( HERE ) is the tracker app for the race. Note the fleet is hunting for the best place to cross the gulf stream which to my eye is where it bends to the southeast. This year the bend isn’t that far from the rhumb line so they don’t have to sail far for favorable current.
If you don’t already have a favorite in the race, cheer for Touch of Grey. She’s in SDL6 and currently in 3rd place with a long way to go.
Turns out every day of this year’s race brought surprises.
Touch of Grey is approaching the finish for a likely 3rd place after an amazing recovery yesterday. The fleet was becalmed at the 150 mile circle and Touch of Grey dropping from 2nd to 6th. When the wind returned things look pretty dismal, but they slowly worked their way back through the fleet.
Congratulations to all the racers, particularly SDL6 division who all sailed with skill and perseverance in very frustrating conditions. Place and corrected times below… remember these guys have been racing for almost 4 days !
Hound 1st ------------- 2d 1h 39m 30s
Reindeer 2nd -------- 2d 2h 50m 50s
Touch of Grey 3rd - 2d 4h 37m 5s
Linda & I are flying down this afternoon for the party, and later this week I’ll help bring Touch of Grey home to CPYC.
Arrived at CPYC at about 6:30 AM this morning. Just shy of 4 days on the water ( we left Hamilton 9:00 AM on Sunday ). A respectable time given the extra miles sailed on both ends compared to racers. Full disclosure we did burn about 30 gallons diesel through calm spots.
Touch of Grey ( like several other boats ) was swept into what is likely to become the most contested ORR scoring controversy ever. ( LOOK HERE ) for details. There will be much more published about this in the coming weeks. The gist is that RC decided something was wrong with the correction factors used to score the race, without ANY complaints from the competitors proceeded to change correction factors AFTER publishing preliminary results. Definitely a mess. Touch of Grey was subsequently “uninvited” from the awards event. Bummer.
Every sail seems to impact me in some small way, but offshore sailing has a more profound impact. Looking back on the last 4 days on the water makes me thankful for the boat, it’s skipper, it’s crew, and most of all this spectacular world we share. It was a remarkable experience, that I would not hesitate to repeat if an opportunity presents itself.
The most surprising revelation is that I appreciate Soave and her Nonsuch design even more today than when I left Bermuda 4 days ago. The J121 is a spectacular boat, but to sailing it how it meant to sail is a lot of work. Touch of Grey’s sail locker is a third of the boat and it is open to the cabin to facilitate repacking sails. Everything inside the boat gets wet. In our 4 day passage we probably made 35-40 sail changes sailing the boat to her full capability. As the old guy aboard I was exempt from foredeck where all the really heavy lifting occurs, but I was still feeling perpetually tired after the first day.
I am doubly thankful for Soave and the Nonsuch design for allowing us to enjoy Long Island Sound and beyond as we age.
Happy to talk more about the passage and the kooky ORR controversy at the Rendezvous in Greenport. We brought back some nice rum, if there is any left we’ll bring some to share.
I hope anyone who can see the tall ships sailing thru the Long Island Sound to go to the 2026 extravaganza keeps a lookout tonight.
Well done Rob. Sorry about the kerfuffle about the rules. Like I always say. Whenever I make two ends meet somebody changes the middle
Brian
