Fort Lauderdale to Montego Bay race results.
by Keith Taylor on 10 Feb 2001
Joseph Dockery's Farr 60 Carrera was
named overall winner of the Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race today after the
last boat had finished and corrected times were scored.
Dockery was awarded the Pineapple Cup for the best overall performance and
was also the winner of the five-boat IMS Class. Carrera convincingly
defeated her sister-ship, Isam Kabbani's Farr 60 Rima, by 45 minutes, two
seconds on corrected time under the IMS handicapping system.
Sailmaker Ken Read, helmsman aboard Carrera, described this year's
competition as a very technical challenge but a very enjoyable distance
race.
'It was really three different races,' Read explained. 'We all had a fast
race across the Gulf Stream from Fort Lauderdale to Hole in the Wall in the
Bahamas which turned into a convergence zone. Some boats made it through in
good shape, some didn't. We had a close fetch down to the Windward Passage
where the breeze went light and the race started again. From there it was
stops and starts, with different groups dominating as the conditions
changed. The smaller boats were able to ride squall lines down to the bigger
boats that were stalled ahead.
Sailmaker Terry Hutchinson, helmsman aboard Rima, agreed with Read's
three-race explanation. 'The biggest obstacle was getting through the Hole
in the Wall,' Hutchinson said. 'We thought we saw some promising weather and
took the aggressive route only to have the breeze shut off on us.'
With five IMS maxis and seven PHRF maxis in this year's 17-boat fleet, there
were high hopes that Windward Passage's 29-year-old record for the 811-mile
course would fall. The course takes the competitors down the outside of the
Bahamas, past the eastern tip of Cuba and through the Windward Passage.
However unsettled weather conditions north of the Bahamas killed the
prevailing trade winds and any hope of a new record.
At the front of the fleet, Jim Dolan's 76-foot maxiboat Sagamore shadowed
Roy Disney's 75-foot sled Pyewacket all the way into the Windward Passage.
However, Disney withdrew from competition in the home stretch after leading
all the way from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Sagamore, a 76-footer designed by Bill Langan crossed the finish line off
the Montego Bay Yacht Club at 6:05 PM local time on Tuesday evening after
staying in contact with Pyewacket right up until the time she retired.
Robert O'Neill's 75-foot Reichel/Pugh sled Zephryus IV, a companion
Reichel/Pugh design to Pyewacket, was the second boat to finish, 51 minutes
after Sagamore.
Disney, who was shooting to break the 29-year-old race record of 3 days, 3
hour, 40 minutes and 7 seconds, pulled into Ocho Rios, Jamaica on Wednesday
morning after the fleet was becalmed overnight in the Windward Passage. He
phoned the Montego Bay Yacht Club to announce his retirement.
Disney said he had run out of time, and a prior business engagement dictated
his return to the United States. Two years ago, his Reichel/Pugh-designed
sled finished in dying tradewinds, just two hours and three minutes short of
the mark, after maintaining a record-breaking pace for the first two-thirds
of the race. He promised to return for another attempt at the record in two
years time.
Sailed every two years to Montego Bay, Jamaica, the event is recognized as
one of the world's classic ocean races. The Pineapple Cup is awarded for the
best overall performance by a monohull, but the big boats were also chasing
an ocean racing record that has endured for 29 years. The record was set by
the Alan Gurney-designed 70-foot Windward Passage in 1971.
Fondly referred to as the 'Mobay', the Pineapple Cup race is run biennially
under the management of a joint race committee of the Storm Trysail Club,
the Montego Bay Yacht Club and the Jamaica Yachting Association.
Full final results are available on the web site at www.montegobayrace.com
together with scratch sheets and other background information. For
additional information contact Race Coordinator Felix Hunter, Montego Bay
Yacht Club, Tel: 876-979-8038, E-mail: mbyc@cwjamaica.com.
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