{"id":22873,"date":"2015-05-13T22:26:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T22:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/?p=22873"},"modified":"2015-05-13T22:45:41","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T22:45:41","slug":"little-boats-big-ocean-intense-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/2015\/05\/little-boats-big-ocean-intense-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Boats, Big Ocean, Intense Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"8067d3ef-cf57-40dd-8922-1a4e94f26990\"<\/a><\/span> Photos credits:\u00a0courtesy of Ed Cesare, Jen Edney\/2014\u00a0Atlantic Cup\u00a0and courtesy of Mike Dreese.<\/em><\/p>\n

The maxi yachts get all the attention in the marina. But on the racecourse for the\u00a0Transatlantic Race 2015, from Newport, R.I., to England, the most interesting battle could well be amongst the smallest boats in the fleet. The six Class 40 yachts entered in the race will compete as part of the IRC Division and as part of their own sub-class, where they\u2019ll race boat for boat across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cOne hundred percent of my focus will be on winning the Class 40 Division,\u201d says veteran Class 40 skipper Michael Hennessy (at right, foreground, during the 2014 Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing) who will race his boat\u00a0<\/span>Dragon<\/em>. \u201cThe box-rule boats are so closely matched, and the various skippers are formidable enough, that if you place well amongst the Class 40 boats then you are going to do well in the overall fleet.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Transatlantic Race 2015 will pit amateur and professional sailors against one of the most demanding racetracks in the world, the North Atlantic Ocean. The fleet will leave from Newport, R.I., in one of three staggered starts from June 28 to July 5, with the finishes, off the Lizard, expected in the middle of July.<\/span><\/span>In a typical big-boat regatta, 40-foot boats are among the larger boats in the fleet. For the 2,800-mile race from Newport, R.I., to the southwestern tip of England, however, 40 feet is the minimum length. Further adding to the challenge for these sailors is the fact that Class 40 boats are designed to race with a minimum number of people on board. At least four of the six boats will be sailing doublehanded, with just two sailors onboard. The others can sail with a maximum of six. A typical crew for a 40-foot boat competing in such a race would be 8 to 10 sailors.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Class 40 rule was designed with ocean racing in mind and has become quite popular in Europe, where single- and doublehanded sailing is a professional sport with a devout following. The class rules limit the overall length and width and sail area, mandate a minimum weight, and prohibit some pricier exotic materials. But within that framework, designers and sailors are free to roam and it\u2019s not unusual for Class 40 designs to look quite different from one another. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Despite these differences, the racing\u00a0is often\u00a0extremely close, even\u00a0over long distances.\u00a0In the Transatlantic Race 2011, two Class 40 yachts competed, one double handed, one fully-crewed, and\u00a0finished just 30 minutes apart.<\/span><\/span>\u201cClass camaraderie combined with stiff competition is one of the great things about the Class 40,\u201d says Ed Cesare, of Norwalk, Conn., who will be co-skippering\u00a0<\/span>Pleiad Racing<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>(main photo, sailing in New York Harbor).This summer, Cesare will be racing across the Atlantic for the fourth time. He\u2019s also done 13 Bermuda Races. \u201cDespite the intellectual and physical challenges of the sport\u2014or maybe because of them\u2014things get pretty simple 1,000 miles from land,\u201d he says. \u201c[Even non sailors] appreciate the passion we have for ocean racing and the fact that we respect the ocean and prepare as well as possible. I tell them ocean racing is risky. I also like to say that the ocean is really forgiving, until it\u2019s not.\u201dThe competition isn\u2019t likely to be even that kind. For the Class 40 yachts, the race could take two weeks, or longer. Winning is all about endurance.\u201cThe keys to success are physical and mental toughness,\u201d says Mike Dreese, of Boston, Mass.,\u00a0the co-skipper of\u00a0<\/span>Toothface 2<\/em>, \u201cteam cohesion, an ability to do the unpleasant at the right time, and being resourceful when the inevitable small disasters strike.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Michel Kleinjans (Antwerp, Belgium) is\u00a0a veteran of five transatlantic races and\u00a0was\u00a0more circumspect in his response when asked about what it will take to get his entry,\u00a0Visit Brussels,<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>to the finish in first place. \u201cKeep on pushing to the other side,\u201d he said. Sage advice for such a daunting undertaking.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Click\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for entry lists, photos, race information, and moreFollow on Facebook at\u00a0<\/span>www.facebook.com\/TransatlanticRace<\/a>.<\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos credits:\u00a0courtesy of Ed Cesare, Jen Edney\/2014\u00a0Atlantic Cup\u00a0and courtesy of Mike Dreese. The maxi yachts get all the attention in the marina. But on the racecourse for the\u00a0Transatlantic Race 2015, from Newport, R.I., to England, the most interesting battle could well be amongst the smallest boats in the fleet. The six Class 40 yachts entered in the race will compete as part of the IRC Division and as part of their own sub-class, where they\u2019ll race boat for boat across the Atlantic. \u00a0\u201cOne hundred percent of my focus will be on winning the Class 40 Division,\u201d says veteran Class 40 skipper Michael Hennessy (at right, foreground, during the 2014 Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing) who will race his boat\u00a0Dragon. \u201cThe box-rule boats are so closely matched, and the various skippers are formidable enough, that if you place well amongst the Class 40 boats then you are going to do well in the overall fleet.\u201d The Transatlantic Race 2015 will pit amateur and professional sailors against one of the most demanding racetracks in the world, the North Atlantic Ocean. The fleet will leave from Newport, R.I., in one of three staggered starts from June 28 to July 5, with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[412,514],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22873"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22883,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22873\/revisions\/22883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}