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Shindig had a fast start from Marion and carried a record pace for the first 24 hours of the 2013 Marion Bermuda Race. At 68 feet, Shindig was turning the 15-20 knot winds into a 12-knot pace. She was about 400 nautical miles out and just West of the 164º rhumb line blasting on a broad reach toward the finish at St. David’s Lighthouse. From her 1315 start on Friday to the 1300 PM YellowBrick position report, Shindig had covered 250 miles give or take a few.
Shindig was the first boat to fly a spinnaker at the start. She was the fastest boat on the course by far leaving Buzzards Bay. They have a good shot at the line honors record for Marion to Bermuda, but that all depends on the winds South of the Gulf Stream and on the approach to the island.
Some weather models predict that a high pressure system will be centered around Bermuda on Sunday evening, some predict the wind will hold. The crew of cadets from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and the former owner, Arthur Burke of Dartmouth, and the MMA coach Chuck Fontaine and a handful of experienced crew will push hard. But winning an ocean race depends a lot on smart choices and some good luck in the mix.
At the 15:00 EDT YellowBrick position update, Shindig was 375 miles out from Bermuda and she had averaged 13.3 knots for the previous hour. She was leading in Class A as well as the race for pure line honors.
The next closest boat to Bermuda was the Class A Lady B, John Madden’s Swan 62 from Newport RI. She was 430 nm out. Kismet was 3rd 344 miles out while the biggest entry, Spirit of Bermuda, had fallen back to 8th just 7 miles behind Kismet. There are many boats knotted in a small space of the large ocean.
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