours: “Beating out through The Needles in a huge fleet, the beauty of the south coast of England, the approach to the [Fastnet] Rock, and the wind and weather conditions all over the place.”

Whilst these two ocean greyhounds are clear monohull line honours favourites, they may not have it all their own way. There is the significant presence of six Volvo 70s, including two of the latest breed: Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Groupama IV (FRA). Then there is the Mini Maxi class including defending Rolex Fastnet handicap winner, the 72-ft Rán (GBR), owned by Niklas Zennström, in addition to Andres Soriano’s Mills 68 Alegre (GBR), a fantastic campaigner in the Mediterranean in recent seasons. Throwing in the American challengers, the STP65 Vanquish, and the Reichel-Pugh 66 Zaraffa, who like ICAP Leopard and Rambler 100 competed in the Transatlantic Race, it promises to be a tight contest at the top of the fleet.

Tales from the foreign third
Of the record breaking 350 yachts competing at this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race, approximately a third are non-British crews. A scan of the 2011 entry list highlights the global pull of the event, with yachts competing from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, the UAE and the USA.

Karl Kwok, owner of the 80-ft Beau Geste (HKG), will be taking part in the event for the third time. “I am definitely here for the challenge as this is one of the most interesting and competitive offshore races in the world,” he explains. “My first time here was in 1995, followed by my second appearance in the last edition [in 2009]. We did well on that occasion, but it could be better still!” Kwok adores offshore racing: “For me the top three blue water offshore classics are the Fastnet, Sydney to Hobart and Newport to Bermuda – in that order. And Rolex has the top two!” Beau Geste will be another yacht snapping at the heels of the 100-footers and also arrive in Cowes fresh from competing in the Transatlantic Race.

One overseas crew in particular has reason to treasure its association with the Rolex Fastnet. Six years ago, Frenchman Jean Yves Chateau’s 33-ft Nicholson Iromiguy won the competition on corrected time, the first time in three decades that the overall prize had been won by a yacht under 40 feet. For the Saint Malo-based skipper, the victory was both a surprise and a fulfilment of an ambition: “To win the Rolex Fastnet Race was like a childhood dream, it is like an ‘Everest’ in my life and in the life of each member of my crew: absolutely fantastic, unbelievable, gorgeous, not to mention the incredible fact of having beaten all the big guys. It was also very important for me to be the third French sailor to win this race and to have my name engraved on this Cup close to Eric Tabarly [the legendary French skipper who won the race in 1967]!”

Regarding the ‘draw’ of the Rolex Fastnet, Chateau continues: “It is a mythical race. This year will be our seventh time and we are always very pleased and enthusiastic to participate with the crazy dream of winning it one more time.” Amongst the sizeable French contingent is the intriguing story of the IMOCA 60 DCNS 100 (FRA), sailed by skipper Marc Thiercelin and his famous apprentice, former downhill skier and endurance motorsport driver, Luc Alphand. DCNS 100 is one of seven IMOCA 60s, including Cheminées Poujoulat (SUI) launched in May this year.

John Towers is helming the J/122 Oojah (GBR) with a US-based crew joining British boat owner Peter Tanner, their navigator for the race. The English Channel is some distance from their usual racing haven of the east coast of the United States. “As a group of Americans, we consider the Rolex Fastnet Race to be a once in a lifetime adventure that is a natural compliment to our passion for distance racing,” explains Towers, “the Fastnet is a big deal for us and an adventure that we have been planning for the last two years.”

Tanner continues: “Our goal will be the same as any other race we enter. Priority one is a safe passage. Priority two is that the experience is very positive for all members of the crew. Our third priority is to be competitive.”           

Triple TP52 challenge
The three TP52s competing at the Rolex Fastnet Race will resume their engagement having been near inseparable at the recent Giraglia Rolex Cup. On that occasion, Franck Noël’s Near Miss (SUI) finished the 243-nautical mile race less than two minutes ahead of Johnny Vincent’s Pace (GBR). Bryon Ehrhart’s Lucky (USA) was only a further hour behind. On corrected time, only seven places separated the three crews, with Pace coming out on top. Over a considerably longer distance, this ‘race within a race’ will be one to follow come August.               

