Leaders Approach Half-Way
by Talbot Wilson
Marion MA, June 16, 2019: The 2019 Marion Bermuda Race is shaping up to be a close line honors and handicap race for overall prizes. But with 300 or more miles to go and the Happy Valley/Parking Lot between the fleet and the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club’s finish line off St. David’s Lighthouse in Bermuda, a lot can happen. The leaders are closing in on the halfway point in the 645-mile race.
The leaders of all four Founders Division classes are sailing only by the stars and the 'Strawberry' full moon. The Marion Bermuda Race is the only US based offshore race that encourages celestial navigation. Boats that elect to use celestial only get a 3% credit on their adjusted elapsed time for the race.
Kiwi Spirit, the Riley Family’s Farr 63, is the scratch (fastest) boat in the fleet and still leads all boats for line honors. Sunday morning, she was 300 miles from Bermuda sailing on starboard tack at 8.6 kts steering a course of 139º. Winds were fresh from the southwest at around 15 kts.
Day 1- Bermuda, Here They Come
by Talbot Wilson
Marion MA, June 14, 2019: The fleet of 39 Marion Bermuda yachts is on its way to Bermuda. 38 of the boats are in the Founders Division and one is a Classic yacht. The first start between the classicsTabor Boy and Spirit of Bermuda set the pace with an aggressive move by Spirit running down the starting line, crossing close ahead of Tabor Boy.
But the maneuver didn’t pay off for the big black Bermuda Sloop. She ran the line in front of Tabor Boy clear ahead. Then when she got to the pin end of the line and hardened up into the wind, she actually sailed outside of the yellow pin, beyond the starting line.
Whoops! She did not start properly, but continued to sail the course southward on a beat out of Buzzards Bay.
Failure to cross the starting line means that Spirit of Bermuda did not start.
Do Day for Marion Bermuda Racers
by Talbot Wilson
Marion MA, June 13, 2019: When the race office at Beverly YC in Marion MA opened Thursday morning 12 of the 41 boats still had to do their final registration check-in and final paperwork. The rush was on.
Skippers also had to pick up their YB tracking transponders, so race officials, friends and families and other race watchers on land and at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, the Bermuda partner in the race, can follow them to Bermuda with the Race Tracking app.
It was Do-Day for all the Marion Bermuda racers, the day they did all the last minute chores they had left to do. And weather was nasty on Sippican Harbor in Marion, too. Yachts were tossing on their moorings and rain showers were preparing crews for the wetness of the Gulf Stream crossing that’s just over the horizon.
