2008 Newport Bermuda Race - Day 4
by Talbot Wilson 24 Jun 2008 08:58 BST
As George David was receiving his champagne for Line Honours in the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division from Commodore Ralph Richardson of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and Commodore Ross Sherbrooke of the CCA, he was asked, “Where’s Il Mostro?”. David laughed, pointed over his shoulder and said, “That way.” The Puma crew aboard Il Mostro is all too familiar with Rambler, having sailed her in numerous offshore races before Il Mostro, their latest generation of Volvo Ocean 70’s, which was christened on April 22nd.
Rumor has it that there was a friendly bet between Rambler and Il Mostro skippers about who would beat whom in the race. Ken Read, Il Mostro’s skipper is the usual race skipper aboard Rambler, first to finish of the two. Rambler crossed the Newport Bermuda finish line at 12:45:27 with an elapsed time of 69 hours 5 minutes and 27 seconds. The 90 footer was the first to finish in the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division, which includes professionally sailed boats with fixed keels. The St. David’s Lighthouse Division is for fixed keelboats with amateur helmsmen and a limited number of professional crew.
The Puma crew crossed the line at 14:03:24 with the chairman of Puma, Jochen Zeitz, at the helm. Il Mostro had a total elapsed time of 69 hours 33 minutes and 24 seconds and was the second boat to cross the line in the Open Division. This was Zeitz’s first race aboard the company’s namesake ocean racer. Zeitz teased Read and the rest of the crew throughout the race, saying that he had been told that they were tough sailors who could endure treacherous seas and weather, but spent most of their time on the beach". Said Read, “This was the most benign Bermuda Race that I have ever done but it was a perfect introduction for Zeitz.”
Puma's Il Mostro is designed to the Volvo Ocean 70 box rule and tricked out with a canting keel and daggerboards. Said skipper, Ken Read, “It’s a shame that there were no other boats like us and we created our own race between a boat that is twenty feet longer than we are [Speedboat]. We are thrilled to have finished within a day of Rambler. The race was a huge success. We needed to do a distance race and work on communications, sail changes, watch systems, diesel systems and everything else that goes into racing a boat around the world.”
Puma was rated with it's Volvo race sails and was raced fully set up in its Volvo Ocean Race configuration.
Australian entry Shockwave V takes St. David’s Lighthouse Division Line Honours (by Lynn Fitzpatrick)
Although Shockwave 5 was the fourth boat to cross the finish line, she took line honours in the St. David’s Lighthouse Division, the largest division in the regatta, representing 123 of the 198 yachts entered in the Newport Bermuda Race. Shockwave 5 arrived in Bermuda’s aquamarine waters well before sunset on Monday evening. The Bermuda High may have bewitched and befuddled racers, but it sure was nice to arrive ashore in such beautiful conditions.
Originally launched as Neville Crichton’s Shockwave in 2000, the Reichel/Pugh 80 was recently purchased by Australian Andrew Short. With the exception of two Americans, Peter Davis and Jan Majer, Short’s seventeen member crew is from Australia. Like many of the big boats arriving in Bermuda, Shockwave 5 will have a quick turnaround as she prepares for her return ‘Down Under’ via the Panama Canal so that she can participate in the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in late August.
Also finishing before sunset were Bella Mente, Hap Fauth’s Reichel Pugh 69; Roger and Farley Towses’ Reichel Pugh 66, Blue Yankee; Roger Sturgeon’s STP 65, Rosebud/ Team DTY and Moneypenny, a Reichel Pugh 65 owned by Jim Swartz. Not far behind this group is Dan Meyer’s Numbers and Norbert Plambeck’s all-German crewed Hexe, the former Boomerang, the Frers 80ft maxi that won line and handicap honours for George Coumantaros back in 1996.
The dance floor is cleared, the DJ is playing and the Dark ‘n Stormies are flowing.