Back of the pack
The crew of the Contessa-32 Drumbeat (GBR) will likely have one opportunity to admire ICAP Leopard and Rambler 100 – during the passage out of the Solent. For co-skippers and brothers-in-law, Mark Himsworth and Pierre Walrafen, the race ahead will be one of endurance and, at times, solitude: “It feels amazing to be one of the smallest and slowest boats competing, tacking or gybing down the Solent against much larger and faster machines after the start. All the while competing on handicap directly against them,” explains Himsworth, who will be taking part in the Rolex Fastnet for a third time.

The reality soon becomes quite different, as Himsworth reveals: “After 24 hours, most of the competition is long gone. Thereafter it’s occasionally difficult to keep your mind away from the thought of the faster boats turning towards (or arriving at) Plymouth while ours plugs steadily westwards round Land’s End. It’s a pretty solitary undertaking when you’re on watch and your co-skipper’s sleeping and none of your competitors are visible, but that’s all part of the attraction, and there’s still plenty going on in Plymouth when we arrive!”            

Trophy hunt
The main trophy for overall victory in the Rolex Fastnet is the Fastnet Challenge Cup. In addition, there are more than 30 additional trophies that will be awarded at the prize giving on Friday, 19 August at the historic Royal Citadel, home of the 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, overlooking Plymouth Sound and Sutton Harbour, where the majority of the fleet will berth.

 

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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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Having cheered on the first six yachts when they departed on the Transatlantic Race 2011 two days ago, the 14-strong group of yachts that will take the second of the three staggered starts now have less than 24 hours until they begin the race across the North Atlantic for themselves.  The warning signal at 13:50 Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, June 29, will cue the largest group of yachts to depart, including the show-stopping Maltese Falcon, and spectators are guaranteed to see a unique sailing spectacle when the cannon is fired at Castle Hill Light.

Without doubt, tomorrow’s start will feature the most diverse battle of the race.  The Open Class has just two yachts, but they are two of the showiest yachts in the race.  Maltese Falcon, at 289’, is the largest yacht competing and is up against the only multihull entered in the race, Phaedo, the Gunboat 66 owned by Lloyd Thornburg (St. Barthelemy).  The Lamborghini-orange catamaran and the futuristic Perini Navi will be a spectacular sight as they head off into the Atlantic.

In IRC Class Two, Jazz, a Cookson 50, has a star-studded crew including the highly experienced navigator, Mike Broughton (Hamble, U.K.), and skipper, Nigel King (Lymington, U.K.).  Unfortunately, due to family commitments, owner Chris Bull is unable to make the trip.  Two German teams on nearly identical yachts will also go head-to-head in the class:  Christoph Avenarius and Gorm Gondesen’s Shakti and Jens Kellinghusen’s Varuna should virtually match race across the North Atlantic.

IRC Class Three will feature six yachts, including Snow Lion, the Ker 50 owned by former NYYC Commodore Lawrence Huntington (New York, N.Y.).  Snow Lion is a proven winner, having won her class in the Newport Bermuda Race, and should be highly competitive on corrected time.  There are, however, some real fliers in this class, not the least of which is Zaraffa, the Reichel Pugh 65 owned by Huntington Sheldon (Shelburne, Vt.), whose crew includes several veterans of the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.  The Volvo 60 Ambersail, skippered by Simonas Steponavicius (Vilnius, Lithuania), is a much-travelled yacht having logged over 100,000 miles since being purchased in 2008 to celebrate a thousand years of Lithuanian history. After sailing around the world, Ambersail took part in the 2010 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, winning class honors and placing second overall.

The youth entry from Germany, Norddeutsche Vermoegen Hamburg, will be helmed by Eike Holst whose third Transatlantic Race will be his first as skipper.  And while the majority of the team aboard the Andrews 57 are university students in their 20s, two of the crew are just 18 years old.  Many of sailors in the race were introduced to the sport as a family activity, which means the parents of these sailors, in particular, have a degree of understanding and ease with the undertaking at hand.  That was not the case for Jerome Vigne, the Parisian-born mechanical engineering student who will have a very relieved mother welcoming him home to Germany.

Blending a comfortable interior with the performance of an Open 60 is Ourson Rapide, the Finot-Conq 60 owned by Paolo Roasenda (Vedano al Lambro, Italy).  This is a special boat that should have a dream-like ride downwind.  Scho-ka-kola, named for the German chocolate confection, is a Reichel Pugh 56 owned by Uwe Lebens (Hamburg) that has completed two previous Atlantic crossings.

