Horses on track to Halifax

Published on July 9th, 2017

Marblehead, MA (July 9, 2017) – A fleet of 73 teams crossed the starting line off Marblehead Harbor and set a 363-mile course to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The skies were fair and winds out of the southwest averaging 10 knots to start the 37th biennial edition of the Marblehead to Halifax Race which dates to 1905.

Several large boats with impressive records are on the course. Among them is Prospector, this year’s winner of the 811-mile Miami to Montego Bay Race. The 68-foot yacht carries a crew of 20 is based at the Shelter Island Yacht Club in New York.

Another is Ticonderoga, a 72-foot wooden ketch out of Greenwich, CT designed by L. Francis Herreshoff. She is owned by Scott Frantz of the Riverside Yacht Club. At 80, her beauty is fabled for her sleek and graceful lines and her 86-foot main mast.

The record for Halifax is 30 hours 46 minutes and 52 seconds which means the fastest boats could reach there early Tuesday morning. It all depends on the wind.

Race details – Entry list – Tracker