The Transatlantic Race and the Mystery of the Sea.

A Continuous Lean ^ | 7/29/15 | Jared Paul Stern

[LibWhacker]

The Transatlantic Race and the Mystery of the Sea. Jul 29th, 2015 | Categories: Jared Paul Stern, Sports | by Jared Paul Stern

With a course of nearly 3,000 miles from Newport, R.I., to Lizard Point on the southwestern corner of England, the Transatlantic Race is the world’s oldest trans-oceanic yacht race and one of the ultimate tests of a sailor’s skill. Nearly 50 boats running the gamut from 40-footers to superyachts, and modern racing machines to 100-year-old classics from all over the world competed in the 2015 edition which just wrapped up. Chicago-based Bryon Ehrhart’s Reichel/Pugh 63’ Lucky was confirmed as the winner by the event’s four organizers: the Royal Yacht Squadron of Cowes, the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Storm Trysail Club.

Ehrhart won the trophy and a Rolex wristwatch for his efforts. Also at this year’s race The World Sailing Speed Record Council confirmed a new monohull 24 hour record set by skipper Ken Read of the USA and 20 crew on the 100-ft. Comanche, one of the largest yachts in the race. Comanche covered a distance of 618.01 nautical miles, averaging 25.75 knots and beating the previous record of 596.6 nm (24.85 knot average) set by skipper Torben Grael and crew on the Volvo 70 Ericsson 4 during the 2008-9 Volvo Ocean Race. The first Transatlantic Race was run in 1866 and has been held irregularly since; it was last run in 2011. The very WASPy Lawrence Huntington, former commodore of the New York Yacht Club, has sailed in it seven times.

“Going across the Atlantic is a fantastic change of pace from everyday life,” Huntington said earlier this year. “It’s a chance to think about what Joseph Conrad wrote about the mystery of the sea. ‘The true peace of God begins at any spot a thousand miles from the nearest land.’ All of that goes through your head as you do this kind of adventure. It’s a wonderful time for reflection. It’s also intensely competitive.” The next race will be run in 2019. The Transatlantic Race is part of the Atlantic Ocean Racing Series, which also includes the Rolex Fastnet Race taking place in August and the Rolex Middle Sea Race in October.

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[DaxtonBrown]

Sailboat Porn!

Notice how wide they’ve gotten, and with twin rudders. Another innovation I don’t see here is a move to racing scows with wide bows.

[smokingfrog]

http://www.donaldheald.com/pages/books/3551/publishers-after-charles-parsons-currier-ives/the-great-ocean-yacht-race-between-the-henrietta-fleetwing-vesta-the-good-bye-to-the-yacht-club

[GraceG]

The Transatlantic Race and the Mystery of the Sea.

If the Atlantic wants to Self Identify as another Ocean or Sea that is a Mystery to me but I respect’s it’s “life choice”, and if you disagree you are Racist.

:P

[Robert A Cook PE]

At least they have set this race series up with several classes - rather than the made-to-measure foolishness of the old America’s Cup rules that only created high-resistance, slow speed no-innovation bureaucratic limits.

[gorush]

She’s got the bone in her teeth, skipper.

[AFreeBird]

Here’s a different kind of sailboat porn.

Me like. Can’t afford, but still like.

http://www.twizzle.org/about/galleries/

[outofsalt]

The winch in that last picture costs more than my boat!
I feel if you are spilling your Bacardi it’s time to shorten sail.
I’ve visited RI at the start of some major races and those boats look like space ships.

[DuncanWaring]

Ping.

[AFreeBird]

Check out the builders PDF link at the bottom of the page, and get all the info and schematics. Some serious freak’n engineering went into that boat.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

I have done very little sailing but it is very enjoyable.

I am more of a fisherman in a powered deep-v hull but I do know this:

There is nothing like being out on the open sea out of sight of land or any other boat! I almost feel as if I am home and land is simply a place I visit! ;-)

[smokingfrog]

Whatever happened to the winged keel, anyway?

[outofsalt]

Upon further reflection, that winch costs more than my house. WOW!

[LibWhacker]

Video taken aboard the Comanche during the race (3 min)

Whoa, had NO idea a sailboat could leave a wake like that one. Guess that's why I'm a clueless landlubber!

Think those guys felt absolutely privileged to be aboard? I do.

This video must make all the white privilege race baiters out there bounce off the walls of their hateful little minds.

[AFreeBird]

I know, right? Makes ya want to cry.

But still, back in the day, when I was young and stupid and lived in Tampa, I was into a lot of boat porn. A friend of mine lived in ft. Lauderdale then too and worked at Pier 66. Got tours on lots of yachts We could never afford. It was all smokers back then, the motor yachts. And motor sailers were ugly kludge’s. Take a motor yacht and put a mast on it.

The people who commissioned this boat previously owned smokers. They wanted a motor layout, but in a sailboat package. They got, IMHO, the best of both worlds.

I think it sexy, elegant, classy and more understated than a lot in her class (motor or sail) these days.

Gotta few million you can spare?