Antigua Bermuda Race
It was a long race. Three of the seven boats did not make the 8-day time limit for the 935-mile race, including Rock n’ Roll, who were 8 miles from the finish when the clock ran out in the longest offshore race in the Western Atlantic.
Despite that, it was a close race between the leader, Howie Hodgson’s Swan 75 True and Michael Hennessy’s scow bow Class40 Scowling Dragon, who were within 20 miles of each other through much of the race. Despite their vastly different waterline, the boats were almost equally rated under CSA. Michael said all they needed was a couple of hours of fast reaching, and they could have bridged the gap.
It was an unusual race weather-wise. The traditional strong tradewinds were missing at the start, with a light 10 knot breeze lasting through the first days of the race. The leading boats eventually moved through a front with 20-30 knot squalls and had good but moderate breeze through the finish. Those further behind got parked in very light air, missing the time limit.
So, line honours, the Warrior Trophy – first under IRC, and first under CSA went to True. Scowling Dragon followed, also winning the first double-handed boat.