Cold, hard, pleasurable ride to Jamaica

Nigel King’s Ker 46 Lady Mariposa crossed the finish line in Montego Bay at 08:33:05 ET on February 1, completing the 811 nm Pineapple Cup from Miami to Jamaica in 3 days 18 hours 28 minutes 5 seconds. This time was good enough to win the Silver Pineapple Cup Perpetual Trophy, awarded to the IRC boat with the best corrected time.

“The conditions changed throughout the course,” shared King. “It was lumpy in the gulf stream from Miami and then you get through the Bahamas with quiet and flat seas and then obviously we had a good rip down towards Jamaica. It was a good length of race because you can really get into it – it was the longest race we’ve done for a while so it was good for us.”

Recognized for their elapsed time wins, the Silver Rose Bowl was presented to the Volvo 70 Wizard for fastest elapsed time for a monohull at 3 days 3 hours 52 minutes and 13 seconds. The Arawak Perpetual Trophy was presented to the MOD 70 Argo for their first place finish in the multihull division of 2:00:07:44. Argo was also awarded the trophy for breaking not only the multihull, but outright course record.

Horst Baier, James Bill and Eamonn Delisser’s Farr 395 Senara was awarded the Silver Seahorse Trophy for their win in the PHRF division. Senara also received the Seagull Trophy for being the smallest boat to finish and the newly created Felix Hunter Andre Trophy awarded to the winning boat with the most competitors.

Felix was a long time member to the Montego Bay Yacht Club, who recently passed away. She was an integral part of the Pineapple Cup organization for decades and anyone who ever raced the Pineapple Cup or sailed into the Montego Bay Yacht Club knew her. The trophy was presented by her sister, Carrie.

“This race started out rough,” said Delisser. “We lost our windex within the first 3-4 hours, we beat ourselves up to Eleuthera where we knew the cold front was coming in. We never expected 40 knots – that was a surprise – but we knew the wind was going to change and we had to double reef and put up storm sails, but after that it was a pleasurable sail.”

Race details – Results – Tracker – 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 started in Florida on Sunday, January 27th at 11h00 and Monday 28th, January at 14h00.

The 2019 time set by the MOD 70 Argo of 2 days, 0 hours, 7 minutes minutes and 44 seconds sets a new outright course record. The previous record, set in 2005 by the 75-foot Reichel/Pugh Titan 12 of 2 days, 10 hours, 24 minutes and 42 seconds, still stands as the monohull record.

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.

Source: Manuka Sports Event Management