#115 Mare Wins First Leg of 2012 Atlantic Cup

#115 Mare wins First Leg, Charleston, SC to New York Harbor, of The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour RacingFleet to dock in NY Harbor until Pro-Am on May 18, followed by Final Leg to Newport, RI on May 19 and In-shore Series, May 26-27 CHARLESTON, S.C. – With an unprecedented international fleet of 15 Class 40s competing in The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing #115 Mare, skippered by Jörg Riechers and Ryan Breymaier, crossed the finish line first at 1:20:13 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 15, with an elapsed time of 78:55:13 to complete the 642 nautical mile first off-shore leg of the Atlantic Cup from Charleston, S.C. to New York Harbor. The race, the first carbon neutral sailing event in the United States, saw Germany’s Mare finish ahead of #101 Campagne de France (79:16:38), followed by two American boats in #Bodacious Dream (79:51:56) and Gryphon Solo 2 (80:48:05), with France’s Eole Generation – GDZ Suez (81:50:45) rounding out the top five. The race began at 6:25 p.m. on Friday, May 11th from Charleston Marina with international competitors from the USA, France, Great Britain and Germany competing extremely closely for the three-day, first leg. The teams left Charleston harbor with #116 Icarus jumping out in front of the fleet with the best start. Shortly after the start #90 40 Degrees’ cap shroud failed leading to their dismasting and retirement from the first leg of the race. Boats were mostly in sight of each other until they rounded Cape Hatteras, where the fleet split into two groups. One group opted to go towards the shore where the wind was forecasted to be stronger and the other half opted to sail further east into the gulfstream to take advantage of the three knot push. Forecast winds didn’t eventuate for the group headed for the shore allowing the group in the gulfstream to establish and extend the lead over the inshore path. “It couldn’t get any better, really. So first place and the second win in the second race for the boat, which is pretty cool and I think we had a really really good race, “said Mare skipper Jörg Riechers. “We tried to make a plan long before the start and stick to it, and I think that helps when you don’t let other people in on what you’re going to do,” said Mare skipper Ryan Breymaier. “The weather conditions might change a little bit, but as long as you sort of stick with the plan you know is right from the beginning, it’s all going to work out in the long run.” Video of the first teams to finish can be found here: http://youtu.be/OprFebq2bhE, with comprehensive results available here: http://atlanticcup.org/race/results/ PROVISIONAL RESULTS FROM THE FIRST LEG OF THE 2012 ATLANTIC CUP: ElapsedStarting Time:Finish TimeTimeTimeLegLegTeamHMSDHMSH:M:SDifferencePositionPoints115 – Mare*18:25:03:1:20:1378:55:130:00:0012101 – Campagne de France18:25:03:1:41:3879:16:380:21:2524118 – Bodacious Dream18:25:03:2:16:5679:51:560:56:4336106 – Gryphon Solo 218:25:03:3:13:580:48:051:52:5248105 – Eole Generation GDF Suez18:25:03:4:15:4581:50:452:55:3251020 – Sevenstar Yacht Transport18:25:03:4:19:5681:54:562:59:4361254 – Dragon18:25:03:4:42:5582:17:553:22:4271417 – Transport Coherence18:25:03:5:11:1082:46:103:50:57816116 – Icarus18:25:03:5:15:2882:50:283:55:1591830 – Initiatives18:25:03:5:18:5282:53:523:58:391020109 – Talan Bureau Veritas*18:25:03:6:44:2084:19:205:24:07112085 – Groupe Picoty18:25:03:6:55:2684:30:265:35:131220113 – Partouche18:25:03:7:28:3285:03:326:08:19132073 Toothface18:25:03:12: 03:2389:38:2310:43:10142090 40 Degrees**18:25:0-:-:-:-DNFDNF22 *Protest pending between Talan-Bureau Veritas and Mare. In accordance with the Sailing Instructions, the protest will be heard in Newport, R.I. following the conclusion of Leg #2. **40 Degrees retired after suffering a broken mast. SCORING SYSTEM Competitors are awarded points equivalent to double their finishing position in offshore legs, with a maximum of 20 points awarded for finishing. For the inshore races points are designated based on each boat's finishing position (first through 15th). The total of both offshore legs, combined with a boat's best four of five scheduled races in Newport's inshore series, will determine a boat's total score. The boat with the overall lowest point total will crowned the 2012 Atlantic Cup Champion. The fleet will now dock in New York Harbor until Friday’s Pro-Am event (Noon – 4 p.m.), featuring former NLF MVP Boomer Esiason, before departing on Saturday at 11 a.m. for the second offshore leg of the competition from New York Harbor to Newport, R.I. (231 nautical miles). The event will culminate May 26 & 27, with an inshore series in Newport. Teams will use a crew of six for the five races held in Newport.