Leg 1 of the 2018 Atlantic Cup underway
by Julianna Barbieri 27 May 2018 07:00 BST
26 May - 10 June 2018
2018 Atlantic Cup - Leg 1 © Julianna Barbieri
11 teams representing nine countries started the 2018 Atlantic Cup at 12:00 ET today in sunny skies and a southwest 15 knot breeze from the Charleston Maritime Center. The start cannon was fired off the Spirit of South Carolina with over 200 spectators looking on. Toothface 2 won the start, which was a beat to the first and only turning mark of the course. From the mark, it turned into a broad reach where Toothface 2 continued their lead. Coming out of the jetties teams bore away, changed into their Code 0s to blast reach towards the Gulf Stream. The next 12 hours will be very fast, powered up sailing, before skippers decide when to change into their downwind sails to make the run to Cape Hatteras. The major tactical decision is how much easting to put in to get to the Gulf Stream versus turning north and putting up the spinnaker and heading more directly towards Cape Hatteras.
Atlantic Cup Race Director, Hugh Piggin said, "Today was a great kick off to the 2018 Atlantic Cup. Given that it's a 600 plus mile race, the start was hotly contested, with no one was giving anything away on the line. The number of spectators both on land and on the water was terrific and I'm sure the teams loved the southern hospitality send off from the city of Charleston."
In the next 12-hours there are three options for the teams; those closest to the rhumb line led by the oldest boat in the fleet, First Light, are hedging that it's not worth the distance to go directly to the Gulf Stream given that there's plenty of wind where they are. There's a group in the middle that doesn't want to commit and there's a group going further east to the gulf stream led by the newest boat in the fleet, Eärendil.
Over the next 24 hours, the wind will stay fairly stable in the mid-teens east of the rhumb line, it's lighter to the west and continues to get lighter the further to the east teams go. The winds will build south of the fleet and try to move north, but it likely it won't catch up with the teams before they reach Cape Hatteras. For the teams moving east to the Gulf Stream, they are likely to see currents in excess of three knots in their favor once they get there. The decision on how quickly to enter the Gulf Stream will be made over the next few hours between the two crew members as they asses their position, their speed and analyze the wind forecast.
Among the sailors in the sixth edition of the Atlantic Cup include Fred Stammer, the 2013 Miami World Cup Champion in the 49er class and Collegiate All-American at Brown University; Mike Hennessey and Rob Windsor, the only sailors to have competed in every edition of the Atlantic Cup; Jose Caldas, an Angolan sailor who learned to sail after fleeing his native country for Brazil due to the Angolan civil war in 1986 and College of Charleston alumnus Tristan Mouligne.
Since its inception, the Atlantic Cup has been the U.S.' most environmentally responsible sailing race and is the first sports event in the U.S. to be ISO 20121 compliant. In addition, 1200+ school children are scheduled to visit the boats, meet the teams and learn about ocean health during the three stop-overs. More than 500 children participated in Atlantic Cup Kids day Wednesday at Charleston City Marina.
The 11 teams will continue en route 648 nautical miles to New York Harbor where the finish line will be just outside of Liberty State Park in New Jersey. After a brief stopover, the teams will then travel an additional 360 nautical miles to Portland, Maine for two days of inshore racing. With over 1,000nm of ocean racing, the Atlantic Cup is the longest offshore race in the Western Atlantic and is also the United States' only short-handed offshore race dedicated to the Class40.
While racing, tracking can be found at: atlanticcup.org or via the YBRaces app on the App Store.
The North Sails Atlantic Cup Expert will also provide analysis daily at what's happening on the course, which can be found at: www.atlanticcup.org/race#expert
Scoring System
Scoring for the 2018 Atlantic Cup will be based upon a "High Point" scoring system. Each boat's overall score will equal the total points earned in both offshore legs plus points earned from the inshore races. At the conclusion of the event, the boat with the total highest score will be declared the winner.
To determine the podium winners, the "High Point" scoring system combines all three legs of the race into the boat's overall score. The points for individual race scores are based upon the number of entrants (unless disqualified or retiring after finishing). The points for each leg are allotted as follows; 1st place will be awarded points equal to the number of entrants, 2nd place points equal the number of entrants minus 1, 3rd place points equal the number of entrants minus 2, 4th place points equal the number of entrants minus 3, and so on.
For two the offshore legs, points awarded will be weighted by a factor of 2. For each inshore series, points will be weighted by a factor of one. The inshore series will consist of a maximum of five races, should four or less inshore races be completed; all races will count toward the boat's overall score. If five inshore series are completed, a boats overall score will consist of the four best inshore races. In the event of a score tie between two or more boats, the tie will be broken in favor of the boat with the most points earned amongst the two offshore legs.