Atlantic Cup and Class 40's

[Rail Meat]

Kudos to Ryan Finn for a great front page article on the Atlantic Cup, and thanks to Hugh and Juliana for organizing the first edition of what will hopefully grown into a major event on the calendar.

The race was part of the dialogue in this January's annual meeting of the Class, and the European boats have interest on seeing how it will work out. It was difficult to convince any of those boats to stick around after the RdR and come north for the single event, but there is strong interest in 2012 when a pack of boats will be in the Caribbean after the TJV and after the Solidaire du Chocolat. The idea will be to use an exanded Atlantic Cup to give the boats opportunity to race up the east coast and ultimately end up in Quebec in advance of the Quebec St. Malo. Some of those European owners will compete their own boats, and other owners will look for charter opportunities which would be good news. I received a significant number of serious enquiries from US based sailors that wanted to charter for this years race, and unfortunately we simply do not have a lot of US owners interested in chartering at this point.

In the meantime, we are looking to kicking off our season with some hot racing and hopefully some cold cash. Dragon is onw her way to NYC and will be in Stamford overnight then down in North Cove tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow evening we are going to host some of the students in the "Rock the Boat" program and give them a tour of Dragon, and then a Pro/Am event on Friday. If you happen to be in lower Manhattan please stop by and say hi. We are going to be on the north wall of North Cove Marina. He is going to kick my ass for spilling the beans, but Solo is aiming to stop by and perhaps even come out for a sail!

I plan on posting updates from the water as much as I can, and maybe even some video. With any luck, I can figure out how to entertain you without having to wrap my kite, blow up my main sail or otherwise wreck my boat in the process. Definitely check out the Atlantic Cup web site for tracking, tweets and other news. While you are there, don't forget to vote for your favorite boat on the competitors page.... votes for Dragon will earn my undying gratitude and rumor is that you will go straight to heaven.

 

[redboat]

Good to see you initiating this thread. You have some interesting days ahead. Looking forward to following your progress.

Have fun. Sail safe.

Say hi to s.

 

[Carbon_Cartel]

am I the only one who pictured a fleet of us made mini 6.50s doing this race after reading the article? this type of race is exactly what US ocean racing needs...

 

[clwgr]

All of us at Sailors for the Sea are looking forward to this exciting race. We have been very impressed with the professionalism of the organizers and we anticipate a great time in NYC and Newport. The race is a Sailors for the Sea Clean Regatta and they are making every effort to reduce the environmental footprint of the event both on and off the water.

For those of you who may not know, Sailors for the Sea (SfS) is nonprofit organization that educates the boating community to protect and restore our oceans and coastal waters.

Sailors for the Sea collaborates with many organizations to leverage the effectiveness of our projects and programs. This includes the release of a documentary film co-sponsored by our organization entitled A Sea Change, which focuses on ocean acidification. Sailors for the Sea also supported the Around the Americas expedition, which circumnavigated North and South America by sail to raise awareness of ocean conservation issues.

Sailors for the Sea has core programs that engage the sailing community by linking knowledge to action. Our nationwide Clean Regattas program assists and certifies yacht clubs and regatta organizers as providing clean events that minimize impacts upon our oceans. The web-based Ocean Watch Essays program provides information on current ocean conservation issues as well as resources for further information and engagement with stewardship activities. Our Rainy Day Kits program are marine science based lesson plans developed for junior sailors in partnership with Scripps, New England Aquarium and others.

We hope to see all the participants and spectators tomorrow in NYC and then again in Newport.

 

[STSailing]

I saw Toothface and Cutlass at the Shipyard the other day. Surprised to find out that the owner of Newbury Comics has a 40. Good luck to all of you.

 

[Plumbean]

I plan on stopping by tomorrow to ogle the boats in North Cove.

BTW, the website for the Atlantic Cup is completely devoid of information regarding timing, other than to say the Pro-am is tomorrow and then it is off to Newport on Saturday. I've been told via phone that boats won't be leaving the dock tomorrow until about 2 pm, for those of you who might be in Manhattan and were thinking about heading over there. Don't know what the schedule is for Saturday ...

 

[MikeR]

We're on our way with a bunch of kids from Rocking the Boat to visit Dragon. A major thanks to Michael for hosting them. I know that they will be in awe of the boat and the program. Many, many thanks RailMeat!!

Cheers,

MikeR

 

[abbcjb]

Please see here for a listing of times when the boats will be in the Marina in NYC:

http://www.atlanticcup.org/archives/1219

 

[clwgr]

You can learn more about how the Atlantic Cup is reducing their footprint on the Sailors for the Sea front page:

www.sailorsforthesea.org

Stop by and say hello when you visit the boats tomorrow at North Cove Marina. We'll also be at the Newport Shipyard.

 

[Mung Breath]

Sounds like way too much fun and a very cool way to spend the summer, RM!

 

[left hook]

Ok so I guess I won't be able to pass up the opportunity to put down my textbooks to come down and visit at Newport Shipyard next weekend. Know anybody looking for crew on the inshore part?

 

[MR.CLEAN]

AC chief



We’ve been telling you about the Atlantic Cup, an innovative attempt to create a shorthanded Class 40 racing series on the East Coast that starts this Saturday. Now hear about its origin, the competitors, and Director Hugh Piggin’s goals for the inaugural event from the man himself. And don’t forget to follow the thread for up-to-the-minute reports.





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[MikeR]

Great to see Solo again!

Also, the kids had a total blast exploring Dragon and listening to Michael and Rob explain about all the complexities of making the campaign happen.

