Thanks to Suzanne and Alan for this latest sailing update. Ed
With the excitement of the first six finishers to cross the line still fresh, we thought it only fair to report on the other boats which have battled the Atlantic in the Transatlantic Race 2015 (TR2015).
All the crews have their different stories to report and the strong winds, unusual at this time of year, made for a few good stories and high speed sailing.
By 12th July, a further five boats crossed the finish line at the Lizard and the following days until the 16th saw the bulk of the fleet finish off the Cornish coast with a further 18 boats crossing the line. Several joined in the Coastal Race to Cowes where we witnessed a strange looking Scarlet Oyster it having suffered damage to its mast.
The magnificent Nomad IV was also on a berth in Cowes Yacht Haven and seemed very much OK except for a few minor scratches on the otherwise dark shiny red hull.
Friday (17th July), and now approaching the end of the third week of the Transatlantic Race 2015, saw the arrival at The Lizard of Constantin Claviez’s ‘Charisma’. This took the tally to 28 finishers with two still at sea, and five boats retired.
Of this latter group three boats – ‘Amhas’, ‘Shearwater’ and ‘Solution’ – have all successfully reached the Azores while the remaining two – ‘Brigand ‘and ‘Altair’ – pulled out earlier in the race and limped back to Newport, RI, with technical issues.
The two boats still racing on the 17th were Paul Anstey and Craig Rastello’s C&C 41 ‘Dizzy’ and the appropriately named ‘Persevere’, Colin Rath’s Hanse 55 with ‘Dizzy’ having 184 miles to go whilst ‘Persevere’ was still 418 miles from the finish line.
Their ETAs at The Lizard were Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, respectively, with ‘Dizzy’ claiming the prize for the longest crossing this year having been among the first starters on 28th June, while ‘Persevere’ set sail with the second group three days later.
Now, all boats have finished and the crews competing in the coastal race to Cowes have been enjoying some Island hospitality before the prize giving at the RYS.
As well as being first to cross the line Bryon Ehrhart’s Reichel/Pugh 63 ‘Lucky’ has been confirmed as the winner of the Transatlantic Race 2015 by the event’s four organisers: the Royal Yacht Squadron, the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Storm Trysail Club.
This brings to an end the World’s oldest trans-oceanic yacht race. In 1866, just 15 years after they famously won off the British what would become the America’s Cup, the New York Yacht Club ran its first Transatlantic Race. Since then it has been held irregularly, the most famous occasion being in 1905 when it was of political consequence in the build up to the First World War. Intended by Kaiser Wilhelm II as a means of illustrating German supremacy at sea at a time when ‘Britannia ruled the waves’, he presented the solid gold ‘Kaiser’s Cup’ as the trophy for which the 1905 event would be raced. Ultimately the Kaiser’s yacht Hamburg was beaten by American Wilson Marshall’s Atlantic with Charlie Barr steering the 227’ three-masted schooner from New York to The Lizard in just 12 days, four hours, one minute and 19 seconds.
Image: © Suzanne Whitewood
