The Finish - 2012 Newport-Bermuda Race
June 18, 2012
Hello friends,
Well... we finished. Actually at 3:40 am EST this morning, about 60 hours after we started. An 11 knot average and the fastest time I have ever done it in, and I've done it about 15 times. Sunrise in Bermuda and two very happy campers after having spent 60 hours in water world. We are motor-sailing around the island to Hamilton harbor and looking forward to a shower, breakfast and a drink!
This race is most often a light air, upwind affair, and those are the conditions that most people that want to win this race build or buy a boat for. I did not expect that GS2, built for offshore passage making and reaching and running in big air, would be competitive in this race, but you never know when you might get your preferred conditions, and strangely enough, Mother Nature gave us a gift in strong northeast winds nearly the entire way... a true anomaly at this time of year... and we were able to take advantage.
The boat was just awesome, and as much as we pushed her is as much as she responded with incredibly sustained planing at high speed. We are not sure where we are in the fleet, but we understand we are quite far ahead of our fellow Class 40's and the remainder of the double-handed fleet, so it just remains to be seen where we come out on corrected time, as we probably owe everyone a ton of time.
Regardless, it was a memorable race and the fastest passage ever for me, breaking the Bermuda 1-2 Solo record I set in 2007 of 67 hours in an Open 50 (GryphonSolo), a boat that is 10 feet longer. Good stuff.
I will report more about where we are in the class and fleet as I learn more once we get to the dock.
Cheers,
Joe
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