Privateer, a Cookson 50 owned by Ronald O’Hanley of Boston Massachusetts, is now the provisional winner of the Open Division in the Newport Bermuda Race ahead of Puma’s Volvo 70 Il Mostro skippered by Ken Read.
Today, Chief Scorer, Jim Teeters, noticed a mistake in the scoring for Class 16 and the Open Division.
Privateer then posted a corrected time of 60:40:09. That’s 22 minutes and 42 seconds less than the corrected time of Il Mostro. The Volvo Ocean 70 crossed the finish line nearly 20 hours ahead of Privateer but now slips to second place on handicap in the four-boat division and class for yachts with canting keels.
Ronald O’Hanley and his crew from New England are already northward bound. They’ll have a nice surprise when they hear the news. They will be awarded the Royal Mail Trophy for first in corrected time in the Open Division.
Privateer’s captain, Ian Henderson, was taken aback when he was informed of the news. Already at home in Newport, all that Henderson could say was, “I’m extremely thrilled.” He is going to contact Ron O’Hanley, the winning yacht’s owner, who is already back at work in Boston, and relay the good news. Recovered from the initial shock, Henderson said that the delivery crew left for Newport on Thursday afternoon and he was sure that O’Hanley would return to Bermuda for the Prize Giving on Saturday evening. “You have to have a lot of good luck to win this race,” said Henderson.
Tenacious keeps Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Trophy despite safety protest
After finishing the Newport Bermuda Race on Tuesday and being declared the provisional winner of the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division, Tenacious, the tiny Beneteau First 36.7 skippered by Julien Dougherty faced a protest from the inspection committee for incomplete compliance with the Offshore Regulations. Her lower starboard lifelines had loosened during the race because the stanchions had been bent by hiking crew and she did not have a 'lifesling' man-overboard device recovery device. The international jury ruled that Tenacious was not compliant with the rules and penalized them one hour on their elapsed time.
It made no difference to these tenacious giant killers, for having corrected out 3 hours ahead of second placed Sironsong, the J 133 owned by Thomas Carroll, Dougherty and his crew will still collect their Gibbs Hill Lighthouse at the prizegiving at Government House on Saturday. Tenacious was the smallest boat in the Gibbs Hill Division, and with only one pro aboard, took on 14 fully professional, traditional keelboats and won against the likes of the 90-foot Rambler. Rambler finished on Monday afternoon and Tenacious completed her journey down to Bermuda on Tuesday night. Results are provisional.
Aquarius, Sam Fleet’s Swan 601, won Class 11, the other Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division. The corrected time for Aquarius was 63:04:10.
Julien Dougherty and some of his crew are from Long Island Sound and many of them, including Dougherty, had never sailed the Newport Bermuda Race. Dougherty’s first trip to Bermuda was last year following the Marion Bermuda Race. Inspired by his visit and his delivery of an Island Packet yacht back to Long Island Sound, he grew determined to sail “one of the three great ocean races in the world.”
It took Dougherty nearly a year to upgrade all of the hardware and replace the running rigging to bring Tenacious up to ORC specifications. He assembled a crew of racing buddies from Long Island Sound and others based on their experience and skills. When he signed up Adam Loory, of UK Sails, one of Loory’s conditions was that he had to be able to drive. “That put us in the Gibbs Hill Division. Before the start, we were up in Bermuda looking at some of the boats, including Rambler, and were shaking our heads and saying, ‘what are we doing competing against them?’”
Dougherty and the crew had a nice sail down, mostly on starboard tack. “ I explained to the crew that winning a Lighthouse was a great honor and that some people spend a lifetime trying to win one. We are incredibly pleased”. Affirming how difficult it is to win a Lighthouse, especially on the first try, navigator, Jeffery Tyrrel said, “My father and grandfather spent a lifetime trying to win one. They came close.”
In addition to Loory, Tenacious was sailed by amateurs from Long Island Sound that included: Julien Dougherty, Stephen Cain, Gerard Girsti, Thomas Mikolasko, Heather Schultes and Jeffrey Tyrrel.
Sheila McCurdy, CCA Vice Commodore, drives Selkie to 2nd second
On November 9, 2009 the Cruising Club of America (CCA) will install Sheila McCurdy as Commodore. Sheila, who has sailed fifteen Newport Bermuda Races and raced six of them as skipper, was second placed in class 1 and second in the running for the Lighthouse trophy in the St. David’s Lighthouse Division for the second time since 1994. She is likely to take a hiatus from racing the Newport Bermuda Race during her tenure as Commodore. She will be the club’s the first lady Commodore.
The CCA shoulders much of the responsibility for the stateside organization of the Newport Bermuda Race and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club takes over 24 hours after the start of the race. The CCA change of guard takes place in the off years because there is so much to do in advance of the race.
Offshore sailing runs through the McCurdy family’s bones. Sheila, her husband, David Brown; her nephew, James Morgan McCurdy; Newport Bermuda Race historian, John Rousmaniere; Richard Hambleton; Anne Becker and Carol Vernon sailed Selkie. The boat itself a McCurdy & Rhodes 38 was designed by her father, Jim.
Sheila follows in her father’s footsteps in many ways. There were numerous races in which Sheila navigated while her father skippered. Her father was Commodore of the CCA during the mid-1980’s. As Commodore, Jim recommended that women be admitted as members of the CCA, but it wasn’t until 1994, during the same year that Selkie finished second overall in the Newport Bermuda Race with Sheila as skipper, that women were admitted to the CCA.
Sheila sails offshore “because I like being at sea. I race offshore because of the challenge. It’s like a triathlon. The first part is getting the boat ready and that goes concurrently with getting the crew organized. You feel as if 2/3’s of the job is done by the time you get to the start, and then you have a four-day sprint through changing conditions and a lot of unknowns. It’s not just about steering 160 degrees. It’s about sailing 160 degrees for a reason.”
Sheila, like most skippers, was highly complimentary of her crew. “ They are an incredible crew. They are engaged and focused and take care of one another and the boat,” said McCurdy. Selkie saw winds as low as 3 knots in the eddy to the north of the Gulf Stream and gusts up to 25 knots as she got closer to Bermuda.
Sheila did a transatlantic crossing with John Rousmaniere nearly thirty years ago and was comfortable delegating the provisioning to Annie Becker, Assistant to the Executive Director of US Sailing. She has total confidence in Carol Vernon, a marine engineer, naval architect and delivery skipper who has been involved in numerous America’s Cup campaigns. “We try to have a couple of younger sailors join us. Not only do they follow orders well, their enthusiasm and excitement add to the energy of the boat. They can haul sails around without popping Ibuprofen,” joked Sheila after this year’s long beat to Bermuda.
McCurdy looks forward to enjoying what she refers to as the “greatest sailing reunion on earth” on the grounds of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, to her term as Commodore of the CCA and working with the joint Newport Bermuda Race committees to improve logistics and operations and provide good customer service. “After all, we do this race for the sailors,” stated McCurdy.
-- By Lynn Fitzpatrick