Prodigy, a Simonis/Voog 54, is a proven winner.  Owner Chris Frost (Durban, South Africa) took line honors in the 2011 Heineken Cape to Rio Race and will compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race, as well as the Rolex Middle Sea Race, as part of a year-long campaign.  Of the 10 crew on Prodigy, two – including Aaron Gillespie (Butler, N.J.) and John Fryer (New York, N.Y.) – were recruited by Frost using the “Crew Finder” feature on the event’s website.  It will be Gillespie’s first Transatlantic crossing.

The two smallest yachts in start two are both Class 40s: Dragon and Concise 2, the latter skippered by Ned Collier-Wakefield (Oxford, U.K.).   Tony Lawson (Haslemere, Surrey, U.K.) assembled a crew of young aspiring sailors from Great Britain to make up Team Concise.  The team has become a force to be reckoned with having won the 2009 Class 40 World Championship, set a world record for the Round Britain and Ireland course and taken class honors at the RORC Caribbean 600 for the last three years.

Dragon is the only boat racing across the Atlantic double-handed. Owner Michael Hennessy (Mystic, Conn.) has been an avid sailor ever since introduced to the sport by his father at the age of four on San Francisco Bay.  Following college, Hennessy logged thousands of miles cruising along the New England coast before he started to focus on short-handed distance racing in 2002.  Since then he has competed in four Newport Bermuda Races, as well as dozens of other races across New England.  In 2008 he took notice of the fast growing Class 40 fleet and took delivery of his Owen Clarke-designed boat. In just two short years, Dragon has become a fixture on the ocean racing circuit.  Joining Hennessy will be co-skippered Rob Windsor (East Northport, N.Y.) who grew up sailing with his family on Long Island Sound.

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/.

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The sunshine burnt off the morning fog almost on cue as the first start of the Transatlantic Race 2011 got underway with six of the smallest yachts in the fleet beginning their journey across the Atlantic.  A gentle breeze wafted in from the southeast to give the competitors some champagne sailing conditions, at least for the moment — all of the yachts competing in the TR2011 know there are bound to be difficult times ahead.
 
Skippered by Rives Potts, Jr. (Essex, Conn.), local favorite Carina, a 48’ sloop, got away to a great start, hugging the coast to escape a knot of foul current.  Onboard are four fathers and five sons, as well as the youngest crew member in the race, Dirk Johnson, Jr. (Middletown, R.I.).  At just 16 years of age Johnson has been sailing since he was a baby and has always wanted to sail across an ocean.  “I don’t like trimming so much as I find it hard to concentrate.  But I love my position as float.  I like to get involved everywhere on the boat.  I have been sailing short offshore races for a while and I really wanted to do this race,” he explained.  “I guess I will miss home comforts the most, especially my Mum’s lamb chops.  But all of my family are sailors and this is in my blood.”
The Army Sailing Association’s British Soldier currently leads the fleet on the water and her skipper, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Bate(Falmouth, Cornwall, U.K.), was relishing the challenges that lay ahead, as he commented just before the start.
“The first goal for us is to get around Nantucket Shoals and then we’ll head into the Atlantic proper.  I love the open ocean and the big rolling waves.  After a day or so the crew will settle into a routine.  For me, the most marvelous thing about this race is enjoying the fun and banter with the crew, you just cannot get that anywhere else.  There will be difficult times ahead, but we will battle through.  We know that we will get some pretty foul weather, but we know that it will improve.  The crew of British Soldier are not all highly experienced offshore sailors, but they are all good characters who can keep each other entertained when the going gets tough and I think that is priceless.”

With just four crew aboard, the German entry Sasha is going extremely well.  Owner Albrecht Peters and his wife Erika had a conservative start with their 42’ Olin Stephens design.  Eighty years ago another Stephens design, Dorade, won the Transatlantic Race that also started in Newport (finishing in Plymouth, England), and, if the right conditions prevail, Sasha could be extremely competitive after time correction.
Hans Albrecht’s beautiful 86’ yawl, Nordwind, is the oldest boat in the race. Built in 1939, Nordwind has been fully restored by her German owners and sailed 11,000 miles to take part in the Transatlantic Race 2011.
While the high performance yachts that are yet to depart will undoubtedly grab headlines, this group of yachts is worthy of equal praise and the starting area was full of spectator boats wishing them well.  The rocky outcrops and grassy hillsides along Fort Adams and Castle Hill were filled with people who cheered the boats on as they crossed the starting line at the Castle Hill Light.  Once they leave the shore, it will be several weeks before these yachts will see land again.
 
