This is now a few years old; however the content is ever relevant. We find ourselves in a moment in time which none of us ever imagined. This country of ours is so big and diverse. Each of us having a difficult time understanding how we arrived here.
MY FIRST TRANSATLANTIC RACE 1968
The first taste of the adventure, and the longest race I ever sailed. 3700 miles. I sailed my first Bermuda race and my first transatlantic race aboard “Guenivere”
NEWPORT WATERFRONT
This is the waterfront I grew up with.
1969 & 1971 TRANSATLANTICS
I crossed the atlantic twice on “Carina” which was launched in the spring of 1969. A year which was famous for Woodstock and the Moon walk. We huddled around the radio at sea to listen to the Moonwalk broadcast. We races the Fastnet and the US team won the Admiral’s Cup that year; finishing second in 1971.
1972 BERMUDA & TRANSATLANTIC RACES
In 1972 I was Sailing on “Charisma” a 56 foot S&S. A wonderful powerful boat. A Hurricane (Agnes) crossed the course to Bermuda. We had 70 knots over the deck at the finish.
The Transatlantic race to Spain started in Bermuda and was in stark contrast as the course crossed two high pressure zones. The boat that won sailed the isobars. I had argued the point to no avail aboard “Charisma” as it meant sailing at right angles to the course. Less than 24 hours after finishing we set out for Sardinia; for what would be the first Mediterranean Championship; winning every race with Bill Ficker steering.
AROUND THE ISLAND RACE 2020
The Conanicut Yacht club has run this race 93 times now. It is, for me one of the fun events in Narragansett Bay. Windward, Leeward courses are frankly a chore. The SW breeze filled nicely and made it all the more enjoyable.
TRANSATLANTIC 1975
Working backwards. Before the 2003 race my previous race was in 1975. Newport to Cowes, IOW. A Swan 48 named “Weald”. A fine sailing boat. We broke the headstay just off Nantucket in about 40 knots; the beginning of a strong low. We put into Marblehead and got a new headstay; restarted and managed to pass several boats.
TRANSATLANTIC RACE 2003
This race was the second longest race I ever sailed. The start was once again in Newport, finishing in Hamburg, Germany. The course took us north of Ireland, Scotland and north of the Orkneys. Our time was 18 days 19 hours; I believe. Like every transatlantic race there are so many anecdotes that are associated with the race.
DRIVING A TRUCK
The 2005 Transatlantic race was organized for “big” boats. I sailed aboard “Tempest” the 80 foot ketch, around 125,000 lbs of displacement designed by Sparkman & Stephens; the second smallest boat in the race. I liked to tease that I earned my Chauffeurs license (driving an 18 wheeler). We were allowed help from off the boat, which meant we had a router; Pierre, was in Grenoble behind a computer and he really steered the boat. We won our class and I do not remember our overall position. Actually a great boat to sail, very sea-kindly. The finish was off the needles on the Isle of Wight. We finished in just under 14 days, I believe.
WORKING BACKWARDS
The 2011 Transatlantic race was very much the opposite of the 2015 race. 14 1/2 days instead of 11 1/2 days. A lot of frustrating light air. We still managed to hit 28 knots one day; however not nearly enough to overcome the light air. closing on the finish we were jibing every twenty minutes as the wind was shifting quite a bit. The finish was at the Lizard; which is pretty much a lovely field of cows grazing by the sea.
