Atlantic Cup: Tales II Wins Stage Two

Portland, ME (June 6, 2016) – Tales II skippered by Gonzalo Botín and Pablo Santurde won leg two of the Atlantic Cup, a 360-nautical mile doublehanded leg from Brooklyn, NY to Portland, ME. The win marks back to back offshore wins for the Class40 team, which puts them on top of the leaderboard heading into the third and final leg – a crewed inshore series to be sailed June 10-11 in Casco Bay, Maine.

“The worst thing is when you have expectations,” noted Gonzalo Botín. “Last night we thought we would finish early in the morning. Basically the wind died, at sea you have to always accept what comes. You can’t just say ‘I’m gonna be there at 6 in the morning’ because then you’re not there at 6 in the morning and you’re pissed off. We’re very pleased with how we sailed the leg. Last night we had between 25 and 30 knots. It was fun, it was good — except we exploded one of our spinnakers and made a big mess. The whole spinnaker was wrapped around the stay, there was sail all over the place. There was a piece of the spinnaker dragging behind the boat that we had to pull back on board. We were stopped for about an hour trying to get rid of the mess. There’s still bits of sail all over the place! But other than that we had some good surfing and good speeds.”

Pablo Santurde added, “Compared to the first leg, this was tactically more difficult because of the light wind. The first half of the race was very light so it was tactically more challenging than just pushing the boat in heavy air. The first night it was very light so keeping the boat going forward was very difficult, that was the hardest part of the race.”

Event website – Tracker – Facebook

About The Atlantic Cup
The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing is, at 1,045 nautical miles, the longest offshore in the Western Atlantic. The Atlantic Cup was created and is owned by Manuka Sports Event Management. It started in 2011 as a concept event and grew to a multi-stage race. Since its inception, the Atlantic Cup has aimed to be the most environmentally responsible sailing race in the United States. The race is sailed solely in Class40s, a monohull race boat designed for shorthanded racing.

The first doublehanded leg starting May 28 takes the fleet 648 nm from Charleston, SC to Brooklyn, NY, with the second doublehanded leg starting June 4 for 360 nm to Portland, ME. The final stage on June 10-11 will have 6-person teams complete an inshore series of races in Portland.

The Atlantic Cup ran annually in May from 2011 through 2014. After 2014, the race moved to a biennial event. The course in 2011 was a sprint from New York to Newport with an inshore series in Newport. From 2012-2014, the race was a three-stage event that started in Charleston, South Carolina included a stop-over in New York City and finished in Newport, Rhode Island. In 2016, the Atlantic Cup will continue to comprise of three legs, with stop-overs in Charleston, S.C., Brooklyn, N.Y., and for the first time, Portland, Maine.

Source: Atlantic Cup