Atlantic Cup Inshore Series - Strong performance from GryphonSolo2

by Joe Harris on 29 May 2012 Atlantic Cup 2012, presented by 11th Hour Racing, final leg of the three stage race has drawn to a conclusion. Joe Harris onboard GryphonSolo2 provides a progress update:

It was another great day of racing in Newport today as we concluded the Atlantic Cup regatta, that began in Charleston three weeks ago, with a third place finish for Team GS2 in the overall final standings. Yeah!!!!! Unfortunately the margin of victory was closer than we would have liked, as we did not collectively bring our 'A' game to the race course today, and we ended up with two eighth place finishes, which was quite disappointing after our fourth, then third then second place showings yesterday. We just made a few mental mistakes and had a few gear problems and generally suffered in the light-air, upwind conditions that are not our favorite. However, we managed to cling to our third place position that we climbed into yesterday after lying fourth after the two offshore legs, and we were frankly thrilled to be on the podium. While we hoped to be playing offense and challenging Bodacious Dream for second place, instead we were playing defense and only narrowly held off challenges from Campagne de France and Initiatives. It was very close racing and the winning margins were narrow, which is how it's meant to be in Class 40.

It was great to see two American boats in the top three final standings of the Atlantic Cup as the field was filled with Europeans who have historically dominated Class 40. I am hopeful that this showing and having 15 boats compete on the US East coast at such a high level will galvanize Class 40 in North America and get more people to see the light on short-handed sailing in these totally cool boats.

So tonight we celebrate... champagne and caviar... well actually Pabst Blue Ribbon and burgers on the grill, but you get the idea, as Team GS2 rocked the house with a strong performance from a great boat and crew. Our inshore crew- John Jay Mouligne, Dylan Vogel, Phip Hallowell, Charlie Enright, Tristan Mouligne- could not have been a better group and that is the most fun of all.

We look forward to the next offshore adventure, which is not too far off in the form of the Newport-Bermuda race which starts June 15th. As always, we greatly appreciate all your support and great emails commenting on the action. Team GS2 is jumping on the Facebook and Twitter bandwagon, although I am not too familiar with all that (can you say dinosaur?), but will work with my team...

Thanks for Atlantic Cup Gryphonsolo2 website