The 753-mile Mustang Survival Annapolis to Bermuda Ocean Race kicked off June 7 with an 18-boat fleet that represented a diverse collection of sailboats between 30 and 156 feet in length. The challenging course offered both inshore and offshore racing, with the fleet navigating its way down the Chesapeake Bay before heading into the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The A2B is a technical race that involves navigational skill and a variety of abilities, and no matter the weather, always proves to be a challenge.
For the 2024 running, boats hit the line with beautiful breeze, blowing 12-15 knots off the Bay’s western shore as the fleet raced down toward the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Once out in open water, however, things got a bit squirrelly.
A Gulf Stream gale hit the fleet, bringing thunderstorms, gusts up to 54 knots (reported by Team Iris), and 15-foot swells into the mix along with a game of Frogger with cargo ships. Storms lasted through the night, but crews came through with the “All is well” in the early morning of June 9.
Line honors went to John Haiges and the crew of Verissimo, a J/160 out of Riverton Yacht Club in New Jersey. This is Haiges’ first attempt at the A2B, after a successful completion of the Annapolis to Newport last year.
“After doing the Annapolis to Newport last year, we decided to up the ante,” he says. The J/160 was originally raced out of Halifax, and won the Newport to Bermuda in the early aughts. Haiges boat the boat in 2010, and had been cruising the boat up and down the Eastern Seaboard since then. “We started just started casually racing her last year.”
After corrections, Verissimo fell to fifth place in the ORC 1 class. First overall in ORC 1 was awarded to Allegiant, the Annapolis-based J/42 owned by Albert Bossar and Maryline O’Shea.
One of the most exciting entrants this year was Pride of Baltimore II, helmed by Captain Jan C. Miles. While Pride led the fleet into the Atlantic, she had to retire early due to a crewmember’s medical needs. Pride, and all of her crewmembers, made it safely to Bermuda.
Remarkably, the entire fleet, in fact, made it to Bermuda, where Dark and Stormies were waiting for them on the dock. After a rough night, who could ask for anything more?
ORC 1
- Allegiant Albert Bossar and Maryline O’Shea
- Aurora Brett Mastropieri
- Bay Retriever Kevin Sherwood
- MaeLynn Rose George Vorwick
- Verissimo John Haiges
- Harmony Barry Salter
- Mr. Blue Sky Shelia and Tristan Keen
ORC Cruising
- Stormy Weather Mike Maholchic
- Leopolis Oskar Sandursky
- Caledonia Gordon Miller
PHRF
- Second Storm Adam Davis
- FuhGedAboutIt Stephen Weinstock
- Granuaile Matthew Kiely
- Bare Bones John Tis
- Widow Maker Russ Matijevich
- Revolution Douglas Ellmore, Sr.
CRCA – Cruiser
- Pride of Baltimore Jan Miles (RET)
Bagikan Berita Ini
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