It lasted almost 100 years to the day, and it fell today, Wednesday: the legendary sailing world record of the American Charlie Barr. He sailed across the pond in his schooner "Atlantic" in 1905 as part of a regatt from New York to England in a good twelve days.
On the tenth day of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, the 43-meter-long mega-yacht “Mari-ChIV” owned by Robert Miller (Hong Kong / New York) and his crew crossed the finish line at Lizard Point at the entrance to the English Canal at lunchtime. It has improved the old record by around two and a half days.
"This is my seventh Atlantic crossing and definitely my toughest," Robert Miller announced shortly before crossing the finish line. His further résumé: “We not only had to fight the wind for the first six days, which made life extremely difficult for us. After that we were constantly sailing to the limit, which meant a high risk for the boat and crew. At times I felt that the ghost of 1905 - Charlie Barr - looked down on us, delighted at our every effort. However, there was little time to ponder something like that. After all, we wanted to win a race. The competition also hit us - but in a pleasant way. 'Maximus' and we were close together for the whole race, sometimes only 15 to 20 nautical miles apart."
Although the "Mari-ChIV" is 40 feet (a good twelve meters) longer than the newly launched sloop "Maximus" by Charles Brown and Bill Buckley from New Zealand, for a long time it seemed as if the two boats were connected to one another as if by a rubber band. Last Sunday, the gigantic schooner regained leadership on the water for the first time after its considerable rig damage. According to navigator Jef d'Etiveaud, he ran on Tuesday afternoon in a 20-knot breeze from the southwest with a hull speed of 20 knots. “We're beating the boat forward. We know that the 'Maximus' and we are just as fast in these conditions,”he said.
While the "Mari-ChIV" and her crew can bask in the fame of having sailed the fastest race of all time from New York to The Lizard, the "Maximus" no longer seems to win the Grand Prix class after a corrected time to be taken. After all, the larger schooner of the smaller sloop has to pay 79 minutes for every 24 hours sailed. The distance at the finish should only be between 90 and 120 minutes.
A large part of the regatta fleet that is still underway, starting with the leaders, can currently look forward to pleasant south-westerly winds of 20 to 30 knots, which means much higher speeds than in the days before. In the match race of the two 170-foot yachts designed by Dubois in Performance Cruising Class 1, the slup “Tiara”, chartered by the Societé Nautique de Genève, defends its lead over the ketch “Drumbeat”. In the lead, however, is Chris Gongriepe's smaller schooner “Windrose”. The modern yacht in the classic Holland look runs a more southerly course than the Grand Prix Maxis.
About 450 nautical miles behind the 170-foot yachts on Tuesday, the 80-foot (24.4-meter) long "Tempest" chartered by Bugs Baer and William Hubbard III and drawn by Sparkman & Stephens was at the top of Cruising Performance Class 2. Theirs The crew enjoyed the fast ride across the Atlantic, reported Bear, meanwhile: “Regatta sailing in 30 knots of wind is exhausting. A spinnaker burst and it is being repaired and it should be back up soon. And we also had minor problems with our equipment. But there are no injuries, apart from strains or a few bruises. I think we will all arrive safe."
In the classic yachts category, A. Robert Towbins “Sumurum” was 140 nautical miles ahead of the “Nordwind” of the German owner Dr. Hans Albrecht.