I have just concluded racing in four events on the East Coast of the US in June and July, mainly in the Newport, RI area. My first two events were on the TP52 SPOOKIE, doing the Leukemia Cup and the NYYC Annual Regatta in Newport in June. We finished a close second in both of them. And by close I mean a couple seconds after 2 hours of racing in the Leukemia Cup to a smaller boat that we owed time on handicap, and in the NYYC Annual Regatta, in the final race of the series, on the final leg to the finish, we had to avoid a boat in distress and our opponent got past us to win the race, and the series by one point. That’s racing folks!
My next event was to be the Newport to Bermuda Race on the SPOOKIE, but the crew of our boat (and our entire class of grand prix race boats) all decided to cancel at the last moment due to a forecast of near hurricane conditions that were predicted to hit us as we crossed the Gulf Stream. A few unhappy owners who had committed to the costs and hotel rooms, but sorry, matters of safety and lives far out-weigh those of cost in my book.
I was then presented with an opportunity to join the TP52 PHOENIX team being led by Paul Cayard, with whom I have raced with many times over the years, and I decided to accept and thus start up with a new team. We did the NYYC Race Week in mid July and finished a respectable 3rd. Two weeks later we raced at the Edgartown Race Weekend in Martha’s Vineyard and the team came together nicely to score a 3rd, 1st, and 2nd in the three event series.
The PHOENIX team has now decided to jump over to Europe and join the big boys in the TP52 Super Series for the final two events of the 2016 season. First up will be the TP52 World Championships in Menorca Spain in September, followed by the Cascais Cup in Portugal in October. So some very exciting racing ahead for us in what I consider to be the hottest class of boats and the greatest concentration of talent racing these days.
Next up for me on my race schedule is a training session on the 140-foot J Boat TOPAZ. This is the latest launch in a growing fleet of these mighty J boats from the early 1900’s America’s Cups that owners are now restoring or building new to the original designs. There are scheduled to be eight of these majestic yachts on the starting line next year for a series of races that will include a showdown in Bermuda before the America’s Cup and then a World Championship in Newport. It should be incredible.
Following this training session in late August I head straight to Sardinia, Italy for the Rolex Maxi Regatta to race with an Australian team on a new Southern Wind 82. Exciting and fun times. All de best, peter