Among the first starters of the Transatlantic Race 2015, waterline length is prevailing. The 138’ Mariette of 1915 was first to reach the strong southwesterlies yesterday and is now thundering east, in a rich get richer scenario.
The century-old schooner was this morning midway between the start and the southwestern corner of the ice exclusion zone, aimed at keeping competitors away from the Grand Banks and its hazards of thick fog, fishing boats, and, not least, icebergs drifting south on the Labrador Current. Mariette of 1915 has also put some 160 miles on second placed Scarlet Oyster, the British Oyster Lightwave 48 skippered by Ross Applebey.
With 13 boats having left Sunday (June 28) on the 2,800-mile Transatlantic Race 2015, a second group of 20 is likewise due to begin the journey this Wednesday (July 1) from a staging area across from Castle Hill Lighthouse in Narragansett Bay’s East Passage. It is ashore on the lighthouse’s rocky perch that the New York Yacht Club’s Race Committee sets itself up to sight the start (1:50 warning signal for the day’s first start at 2 p.m.), and it is there and on the opposite Jamestown shore that hundreds of people turn out to wave bon voyage to the fleet and revel in the spirit of adventure that permeates the air. With the largest, fastest, most powerful boats being saved for last (their start is on Sunday, July 5), this lot – with five Class 40s, 10 IRC Racer/Cruisers and five IRC Racing entrants – will have ample muscles to flex for its own duly impressive showing.
Local Volvo Ocean Race/Team Alvimedica heroes Charlie Enright and Mark Towill will sail on Bryon Ehrhart’s Chicago entrant Lucky in IRC Racing class, while the world’s most recognizable single-handed sailor, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, will sail with four others on his Open 60 Grey Power in that same class. In 1969, Sir Robin became the first person to sail alone non-stop around the world. Since, he has circumnavigated the earth three more times (once on his own and twice with crew), but the 76-year-old is quick to point out that two others in his crew have sailed around the world singlehanded as well: India’s Dilip Donde and France’s Bernard Gallay. “If you include me, that’s 60 percent of our crew and 1 ½ percent of the 200 people in the world who’ve ever done it,” he said, adding that, by comparison, 680 people have gone into space.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail around the world solo and non-stop, will sail his Open 60 Grey Power with four others in the Transatlantic Race 2015. (photo credit Jan Harley/Media Pro)
Filling the final two Grey Power crew spots are Monaco’s Joshua Warren and the UK’s David Aisher, past Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, one of the event’s four hosts. (Royal Yacht Squadron, New York Yacht Club and Storm Trysail Club are the others.) While many boats will sail with 12-15 crew members, Sir Robin, who sailed Grey Power to third in last November’s 3,542 mile single-handed Transatlantic Route du Rhum, says five won’t leave him shorthanded. “The boat is designed for one person so I think we’ll manage to do all right (laughs),”he said, “but we aren’t expecting to win overall. We have a terrible rating. If Rambler 88 (a boat in the third start trying to break the race record) crosses in 6 ½ days, we have to do it in eight – that just isn’t going to happen. The priority is to get across safely, and after that, as fast as we can.”
(Tuesday, June 30, 2015) – Since passing the exclusion zones yesterday – around Nantucket Shoals and, further to the east, the Northern Right Whale Critical habitat – the 13-strong first wave of boats competing in the Transatlantic Race has entered the Atlantic proper now, where it has divided in two groups.
(June 29, 2015) - Instead of launching straight into a downhill sleigh ride, the 13 first starters in the Transatlantic Race 2015 have endured a tricky first night at sea. The course west to east across the North Atlantic between Newport, USA, to the Lizard, in southwest England, is renowned for conditions that allow fast sailing, but last night a significant left-over swell, combined with an absence of wind to the south of the island of Martha’s Vineyard, instead left the fleet wallowing and rolling precariously.
Read more: Day 1 Race Report: Stomach-Churning Opening Night
NEWPORT, R.I. (June 28, 2015) – An intense low-pressure system rolling up the Atlantic Coast put competitors and race officials on edge for the 48 hours leading up to the first start of the Transatlantic Race 2015, from Newport, R.I., to The Lizard off the southwest coast of England. Contingency plans were made by both groups, with the option of delaying the start for a few hours getting serious consideration. The storm passed through overnight, however, leaving behind excellent, albeit unseasonably cool, conditions and a favorable boost from the outgoing current and the run-off from Saturday night’s heavy rain.
A baker’s dozen of boats got underway in Start 1, crossing the starting line set off the Castle Hill Lighthouse at the entrance to Narragansett Bay’s East Passage just after 2 p.m. Twenty-one boats will get underway on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1, and the four fastest yachts in the race will make up the final start on Sunday, July 5.
- TR 2015 Roster of Entries Starting on June 28
- The Long and Short of The Transatlantic Race
- For Two Teams, the TR2015 is a Family Affair
- Dorade’s Quest to Repeat her 1931 Transatlantic Race Victory
- An Adventure of a Lifetime: the Transatlantic Race 2015
- Class 40s Go Transatlantic: Little Boats, Big Ocean, Intense Competition
- Sailing Heavyweights To Battle Across the Atlantic in 2015
- Transatlantic Race 2015 Fleet Expanded Due to Significant Interest
- A Course of Legend...
- Transatlantic Race 2015 Schedule
- Organizing Clubs Announce Atlantic Ocean Racing Series Results, Look Ahead to 2015
- Transatlantic Race 2015 NOR
- Transatlantic Race 2015 Entry Form & Expression of Interest