2016 M32 Series - Bermuda's great sound beckons

by M32 Series on 29 Dec 2015 A fleet of six M32’s will kick off the 2016 M32 Series Bermuda from 8-10 January sailing on Bermuda’s ‘Great Sound’, the same race area chosen for the 35th America’s Cup in 2017. The inaugural M32 Series Bermuda will run from January to April with one event per month.

Organised by M32 North America in conjunction with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the fleet for the opening event will consist of private owners and professional teams including Volvo Ocean Race skipper Charlie Enright, and former Olympic sailor and Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Sally Barkow.

Barkow, who was recently awarded a Tour Card for the 2016 World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), is also taking the opportunity in Bermuda to prepare for the Tour Championship season starting in Fremantle, Australia in March.

'We are looking forward to racing the M32s in Bermuda this winter and are very fortunate to be supported by Chicago Match Race Centre for the use of an M32. Our international all-female team will be in Bermuda to gain as much experience as possible in the M32s as well as enjoying the current America’s Cup excitement in Bermuda and racing on the 'Great Sound'.'

Competing against Barkow is Newport based Volvo Ocean Race skipper, Charlie Enright. He and Mark Towill will be racing as their own team, 11th-hour Racing.

'After the Volvo Ocean Race, we have been looking for ways to keep some members of our team together and the M32 Series Bermuda is a natural fit: exciting racing, close to our east coast base, and on the M32 which is really taking off as an exciting class in the sport. We look forward to this new challenge and to pushing the other teams on the Great Sound!”

Completing the full line-up for the first event are private owners Mikkel Rossberg and Olli- Pekka from Denmark, Don Wilson from the United States and M32 Series founder Håkan Svensson from Sweden.

For the second race of the Series from 19-21 February, five-time match racing world champion Ian Williams will be joining the fleet with his new GAC Pindar branded M32. The Bermuda Series will provide valuable training time for Williams and his team with their the M32 in preparation for the opening event of the World Match Racing Tour in March;

“Team GAC Pindar are very much looking forward to sailing in the M32 Bermuda Series this winter. With the World Match Racing Tour transitioning into the M32 it will give us a great opportunity to hone our skills ready for the 2016 World Tour, besides which it will be great fun sailing the boats in Bermuda!”

To provide the easy launching of the fleet in Bermuda, the M32 team have been loaned the use of Darrell’s Island, a small island in the southeast of the Great Sound. Owned by the Bermuda Government, Darrell’s Island was formerly used as a flying boat station during the second world war for BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) In 1942, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously visited Bermuda on his return from Washington DC, landing briefly at Darrell’s Island before making the transatlantic journey to Great Britain.

M32 Series Bermuda 2016

• Event 1 - 8-10 January
• Event 2 - 19-21 February