New York: The City where dreams come true

New York, NY (May 29, 2014) – The IMOCA Ocean Masters New York to Barcelona Race is a new doublehanded race for the Open 60 class, with the start from New York on June 1, and the expected finish ETA for the five teams into Barcelona at around June 12-15.

With downtown Manhattan shrouded in fog, early morning joggers around North Cove Marina, were able to witness the arrival on Wednesday (May 28) of Hugo Boss into the race’s start port. For this team led by co-skippers Ryan Breymaier (USA) and Pepe Ribes (ESP), their dream did come true.

Following her dismasting on May 8, as she was being delivered to Newport, Rhode Island, Hugo Boss has been undergoing major repair work. The shore team and Hall Spars in Rhode Island have been busy sleeving and re-joining the two parts of their broken 29m tall mast, which was finally re-stepped on May 25. The silver IMOCA 60 was able to leave Newport on Tuesday morning at 1100 local time, bound for New York.

“It was a very easy one, but a very successful one,” said Breymaier of the delivery down. “Other than just going out sailing on Monday a little bit, it was our first real test of the boat since we repaired it, and it all went very well. We were able to look at all the sails. We had some decent breeze during the night so we got here pretty quickly. Most importantly we didn’t add anything to the job list!”

Close examination of the black carbon fibre mast shows a just visible repair towards the top of the spar, above its second spreader. “If anything the tube seems a little stiffer in that section now, which is nice. We know that it is well repaired,” continued Breymaier.

The repair passed its first competitive test, as Hugo Boss today won the Hugo Boss Watches Manhattan Charity Race for the four boats that have arrived so far in Manhattan’s North Cove Marina. Click here for video.

The only team missing is co-skippers Nandor Fa and Marcell Moszleth on Spirit of Hungary, as brutal conditions have delayed their arrival. “It’s been pretty tough,” reported Fa. “We were upwind in 40-45 knots, gusting to 50 at times, combined with monsoon-strength rain and only 100m visibility. The boat was constantly being smashed and beaten by the waves. We were literally sailing for our lives.” The team is expected into Manhattan by Friday morning.

Race website: www.imocaoceanmasters.com