For more information, visit http://www.transatlanticrace.org/.
 
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

You Can Track The Transatlantic Fleet HERE

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When it comes to serving one’s country, the crew competing in the Transatlantic Race 2011 aboard British Soldier (U.K.) could not be more dedicated. While most have returned from active duty only within the last year, all eight members have completed army tours in Afghanistan within the last 24 months, and two will be heading back there after undertaking a 2,975 nautical mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean. For British Soldier, the Transatlantic Race 2011, co-organized by the Royal Yacht Squadron, New York Yacht Club, Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and Storm Trysail Club, starts June 26 from Newport, R.I., and delivers the team back to home soil in the U.K. sometime in mid-August. (Two subsequent “staggered” starts for the race are scheduled for June 29 and July 3 to adjust for the relative speeds of 30 entered boats – ranging in size from 40 to 289 feet – and allow for a tighter finish among them.)

“It’s all about putting a bunch of guys in a demanding situation, out of reach of immediate outside assistance, where they must work as a team in arduous conditions in order to succeed,” said 47-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Bate, who serves as skipper of British Soldier. “That is the ethos of adventurous training; it also provides some excitement and reward in between other demanding duties.”

Bate, who has completed operational tours in Iraq (two), Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo and is trained as a tank commander, explained that British Soldier, an Archambault 40 bought by the Army Sailing Association in 2008, is regularly sailed by a squad comprised of approximately 100 soldiers on return from operational tours, offering them a chance to race offshore when on leave or between assignments. A number of injured soldiers also sail British Soldier as part of their rehabilitation. The yacht is not publicly funded but is supported by generous sponsors (currently Fujitsu), soldiers’ own contributions through the Army Sports Lottery, and some charitable trusts. (www.sailarmy.co.uk)

“We have a core of gladiators, but otherwise it’s a bit of a mix,” said Bate, explaining that 48 soldiers have raced with him recently, and he had a largely different crew aboard for both the RORC Caribbean 600 and the Annapolis to Newport Race, both distance races that – along with the TR 2011 – are part of the inaugural Atlantic Ocean Racing Series that British Soldier has also entered.

“Most of them haven’t done a great deal [of ocean racing],” said Bate, who noted that nevertheless, in 2010, the Army Offshore Team was named Services Sports Team of the Year. “It’s a bit scary for a lot of people actually. You are putting a team of people out there in a demanding situation, so you learn to cope and work as a team and that’s why we are out there. Sailing is demanding, frightening and awesome great fun.”

As for Bate, he has raced a wide variety of yachts from his own International Dragons and Cornish Shrimper up to 153’ classic yachts. He started racing on an IOR ¾ tonner in the early 1980s, and after joining the Army in 1987, he competed in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race on British Defender and has also sailed the Rolex Fastnet Race eight times. This will be his fourth Atlantic crossing.

“In 2008 British Soldier had a tremendous first season and was selected to represent Great Britain in the Rolex Commodore’s Cup,” said Bate. “On the offshore circuit, she achieved second overall among 250 yachts in the RORC Offshore Series, and we achieved the same overall result in the series again last year (2010), after races such as the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race.”

