Bermuda International Invitational Race Week gets underway on April 27th and will continue until the evening of May 3rd with prize giving.
The IOD’s racing class will consist of 13 races in the Great Sound. This year there will be 13 participants, 11 from overseas and 2 from Bermuda. Geographically, the participants are from the United States, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden and Bermuda.
The Regatta will be hotly contested as usual, as two – time past IOD world champions and defending Bermuda Race Week winners John Burnham and co-skipper Peter Rugg from Fisher’s Island headline the list of competitors. Not to be taken lightly, the field will have four other past Bermuda Race Week winners in addition to the Burnham-Rugg duo. The most recent race week winner is past champion from Newport Dan Faria who is keen to get another victory. Giles Peckham who represents the Daring fleet from Cowes, England won the Vrengen trophy four years ago and is anxious to get a win for the Cowes based team. Perennial competitor Jan Petter Roed from Norway rounds out the former winners. He is looking to regain the magic that won him the event some time ago.
There will be four other experienced and quality veterans in the event. From the San Francisco IOD fleet is Paul Manning who is returning after an absence of a couple of years. If the wind blows he could do very well. Bermuda’s 2012 overall series champion Patrick Cooper will be headlining the hopes of the Bermuda fleet. With his experienced crew and knowledge of the Great Sound he could take home the Vrengen Cup. Tom Fremont-Smith from North East Harbour, Maine is returning to Bermuda in hopes of taking home the trophy. He has done well here in the past. The final veteran in the group is John Bingham from St. Mawes England. He has consistently improved his position in the standings every year and is now looking for a breakthrough.
There will be five new competitors this year sailing in Bermuda. New blood is always good for the regatta. Representing Nantucket is Pierre Crosby. This will be his first time sailing in Bermuda and he is looking forward to the experience. George Cubban from Bermuda is very familiar with sailing here as part of the local IOD fleet. He is keen to test his skills against the foreign competitors. Although John Negro from Marblehead is new to Bermuda Race Week he will have a veteran crew which will be invaluable in guiding him around the Great Sound during the competition. Our final two new boys are from Scandinavia. Ludvig Daae from Norway and Bjorn Wahistrom from Sweden round out the competitors and will be keen to do well in their initial Bermuda Race Week.
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