Transatlantic Race: New leader, for now

(December 9, 2019; Day 18) – Giles Redpath’s British Lombard 46 Pata Negra, skippered by Andy Lis, finished the 2019 RORC Transatlantic Race today in an elapsed time of 15 days 22 hrs 58 mins 13 secs. Despite having to make a pit stop early in the race due to a watermaker malfunction, they still have a chance of winning the race overall under IRC, but their current status as leader looks temporary.

Next to complete the race from Lanzarote to Grenada will almost certainly be Richard Palmer’s British JPK 10.10 Jangada being Two Handed with Jeremy Waitt. Jangada is estimated to finish the race tomorrow which could position them 20 hours ahead of Pata Negra after IRC time correction. To win the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy, Jangada must finish the race by 20:51 UTC on December 11.

“That was quite an adventure,” commented Lis. “The most memorable moment for me was the boat flying through a squall – it was bucketing with rain and the sea went from a 4 metre swell to nothing, with the breeze pumping.”

“It was weird going upwind through the finish, having sailed downwind for the longest that I can remember, and I will always recall getting hit in the mouth by a flying fish!” commented Calum Healey, who had teamed on Pata Negra alongside Lis, Conor Totterdell, Cat Hunt, Will Harris, and Amy Seabright.

“Dolphins in phosphorescence was so cool, the whole sea around us lit up,” said Seabright who is part of the British Sailing Team, racing the 470 class. “This was my first offshore race and it was testing at times. I had to rely quite heavily on this group of people.

“This was more than just a race for us, we had so many things to deal with – stopping the boat cost us maybe 18 hours, and Calum was up the mast a few times to fix halyards, and we blew out sails, but we managed to overcome all our problems and I am really proud that our team managed to do that.”

“My speed record on the helm didn’t last as long as I would have liked,” explained Hunt. “It’s pretty special on the helm out in the Atlantic doing 20 knots. Even though there was so much wind, Pata Negra has so much control and it doesn’t feel like you are going at such speed, which is so cool.”

“Just an epic race,” commented Totterdell. “Getting into the breeze with the kite up was just fantastic. We pushed hard all the way because we could do the maths and know how we were fairing against the opposition. Fair play to the two guys on Jangada – it is hard core to do this race two handed and if they win, they will have our admiration.”

Event details – Entry list – Tracker

The 6th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race got underway November 23 from outside Marina Lanzarote for the 3,000nm race across the Atlantic Ocean to Grenada in the West Indies.The largest yacht competing in the 2019 RORC Transatlantic Race is the Wally 100 Dark Shadow and the smallest yacht is the JPK 10.10 Jangada.

Source: RORC