A huge thank you to Michael for doing this. It was right in the middle of setting the boat up for the race to Newport and I'm certain that he had many more important things to do, but took time out to spend with 10 kids from the South Bronx.

A class act in the extreme!

Cheers,

MikeR

Kudos to Ryan Finn for a great front page article on the Atlantic Cup, and thanks to Hugh and Juliana for organizing the first edition of what will hopefully grown into a major event on the calendar.

The race was part of the dialogue in this January's annual meeting of the Class, and the European boats have interest on seeing how it will work out. It was difficult to convince any of those boats to stick around after the RdR and come north for the single event, but there is strong interest in 2012 when a pack of boats will be in the Caribbean after the TJV and after the Solidaire du Chocolat. The idea will be to use an exanded Atlantic Cup to give the boats opportunity to race up the east coast and ultimately end up in Quebec in advance of the Quebec St. Malo. Some of those European owners will compete their own boats, and other owners will look for charter opportunities which would be good news. I received a significant number of serious enquiries from US based sailors that wanted to charter for this years race, and unfortunately we simply do not have a lot of US owners interested in chartering at this point.

In the meantime, we are looking to kicking off our season with some hot racing and hopefully some cold cash. Dragon is onw her way to NYC and will be in Stamford overnight then down in North Cove tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow evening we are going to host some of the students in the "Rock the Boat" program and give them a tour of Dragon, and then a Pro/Am event on Friday. If you happen to be in lower Manhattan please stop by and say hi. We are going to be on the north wall of North Cove Marina. He is going to kick my ass for spilling the beans, but Solo is aiming to stop by and perhaps even come out for a sail!

I plan on posting updates from the water as much as I can, and maybe even some video. With any luck, I can figure out how to entertain you without having to wrap my kite, blow up my main sail or otherwise wreck my boat in the process. Definitely check out the Atlantic Cup web site for tracking, tweets and other news. While you are there, don't forget to vote for your favorite boat on the competitors page.... votes for Dragon will earn my undying gratitude and rumor is that you will go straight to heaven.

 

[Rail Meat]

Great to see a few anarchists stop by the docks yesterday, and really great to meet the kids from Rocking the Boat. It is a fantastic program and well worth checking out if you are not familiar with it.

Half the challenge with a race like this is getting to the start line, particularily this early in the season. Pooch and Tim made that goal on Icarus despite not having a boat 4 days ago. Unfortunately Eric on Kamoa'e could not quite pull it off. When they stepped his new rig 2 days ago they discovered the V4 was too long to allow a proper set up of the mast. Hopefully they can get that sorted and make it to Newport for the second leg og racing next weekend.

Two lows are coming into play, one sweeping down from Maine and one sweeping up from the Carolinas. They will join together offshore east of Nyc in the next 24 hours, but too far out to have any high winds for us. But in the meantime we are getting caught in the ridge of high pressure being pinched between the two lows which will cause us to have light and fickle winds and could make for a wierd and challenging race. Stay tuned.

Off to the marina. More later as I can do it.

 

[MikeR]

Great to see a few anarchists stop by the docks yesterday, and really great to meet the kids from Rocking the Boat. It is a fantastic program and well worth checking out if you are not familiar with it.

Half the challenge with a race like this is getting to the start line, particularily this early in the season. Pooch and Tim made that goal on Icarus despite not having a boat 4 days ago. Unfortunately Eric on Kamoa'e could not quite pull it off. When they stepped his new rig 2 days ago they discovered the V4 was too long to allow a proper set up of the mast. Hopefully they can get that sorted and make it to Newport for the second leg og racing next weekend.

Two lows are coming into play, one sweeping down from Maine and one sweeping up from the Carolinas. They will join together offshore east of Nyc in the next 24 hours, but too far out to have any high winds for us. But in the meantime we are getting caught in the ridge of high pressure being pinched between the two lows which will cause us to have light and fickle winds and could make for a wierd and challenging race. Stay tuned.

Off to the marina. More later as I can do it.

I and the Dragonettes (Rocking the Boat Cheerleaders) will be following the race. Go get 'em!!

Cheers,

MikeR

 

[Rail Meat]

On the dock, about to shove off. The Club's boats are ferrying the spectators across to the RC boat off Ellis Island. Gwahir is out on the water seeing what sails they have, and the rest of us are going to head out att 1:20 or so. Warm day, very light winds.

 

[MikeR]

On the dock, about to shove off. The Club's boats are ferrying the spectators across to the RC boat off Ellis Island. Gwahir is out on the water seeing what sails they have, and the rest of us are going to head out att 1:20 or so. Warm day, very light winds.

Godspeed!

MikeR

 

[Rail Meat]

Bad start - stuck in a hole above the start lne in very flukey wind/no wind. Finally got going, and was able to catch both Cutlass and Toothface by the Verrazano Narrows bridge. Screwed up the transition from the Code 5 (Granny's knickers) to the J1 Solent and lost ground to both Toothface and Cutlass. Then got inside lift and ended up pointing at mark and well inside both of those boats.

In the meantime, the nippers on Icarus teleported their boat across Staten Island and Sandy Hook and ended up something like 7 miles in front of us.

We sailed a near perfect run down to Barnegate under the Code 5 and Solent, clawing back miles on Icarus. We rolled up Toothface in the process and Cutlass went well outside under their kite. When we came back together at Barnegat, Icarus rounded 10 minutes in front of Cutlass, with Cutlass 2 minutes in front of Dragon, and Dragon 2 minutes in front of Toothface.

Since then we had a flawless A2 set. Cutlass is going in towards shore, toothface right behind us and Icarus looks parked for some reason.

More later tonight.

 

[StayinStrewn]

Good luck mike!!