Little has changed in the race for line honors on the 2nd full day of racing in the 2013 Marion Bermuda Race.
As of 4pm, the Yellowbrick tracking site reported that the closest boat to Bermuda was Shindig, Mass Maritime’s Andrews 68 that has led from the start. She was 161 nm out and doing 6.9 knots for the previous hour, well below the record pace she had carried for the first 48 hours. Shindig may finish Monday afternoon.
Shindig would have to finish before 11:13:45 Monday Bermuda Time to break the record. The furthest racer was Regulus, a Class C Hinckley SW 51CB, 357 miles North west of Bermuda. She is skippered by Emmett Harty from Stonington CT.
A high pressure expands from the West and the South of the original windy area. A ‘parking lot’ grows right in the middle of the last 100 miles of the course. Racers call it the “happy Valley. A boat would have to average over 9 knots to break the current record from Marion.
Boats behind Shindig are moving faster now compared to the leader, still carrying the pressure. On corrected time at this stage, two boats have moved ahead of Shindig in Class A. Alibi stands first and Lady B has moved up to 2rd. This trend should continue through Sunday evening until they, too, find their parking place.
Integrity, a Navy 44 skippered by Mario Avila of the USNA, leads Class B. Roust, a Sea Sprite 34 (the smallest boat in the fleet) leads Class C on corrected time. Roust’s Skipper is Ian Gumprecht from Oyster Bay NY. George Cubbon’s Alice Kay from Bermuda has moved up to 2nd in that class.
The second nearest boat to Bermuda was the Class A Lady B, John Madden’s Swan 62 from Newport RI. She was 214 nm out. Kismet was 3rd 253 miles out while the local Bermuda favorite, Spirit of Bermuda, had fallen back to 9th. On YellowBrick boats look like they are piled on top of each other. It is a close race with many more miles to go.
