Atlantic Cup: Final night to Maine

Published on June 4th, 2018

(June 4, 2018; Day 3) – After pounding upwind for the past 48 hours, the 2018 Atlantic Cup fleet is now steaming ahead for Portland, Maine. However, the brutal conditions proved too much for 37-First Light and 81-Esprit Scout, which made the decision last night to retire from Leg 2 and seek refuge in Newport, Rhode Island.

For the nine teams still racing, the uncomfortable upwind sailing has markedly improved. After rounding the virtual mark Point Alpha, they have changed to a starboard tack, increased boat speed and are direct reaching to Portland.

With speeds upwards today in the mid-teens, the French/Italian duo of Catherine Pourre and Pietro Luciani onboard Eärendil are aiming for another first place finish. Their closest pursuer is one of the oldest boats in the fleet, Dragon, followed closely behind by Toothface 2 and Angola Cables.

The first arrival is expected in the early hours tomorrow with the remaining fleet expected throughout the day.

Tristan Mougliné, 128-Toothface currently in 3rd:
“We have no water ballast this leg, which isn’t so good for going upwind and has slowed our performance but we managed and are in an okay position but nothing great. So that was disappointing but we are still on our way! We have been really aggressive with the stack. We tried pinching a little bit with too much sail and it didn’t really work, then we tried to foot a little bit with smaller sails and that seemed to go ok. We were side by side with Eärendil for awhile which was fun but they were just quicker with water ballast so it was a little bit tricky. We did just cross Amhas, we were on starboard, they took our stern on port a little while ago which was a good feeling I guess and I’m sure we will converge at the turning mark… Of the 5,000 At Cup mile I’ve done, these have been the toughest 200.”

Micah Davis, 127-Amhas currently in 5th:
“Everything is okay (onboard), we replaced the tack line for the stay sail in New York, specially because we knew we were going to bash upwind and right as we were about to tack over, about a quarter of a mile behind toothface, it blew! No staysail in 25 kts is slow, so we did a little bit of everything, a little backwards, a little tacking, and we finally got it re-rigged and now we are on going, back in the fight. It sucks, it really sucks, but were doing good. Three days of 25 kts wind is (£@$#) and its bloody cold out.”

Starting June 2, the doublehanded Leg 2 takes competitors 360 nautical miles from New York to Portland, Maine. There is one mark of the course, Point Alpha, which is south of the Nantucket shoals.

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