Annapolis to Bermuda Race Starts at 1100 Today

[thomm225]

Navy 44 Mk II Tenacious (at 30,000 lbs displacement) still hanging on to slim boat for boat lead over 6-8 faster, newer design offshore "Sled" style racing boats.

Navy 44 MK II Gallant not far behind and in second place PHRF.

The Pogo 12.4 displaces about 12,000 lbs with 41 LWL while the Navy 44's have a 36.75 LWL.

[thomm225]

Quick note.

Some of the leaders in the race are sailing through the anchored tankers just off Cape Charles.

I've don it a few times with no other sailboats close but these guys are going through almost in a group.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais...y:37.3/zoom:10

[Scrimshaw4]

The National Hurricane Center has just forecasted Tropical Storm Alex's track to show it heading for Bermuda with high winds according to the AP. This could cause a major problem in the Gulf Stream as the NW quadrant will drive strong NE winds into the stream where they have to cross.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Scrimshaw4

The National Hurricane Center has just forecasted Tropical Storm Alex's track to show it heading for Bermuda with high winds according to the AP. This could cause a major problem in the Gulf Stream as the NW quadrant will drive strong NE winds into the stream where they have to cross.

It might be interesting to see if the boats get close enough to the storm to use it in their favor if they can separate themselves from the fleet a bit.

It all depends on timing and how fast the storm is moving.....

[Montanan]

Tropical Storm Alex, the first named storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, formed off the southeast coast early Sunday and appeared headed toward the small island of 64,000 residents after turning deadly in Cuba.

Alex is forecast to pass near or just north of Bermuda on Monday and tropical storm conditions are expected on the island late Sunday and Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

National Hurricane Center forecasters said at 5 p.m. that Alex's maximum sustained winds were near 65 mph and the storm was centered about 395 miles west of Bermuda. It was moving quickly to the east-northeast at 28 mph and little change in strength was expected overnight.

Forecasters said it could bring 2 to 3 inches of rain across Bermuda late Sunday and Monday.

[Snore]

This has the potential to be a real mess! Gusts to over 30 out of the north contrary to the GS….

[thomm225]

The fleet is hanging tough though. (only 4-5 boats have dropped out)

The Pogo 50 crew finally has that boat doing what it is capable of. It's rolling along right now at about 10.5 knots and has covered 184 miles in the last 24 hours. Navy 44 Tenacious still hanging on to second boat for boat has covered 155 miles.

All the crews have probably been making small adjustments in their rigs, steering, weight distribution, etc. for any bit of an increase in speed.

There are about 15 boats that are just in lockstep and among them are all four Navy 44's.

That must be an awesome sight for those folks on the boats to be sailing within sight of each other for all these hours and now probably in some pretty rough seas.

I sailed earlier today and the North wind was doing it's thing by switching around constantly and never coming from the same exact location but moving N-NNE-NE etc

Point is those crews are working hard out there I'm thinking

[thomm225]

The three lead boats (boat for boat) Max (Pogo 50), Tenacious (Navy 44). and Harmony (Pogo 12.5) are rolling at 10 knots are better as of last update at 1:30 am Eastern Time.

The two Pogo boats have SA/Disp at above 35% while the Navy 44 is more sailboat standard at 16.82% which means it's quite impressive that boat is up that far in the fleet and still clinging to second place boat for boat (leading in PHRF)

Both Pogo boats have LWL's of 40' or better with displacement under 20,000 lbs. The Pogo 50's LWL is almost 50'. Capsize Screen Formulas for both is over 2.50

The Navy 44 Mk II's have a LWL of 36.75' and displacement of 30,400. Capsize Screening Formula a very respectable 1.62.

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/pogo-50

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/navy-44-mk-ii

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/pogo-125

[GordMay]

TROPICAL STORM ALEX
Advisory #015, 5:00 am AST, Mon Jun 06, 2022 ➥ https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/gra...track#contents
Discussion ➥ https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refres.../060855.shtml?

[thomm225]

Navy 44 Integrity appeared to heave too for an hour or so last night.

I'm thinking something broke apart on the boat that had to be repaired before continuing.

That boat was facing back toward shore and moving at about 2 knots. Not sure if they will give details on that or not.

The Tartan 34C also was stopped in the Bay for a while not moving much. He appears to be crossing the Chesapeake (Northern) Channel Tunnel now headed out to sea. He has his AIS Transponder on as do many of the others in the main body of the Fleet.

Sailboats Pursuit, Bad Cat, Max, Jane Says etc are still displaying details from offshore so I guess they have a satellite link onboard.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais...y:36.8/zoom:10

The Schooner Pride Of Baltimore (129 tons displacement) got a late start and is coming down the Bay now. (moving at 7.2 knots)

[thomm225]

Looks like quite a few of the skippers are older.

The Tartan 34C Iris Skipper is female.

Special note about the Tartan female skipper, Hattie Warwick-Smith....She was a former beach cat sailor!

https://www.capegazette.com/article/...-racing/222102

So it appears you have folks from their mid 20's on up and all the crew members on the academy boats are not young

https://www.capegazette.com/article/...da-race/240633

[Sailor Sailor]

Here is the racetracker: https://www.bermudaoceanrace.com/

It is nice to see the J/111 and J/124 holding their own with the top of the fleet over the stock Euro boats (Beneteau, Dehler, Jeanneau)...the J/111 is first in CRCA-A and J/124 is second in doublehanded, third in line honors...only the Pogo 50 seems to be significantly faster than the rest of the fleet...

[Sailor Sailor]

Wind should back as Alex moves NE, so the planing boats will soon take off, leaving the heavier boats behind. The sprit boats should have an advantage off the wind with large asymmetricals. I imagine they are all rolling quite a bit now. Must be very uncomfortable...

[Bill O]

"Must be very uncomfortable" would be an gross understatement. While the wind is abeam, the current race line is in the wave squash zone.

Don't think I'd want to be out there just for "fun".

The P of B may have the timing right and miss most of the heavy wave action.

[Sailor Sailor]

P of B II already dropped out...