Leg 1 Finish: Tales Sets New Course Record!

 

 

 #123 Tales II Wins First Leg in the Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing  

 

Tales II beats previous course record by 6 hours and 7 minutes!

#123 – Tales II skippered by Gonzalo Botín and Pablo Santurde, crossed the finish line first at 12:53:03 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 31, with an elapsed time of 72:48:03, to complete the 648 nautical mile first off-shore leg of the Atlantic Cup from Charleston, S.C. to Brooklyn, N.Y.! Spain’s #123 Tales II finished 1 hour 33 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of #145 Eärendil (74:21:43), followed by the all female team of  #118 Oakcliff Racing (74:52:05).

Tales II moved into the lead just before exiting the jetties in Charleston and they held their first place position throughout the race, going on to set the new course record for the first leg — but not without excitement! Low wind speeds and a relatively strong outgoing tide caused the top of the fleet to condense around the Varizano Bridge this morning. After spending some time anchored to avoid getting sucked back out into the ocean by the current, the wind filled in from the north and Tales was able to finish in the lead.

It was an exciting leg and the sailors are ready to get some rest before the week of activities here in New York before they set off for Portland this Saturday June 4th at 12pm.

Current Standings

Finish Time Elapsed Time Time Leg Leg
Team Start Time  Date Finished  H M S H:M:S Difference  Position  Points
Tales II 12:05:00 5/31/16 12 : 53 : 3 72:48:03 0:00:00 1 18
Earendil 12:05:00 5/31/16 14 : 26 : 43 74:21:43 1:33:40 2 16
Oakcliff 12:05:00 5/31/16 14 : 57 : 5 74:52:05 2:04:02 3 14
Amhas 12:05:00 5/31/16 16 : 59 : 34 76:54:34 4:06:31 4 12
Dragon 12:05:00 5/31/16 18 : 42 : 15 78:37:15 5:49:12 5 10
Talanta 12:05:00 5/31/16 19 : 3 : 57 78:58:57 6:10:54 6 8
Pleiad 12:05:00 5/31/16 : : 7 6
Privateer 12:05:00 5/31/16 : : 8 4

 

What the Sailors are Saying About Leg 1 and the Finish


Gonzalo Botín, Tales II Skipper
“The first night was quite tough…but the worst part was today getting from Sandy Hook [NJ] up here. Our top speed was 25 knots over the ground, we had four knots of current, but when we saw the numbers we said wow, we have like Volvo speeds. It’s a marvelous leg, I think it takes you from, well you are very lucky in the states, because you have the full North Atlantic so you have Hatteras, then the Gulf Stream, well you have everything, it’s incredible the change, because you get the Labrador current here and it starts getting cold and foggy, you know two days ago I was in shorts and then it gets cold. It’s a very interesting place. The course is great, I think the waters in which we sailed were magnificent from navigation to weather, I think it rates very high compared to other events.”
Catherine Pourre, Eärendil Skipper
“Yes, we are happy with our second place finish, but I think we could have done better so we will try next time. We did have some problems with our autopilot where we gybed and it broke the mainsail halyard. We were under speed of 16-19 knots then this happened and then we took half an hour to an hour for Antoine to go up [the mast] to replace the line and during this time were under solent so we were going 6-9 knots. So it took about 10 miles for this operation, it was a long operation and it cost us miles. It’s a nice course. The finish is a good place, except that when we got near there was a deep fog and we thought ‘Ah my God, it’s going to be like that up to New York so we’re not going to see anything!’ But a few miles before the entrance it all cleared and it was a great view”
Libby Greenhalgh, Oakcliff Racing
“It was pretty interesting starting the race having not sailed together or set any form of A-sail or kite. It was pretty windy we saw 25-30 knots most of the time. We toughed it out on our full main and our solent, but when we went to change it became very apparent to us we haven’t done this before and it takes us a stack load of time and very quickly we lost miles. I think that’s the biggest thing with double-handed sailing, it’s just tough and your just physically knackered.It’s amazing actually for a 40-foot yacht under that sail configuration, which once it picks up it really gets going, it doesn’t even feel like anything [top speed was 24.3 knots]. I think the course is fantastic, lot of opportunity, you’ve got the Gulf Stream to play with and sometimes that kicks up all sorts of weather. And we really had everything, so there were lots of opportunities to take, it wasn’t a go out follow race.”

Full interviews from the teams that have finished so far can be found on our Facebook page!

Sea Bags Maine AtCup Sail Drive

We are running a sail drive in coordination with Sea Bags Maine all this week where used sails will be recycled into bags and other products. A portion of the proceeds made from those bags will be donated to Warrior Sailing! Please consider bringing down any used sails to our office at One15 Marina at 12 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn anytime this week Tuesday-Friday from 8am-5pm to help support this great program!

Come See Us in Brooklyn!

DATE EVENT LOCATION TIME
May 31-June 1 Teams Arrive in Brooklyn One15 Marina TBD
May 31-June 4 Boats Docked One15 Marina All Day
June 1 Living on the Edge Thomson Reuters 6p-9p
June 2 New York Pro-Am Regatta NY Harbor 2p-5p
June 3 Kids Day One15 Marina All Day
June 4 Leg 2 Race Start Just off One15 Marina 12p

Follow us to stay up to date on all events for the Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing!

The 5th edition of the Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing will start May 28, 2016 in Charleston, South Carolina. Teams of two will race 648nm from Charleston to Brooklyn. After a brief stop-over in Brooklyn, teams will race a second leg of 350nm to Portland, Maine where the race will culminate the weekend of June 11th in Portland with the third a final leg, an inshore series.
The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing is committed to being the most environmentally responsible sailing race in the United States. Teams, participants and race management work together to create a fully carbon neutral event. As the race grows, we will continue to seek innovative ideas and products that align with our mission and produce a truly sustainable event.

 

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