Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race: All Racing Now

(January 28, 2019) – Under sunny skies, an 18 knot northwesterly and 10 foot swells, today it was the IRC and Multihull fleets turn to start the 811 nautical mile Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race. At 2:05 local time the Volvo70 Wizard skippered by Peter & David Askew with Charlie Enright navigating launched across the line followed closely by the MOD 70 Argo and then the Ker46 Lady Marisopa.

This is the first time since 2003 that multihulls have competed in the Pineapple Cup. The multihull course record of 2 days 20 hours 8 minutes and 5 seconds was set in 1999 by the late Steve Fosset’s Orma60 Lakota.

When asked about the weather and if they think they’ll be able to break Lakota’s record, Anderson Reggio, Navigator on Team Argo said “We’re going to be chasing this front as we go offshore and it looks pretty unlikely we are going to be able to punch through it and get back to anything worthwhile to help get us down the track.

“So we could be in a situation where we would have to wait for the next system for the breeze to come down to give us help. If that’s the case, we could have a very, very slow 24-hour period early Tuesday into Wednesday. Right now it’s looking like an early Thursday morning arrival, which would put us ahead of the multihull record. “

As of the 5pm position report, Argo was blasting ahead at 30 knots followed by Wizard who are broad reaching in 18 knots. Race Management received word just prior to 5pm ET that Jamaican flagged Moementum broke one of their rudders and the team is currently assessing their options.

In the PHRF fleet, all teams are now racing downwind. The Santa Cruz 52 Sin Duda!, skippered by Lindsey Duda, made a bold decision early this afternoon to stay close to shore of Long Island in the Bahamas where significant gains were made over the fleet.

Lee Overlay Partners II, a Swan 60, made the same decision and they now sit second in line honors in the PHRF fleet. Renegade, Dragon, Katara and Senara decided to stay offshore where they haven’t progressed as quickly as the other two teams. Winds are expected to lighten in the coming hours for the PHRF fleet.

Over 100 sailors from 13 countries including Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup champions are taking part in this 34th edition of one of the oldest offshore races in the world.

Race details – Entry list – Facebook

About the Pineapple Cup
Established in 1961, the Pineapple Cup is a classic 811-mile “beat, reach and run” ocean race that has been dubbed “the best ocean race in the world” by its devotees, including three-time winner and media mogul Ted Turner. The 34th edition starts in Florida on Sunday, January 27th at 11h00 and Monday 28th, January at 14h00.

The race is hosted at the start in Miami by Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and at the finish in Montego Bay by the Montego Bay Yacht Club. The course record is 2 days, 10 hours, 24 minutes and 42 seconds set in 2005 by Titan 12, a 75’ Reichel/Pugh designed maxi boat.

Source: Manuka Sports Event Management