180 boats apply for Newport Bermuda Race entry

As of the April 1 deadline, 180 applications for entry have been received for the 2014 Newport Bermuda Race that will start on June 20 off Castle Hill in Newport. Broken down by the biennial race’s five divisions, the entries are: St. David’s Lighthouse, 91 boats; Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, 10; Cruiser, 36; Double-Handed, 26; Open, 2. Fifty-one captains have indicated that this is their boats’ first Newport Bermuda Race. The 2012 race had 165 starters.

Officials of the Bermuda Race Organizing Committee advise that entry numbers and divisional assignments may change. Sixteen entering captains are undecided about which division to enter, and more applications for entry are expected. Late entries may be subject to a time penalty.

In the St. David’s Lighthouse Division, returnees include many 2012 prizewinners and the division’s winning boats in the last four races, Rives Potts’s Carina (winner in 2010 and 2012) and Peter Rebovich’s Sinn Fein (2006 and 2008). Also in this division are two highly competitive classic wooden yawls, Matt Brooks’s Transpac winner Dorade and 2012 Bermuda Race class winner Black Watch, commanded by John Melvin.

A close race is anticipated in the Gibbs Hill Division between George Sakellaris’ Shockwave and Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente. In 2012 Shockwave, pressed hard by Belle Mente, won both this division and the North Rock Beacon Trophy as the race’s top boat under the IRC Rule. Both boats broke the race elapsed time record.

Entries in the Cruiser and Double-Handed divisions are running ahead of their 2012 levels. Cruiser Division runner-up True, sailed by Howard Hodgson, Jr., will be back with other high finishers, including Brad Willauer’s Breezing Up and Chris Culver’s Cetacea. Returning in the extremely competitive Double-Handed Division are the 2012 race’s top four boats: Hewitt Gaynor’s Mireille, Joe Harris’ GryphonSolo2, Gardner Grant’s Alibi, and Jason Richter’s Paladin.

Jim Muldoon’s veteran Donnybrook has entered the Open Division. Spirit of Bermuda, a replica of a traditional Bermuda trading vessel and 2012 Bermuda Race entry, will return for another 635-mile sprint across the Gulf Stream.

Click here for an updated list of applicants for entry. For more information about the Newport Bermuda Race, visit BermudaRace.com.

Important dates on the 2014 Newport Bermuda Race calendar include the following:
Forms submitted and fees paid, May 16
Boat measurement data submitted, May 22
Crew information submitted, June 1
Boat inspection deadline, June 6
Onion Patch Series/Navigator’s Race Series, NYYC Annual Regatta, Newport, June 14-15
Check-in at race headquarters (NYYC Sailing Center, Harbour Court), June 15-18
US Sailing Sanctioned Safety at Sea Seminar, Newport, June 18. Register at safety@bermudarace.com
Gosling’s Rum Newport Shipyard Crew Party, Newport, June 18
Captains Meeting sponsored by Hinckley Yachts, Jane Pickens Theater, June 19
Newport Bermuda Race start, June 20
Onion Patch Series/ Navigator’s Race Series, RBYC Anniversary Regatta and Welcome Party, Bermuda, June 27
Newport Bermuda Prize Ceremony, June 28

Photo: Only one skipper has won the Newport Bermuda Race three times. Carleton Mitchell won three in a row in 1956-58-69. And Mitchell won those three races all with Finisterre, the most famous of the Sparkman & Stephens centerboard yawls. In 2010, Peter Rebovich was poised to repeat the feat in Sinn Fein (1818), his classic 51-year-old stock Cal 40, but a sterling performance by Rives Potts in his McCurdy & Rhodes 48 Carina swept away his chance for three St. David’s Lighthouse Trophies in a row. Rebovich had to rebuild Sinn Fein after Hurricane Sandy and now he is back as both he and Rives Potts each come to the line again looking for their third wins in the same boat. ©2012 Daniel Forster/PPL

Source: Race media