BERMUDA BOUND - Jamestown Press - Jamestown Press

Patricia Young’s Swan 42 Entropy (sail 4235), above, sails to a third-place finish during the 2021 Queens Cup on Narragansett Bay. Young, a Jamestown resident, will set sail Friday from Castle Hill for the Newport Bermuda Race. Two Maxi72 yachts, Proteus and Vesper, below, race Sunday during the New York Yacht Club’s 168th Annual Regatta. Proteus (sail 60722) will join Entropy for the 635-nautical-mile race. PHOTOS BY DANIEL FORSTER

The second most prolific fleet in the history of the Newport Bermuda Race will depart Friday from Narragansett Bay for the 635-nautical-mile Thrash to the Onion Patch.

“We’re extremely pleased with the turnout for the 52nd Newport Bermuda Race,” said Somers Kempe, chairman of the biennial race. “The Bermuda race has been beset in the past by world wars and now the pandemic, but it remains a proving ground for offshore sailors who wish to test their crew organization, navigational skills and seamanship.”

A fleet of 191 yachts are scheduled to exit the East Passage into the open Atlantic Ocean starting at 1 p.m. Friday for the race that traverses the Gulf Stream en route to St. David’s Head. Groups of boats will subsequently sail past Castle Hill every 10 minutes until about 4 p.m.

The local boats sailing in the race to Bermuda include John Gowell’s Temptress, a Taylor 41. Gowell was chairman of the 2020 edition that was canceled due to the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic.

“Very tough decision,” he said. “A week or so later, the Olympics were canceled, so I think we were ahead of the curve on that.”

Gowell serves as vice commodore of the Cruising Club of America, which has organized the event with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club since 1924. His crew for the race includes his son, Matt, and his daughter, Emily, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Mark Sertl, with his son, Nicholas, also be crewing for Gowell during the race. He said his best memory was “helming and setting the boat speed record for the race on a warm, windy, moonlit night,” and his biggest accomplishment was crewing Tempress to a runner-up finish in its class.

As for the upcoming race, Sertl is looking forward to leaving the mooring at Conanicut Yacht Club, and arriving at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for a Dark ‘n’ Stormy.

Fellow Jamestown residents who will be at the starting line are Andrew and Julie Kallfelz. The couple, which won their class in 2008, also are participating in their seventh edition like Gowell. They will sail Safir, an Arcona 460, and Julie said she is looking forward to “shoving off from land, going to sea, and thinking about nothing other than working as a team to sail the boat as fast as we can.”

Jamestown’s Patricia Young and Paul Hamilton will sail their Swan 42, Entropy, in the race. Young is no stranger to openocean sailing, and her resume includes chairwoman of the 2019 Transatlantic Race, a 2,960-nautical mile crossing from Newport to Cowes, England Newport.

Prospector, a custom Mills 68 that is co-owned by Jamestown resident David Siwicki, will set sail against Entropy in the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division, which also includes two Volvo 70s and the Maxi72 Proteus.

Unfortunately for Siwicki, however, he will miss his third consecutive Newport Bermuda Race because of health issues. The retired doctor has done seven previous editions on four different boats, but never on Prospector.

“It saddens me to even think about it,” he said.

Aside from missing the ’20 edition due to COVID-19, Siwicki skipped the 2018 race because his team was on the West Coast for the Pacific Cup. Despite his absence, Jamestown will be represented on Prospector by Tery Glackin, the boat’s captain.

Other sailors with local connections include Adrian van der Wal onboard Rikki, a custom Reichel/ Pugh 42, and Newport resident Mary Martin. A member of the Jamestown Yacht Club, she will co-skipper the J/122 Alliance with Eric Irwin, of Mystic, Conn.

Although not from Jamestown, another big name for local sailing fans is Charlie Enright, who will helm Malama during the race. Under the direction of 11th Hour Racing, Malama is an IMOCA 60 that will circumnavigate the globe during The Ocean Race that departs Spain in January 2023. This will be Enright’s fourth entry into the Bermuda race, including a win in the open division onboard the 90-footer Genuine Risk in 2010.

“With so many boats on the start line, and the fanfare at Castle Hill, you feel like you’re in the Kentucky Derby,” he said. “There’s a huge buzz around the start, and everyone in town gets behind it as a sign of the start of summer. The backdrop is spectacular, and starting or finishing any race in Newport is always special. We can’t wait to get going.”

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