The 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge Begins

The 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge begins tomorrow, a very good topic to wrap up the week. This article in Sailing World by Tony Bessinger is a good read – in particular his quote from Carleton Mitchell’s book, “Passage East.” Before I read this and did research I didn't know much about Mitchell...his words are, as Bessinger notes, an inspiration. I wrote about the Transatlantic Challenge in April here and as you know, this is a race of immense historic significance. Bessinger will be reporting from the 130-foot S&S ketch Sariyah, sending daily reports to Sailing World. Sariyah is under charter to New York YC member Cortright Wetherill Jr. If you’re in New York City this weekend, at 9:00 AM a parade of sail begins down the Hudson River, past the Statue of Liberty, and out to a starting line that's roughly between Sandy Hook, N.J., and Ambrose Tower off New York Harbor. The first gun goes off at 2 p.m., and Class 1 starts at 2:10 p.m.. Class 2, Performance Cruising (Sariyah’s class) will start at 2:20 p.m., and Classes 3 and 4 will follow in 10 and 20 minutes, respectively. Fair winds and safe passage to all competitors. Have a great weekend!

"Racing a yacht across the North Atlantic is not entirely a technical feat nor even an adventure in the classic sense; but it is a great emotional and physical experience for those involved—moments of exhaustion and exultation, of cold fog and blazing sunshine, of hard driving and maddening drifting. And always watch after watch the routine of living and ship keeping goes on, day and night, with never a sense of monotony." - Carleton Mitchell