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There are few things more engaging, or intense, to an offshore sailor—or to anyone who is stirred by the beauty and spectacle of a well-sailed fleet of yachts setting out to sea—than the start of a long ocean race. |
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It’s the culmination of weeks and months of planning and preparation. Sails have been tested, provisions stashed below, safety gear checked and re-checked. When the starting gun sounds, all the hard work and practice that’s led to that moment is instantly rewarded. Every sailor, on every boat, must then concentrate on one thing and one thing only: pushing themselves, and their boats, to the absolute limit, and to keep on doing so until the long miles are behind them and they’ve crossed the finish line, having left nothing on the race course.
This June, in the historic waters off Newport’s Fort Adams, a fresh group of ocean racers will gather to begin one of the more challenging events ever staged from the City by the Sea. The inaugural HSH Nordbank blue race will take its fleet on a 3,600-nautical mile voyage across the North Atlantic from Narragansett Bay to Hamburg, Germany. Prior to setting off, the racers, who will call Newport Shipyard home before setting forth on their epic journey, will enjoy a host of activities organized by the New York Yacht Club (NYYC). On the other side of “the Pond,” the sailors will be greeted in grand style at the Hamburg Yacht Club. Race organizers are expecting a truly international fleet of upwards of twenty-five yachts from seven nations, including Snow Lion, former NYYC commodore Larry Huntington’s well-sailed, long-range 50-footer. Other well-known boats from the world of Grand Prix racing include Assa Abloy, a veteran of the grueling round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), and Grey Goose, a Swan 82 skippered by German sailor Tobias Konig. The 58-foot Maiden is another yacht with a long-distance pedigree, having completed the Whitbread Round the World Race (the precursor to the VOR) with an all-female crew in the event’s 1989/90 edition. At press time, the largest yacht on the entry list was the 172-foot Parsifal III. The race is open to all monohull yachts over 40 feet holding an IRC certificate. Yachts with IMS ratings will also be included in an IMS Division, and race organizers may establish a Cruiser/Racer Division, as well. Principal race officer Alan Green from the Royal Ocean Racing Club in London will oversee two starts to the HSH Nordbank blue race, one on June 16 and a second on June 23. “We’ll send out the main fleet on the 16th of June,” said Green. “The extremely fast racers will be starting one week later to ensure close finishes for the entire fleet in Hamburg.” |
The HSH Nordbank blue race hopes to capitalize on the established success of the 2003 Transatlantic Race from Newport to Hamburg, which was also organized by the German Yachting Association Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) with the pre-race festivities also organized at Harbor Court by the NYYC. That first-ever USA-Germany race attracted 63 competitors. Many of the German entries are shipping their
boats to the starting line on cargo ships from Sevenstar Shipping.
Newport mariners will recall a similar float-on, float-off service
provided by Dockwise Yacht Transport when a fleet of local race
boats and 12-Meters participated in the America¹s Cup Jubilee
in Cowes, England, several years ago. For the blue race, U.S. sailors
who don¹t have the time
or interest in a return voyage across the Atlantic may opt to go
the Dockwise route. Either way, local boats that participate in the blue race may wish to continue on and compete in the famous Fastnet Race, which begins on August 12. And, of course, for those who want to make the event the first leg in a season of sailing, there’s always the option of embarking on a summer of coastal cruising in Europe followed by a return voyage to the Caribbean either separately on in an event like next winter’s ARC Rally from the Canary Islands, thus wrapping up a so-called Atlantic Circle. From the BOC Challenge to the biennial Newport-Bermuda Race to the HSH Nordbank blue race, Newporters have always been strong supporters, at sea and ashore, of some of the best ocean racing and sailing the world has to offer. Be sure to visit the sailors and their boats at the Newport Shipyard before they set sail, and plan to be on the water this June to bid them a fond farewell on what will surely be the adventure of a lifetime. For more information, photos and entry lists, visit: www.hsh-nordbank-blue-race.com or contact the event’s U.S. press officer, Herb McCormick, at herb@herbmccormick.com
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