Other crew members are Captain David Holdsworth (age 36),originally an Army engineer completing a tour in Afghanistan in 2010 and now a cardiologist based in Oxford,who has completed two Rolex Fastnet Races and a total of 20,000 miles of cruising and offshore racing in the last four seasons; Second Lieutenant Martin Livingston, a former Royal Navy officer of seven years who qualified as a doctor in March, who haslimited ocean racing experience but has completed around 4,500 cruising and racing miles; Lieutenant Corporal Terence (Polly) Parsons (41), who joined the Royal Engineers in May 1990 as a Combat Engineer and was injuredin Bosnia, sails as a form of rehabilitation and has logged approximately 5,000 “mostly-offshore” miles; Captain Oli Donaghy (31), who is returning from Afghanistan (16 Air Assault Brigade) just in time to start the TR 2011 and has completed roughly 7,000 miles of racing, including three Rolex Fastnet campaigns; Second Lieutenant Phil Caswell (24), commissioned in 2010 into the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, who has sailed 18,000 racing, cruising, military and youth sail training miles, and is making his first Atlantic crossing; Gunner Clarke Small (28), new to the Royal Artillery after completing basic training in April 2011, started sailing at age 16 in his native South Africa and has since completed a circumnavigation, several offshore passages and the Heineken Capeto Rio Race and Rolex Sydney Hobart Race; and Captain Richard Hall, who joined the British Soldier program at its start in 2008, is currently posted with the Army Training Regiment Bassingbourn to train new recruits and will shortly return to an engineer regiment for a second Afghan tour (his first was in 2010).

British Soldier, like several other entries in the TR 2011, is competing in the first-ever Atlantic Ocean Racing Series (AORS), which requires that entrants compete in the TR 2011 plus two other events selected from the now completed Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race and RORC Caribbean 600, the Annapolis to Newport Race (June 3); and the upcoming Rolex Fastnet Race (August 14); Biscay Race (September 11-12) and Rolex Middle Sea Race (October 22). Each race is weighted equally in overall series scoring with the exception of the TR 2011, which is weighted 1.5 times.

Having finished first in class in the RORC Caribbean 600, British Soldier was just over 100 miles from the finish of the Annapolis to Newport Race at press time, and after the TR 2011 will compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Biscay Race if all goes as planned; however, being on “active duty” has its consequences. “I’m, in fact, active enough that my office wants to send me back to Afghanistan at the end of July for nine months!” said Bate.

There are 30 entries total in the TR 2011, with the U.S. fielding 14 teams, Germany six, the U.K. four, and China, Italy, Lithuania, Monaco, Saint Barthelemy and South Africa one each.

Sponsors of the TR 2011 are Rolex, Thomson Reuters, Newport Shipyard, Perini Navi, and Peters & May.

TR 2011 Roster of Entries
Yacht Name, Skipper, Hometown

Ambersail, Simonas Steponavicius, Vilnius, Lithuania
Beau Geste, Karl Kwok, Hong Kong, China
British Soldier, Lt. Col. Nick Bate, Falmouth, Cornwall, U.K.
Carina, Rives Potts, Essex, Conn., USA
Concise 2, Ned Collier-Wakefield, Oxford, U.K.
Cutlass, Nick Halmos, Palm Beach, Fla., USA
Dawn Star, William N. Hubbard III /William N. Hubbard IV, both New York, N.Y., USA
Dragon, Michael Hennessy, Mystic, Conn., USA
ICAP Leopard, Clarke Murphy, New York, N.Y., USA
Jaqueline IV, Robert Forman, Bay Shore, N.Y., USA
Jazz, Nigel King, East London, U.K.
Kamoa’e, Eric LeCoq, Bridgeport, Conn., USA
Maltese Falcon, Elena Ambrosiadou, Monaco
Norddeutcshe Vermoegen Hamburg, Eike Holst , Hamburg, Germany
Nordwind,Hans Albrecht, Munich, Germany
Ourson Rapide, Paolo Roasenda, Vedano al Lambro, Italy
Persevere, Bugs Baer/Colin Rath, Madison, Conn. / Darien, Conn., USA
Phaedo, Lloyd Thornburg, St. Barthelemy
Prodigy, Chris Frost, Durban, South Africa
PUMA Ocean Racing mar mostro, Ken Read, Newport, R.I., USA
Rambler 100, George David, Hartford, Conn., USA
Sasha, Albrecht Peters, Hamburg, Germany
Scho-ka-kola, Uwe Lebens, Hamburg, Germany
Shakti, Christoph Avenarius / Gorm Iver Gondesen, Hamburg, Germany / Flensburg, Germany
Snow Lion, Lawrence Huntington, New York, N.Y., USA
Sojana, Peter Harrison, U.K.
Sumurun, Bob Towbin, New York, N.Y., USA
Vanquish, USMMA Oakcliff All American Offshore Team, Kings Point, N.Y., USA
Varuna,Jens Kellinghausen, Hamburg, Germany
Zaraffa, Huntington Sheldon, M.D., Shelburne, Vt., USA

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