The Atlantic Cup - Bodacious Dream captures second leg + Video

by Jeff Pomeroy on 22 May 2012 The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing completed its second and final leg of offshore racing with No. 118 Bodacious Dream, skippered by Dave Rearick and Matt Scharl, crossing the finish line first with an elapsed time of 38:06:34 on Monday, May 21, to complete the 231 nautical mile leg from New York Harbor to Newport, R.I.. The race, featuring an unprecedented international fleet of 14 Class 40s competing in the first carbon neutral sailing event ever held in the United States, saw Bodacious Dream beat out No. 115 Mare (38:39:41), followed by No. 101 Campagne De France (38:44:22) and No. 116 Icarus (39:04:33), with No. 30 Initiatives (39:36:00) finishing fifth.

The second leg of the Atlantic Cup set sail at 11:05 a.m. ET on Saturday, May 19th from New York Harbor en route to Newport Shipyard with international competitors from the USA, France, Great Britain and Germany. After starting in a light northerly, the teams raced the entire way down the Jersey Shore in short course fleet racing mode. After the turning mark, the boats that were patient and waited for the breeze to shift further east gained on the boats that went north towards Block Island. As a result, those choosing to round Block Island to the east saw that decision pay off. The last five miles to the finish were not without excitement as the tide was against the teams forcing them to tack their way to the finish with Bodacious Dream playing the shift perfectly en route to capturing the victory in the second leg.

Bodacious Dream skipper Dave Rearick: '(Co-skipper) Matt (Scharl) called some great tactics once again. I thought we were making a bee line for France and I kept asking when we were going to tack.'

Bodacious Dream skipper Matt Scharl: 'I knew a week ago we were going to go that far out. We wanted to go east until every boat tacked and then go one mile further.'

Asked if they were surprised to be doing this well in their first race with their new boat, Rearick added, 'We were hoping to be in the top five, so where we are right now is a real accomplishment. Matt told me a month ago, ‘Dave I’m going to leave you in first before I have to go to my sister’s wedding,’ so he knew.'

Results from the second leg of The 2012 Atlantic Cup: Time Point Finish
No. 118 Bodacious Dream – USA (Dave Rearick, Matt Scharl) 38:06:34 2 1st
No. 115 Mare – GER (Jörg Riechers, Charles Euvrete) 38:39:41 4 2nd
No. 101 Campagne De France – FRA (Halvard Mabire, Miranda Merron) 38:44:22 6 3rd
No. 116 Icarus Racing – USA (Tim Fetsch, Ben Poucher) 39:04:33 8 4th
No. 30 Initiatives – USA (Emma Creighton, Rob Windsor) 39:36:00 10 5th
No. 109 Talan-Bureau Veritas – FRA (Stephane Le Diraison, Jesse Naimark-Rowse) 39:44:04 12 6th
No. 106 Gryphon Solo 2 – USA (Joe Harris, Tristan Mougline) 39:58:16 14 7th
No. 73 Toothface – USA (Mike Dreese, Ken Luczynski) 39:59:25 16 8th
No. 105 Eole Generation – GDF SUEZ – FRA (Sebastien Rogues, Jeffrey McFarlane) 40:00:37 18 9th
No. 54 Dragon – USA (Michael Hennessy, Merf Owen) 40:08:47 20 10th
No. 113 Partouche – FRA (Christophe Coatnoan, Ari Sebag) 40:14:20 20 11th
No. 85 Groupe Picoty – FRA (Jacques Fournier, Jean Christophe 'JC' Caso) 40:34:44 20 12th
No. 20 Sevenstar Yacht Transport -FRA (Jean Edouard-Criquioche, Anna-Maria Renkin 40:46:13 20 13th
No. 17 Transport Cohérence – FRA (Benoît Jouandet, Jorge Madden) 41:32:19 20 14th
No. 90 40 Degrees – GBR (Hannah Jenner, Peter Harding) DNS N/A

Provisional combined point standings after first two legs of offshore competition - Total Points
No. 115 *Mare – GER (Jörg Riechers, Ryan Breymaier) 6
No. 118 Bodacious Dream – USA (Dave Rearick, Matt Scharl) 8
No. 101 Campagne De France – FRA (Halvard Mabire, Miranda Merron) 10
No. 106 Gryphon Solo 2 – USA (Joe Harris, Tristan Mougline) 22
No. 116 Icarus Racing – USA (Tim Fetsch, Ben Poucher) 26
No. 105 Eole Generation – GDF SUEZ – FRA (Sebastien Rogues, Jeffrey McFarlane) 28
No. 30 Initiatives – USA (Emma Creighton/Rob Windsor) 30
No. 109 *Talan-Bureau Veritas – FRA (Stephane Le Diraison, Jesse Naimark-Rowse) 32
No. 20 Sevenstar Yacht Transport -FRA (Jean Edouard-Criquioche, Anna-Maria Renkin 32
No. 54 Dragon – USA (Michael Hennessy, Merf Owen) 34
No. 17 Transport Cohérence – FRA (Benoît Jouandet, Jorge Madden) 36
No. 73 Toothface – USA (Mike Dreese, Ken Luczynski) 36
No. 85 Groupe Picoty – FRA (Jacques Fournier, Jean Christophe 'JC' Caso) 40
No. 113 Partouche – FRA (Christophe Coatnoan, Ari Sebag) 40
No. 90 **40 Degrees – GBR (Hannah Jenner, Peter Harding) 52

*Protest pending between Talan-Bureau Veritas and Mare which, in accordance with the Sailing Instructions, will be heard in Newport, R.I. on Tuesday, May 21, 2012.
**40 Degrees retired during Leg No. 1 after suffering a broken mast and did not start offshore leg 2.

Scoring System: Competitors are awarded points equivalent to double their finishing position in offshore legs, with a maximum of 20 points awarded for finishing. For the inshore races points are designated based on each boat's finishing position (first through 15th). The total of both offshore legs, combined with a boat's best four of five scheduled races in Newport's inshore series, will determine a boat's total score. The boat with the overall lowest point total will crowned the 2012 Atlantic Cup Champion.

This evening Newport’s Jane Pickens Theater will host the Atlantic Cup skippers for an evening on short-handed sailing in America. New York Times writer and co-skipper on Dragon, Chris Museler will host the event which starts at 6pm. Skippers will share their ocean racing experiences, discuss the pathways towards successful short-handed sailing careers. Race footage from the first two legs will be shown along with a preview of the upcoming inshore series.

The fleet will now dock in Newport Shipyard until the weekend when the 14 teams will compete in an exciting inshore series of races in Narragansett Bay on Saturday, May 26 and Sunday, May 27. Teams will use a crew of six for the five races held in Newport. Immediately following the inshore series the event will culminate at the Newport Shipyard with a Prize Giving Party to disperse the $30,000 purse, one of the largest in U.S. sailing.

About The 2012 Atlantic Cup: The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing is a dedicated professional Class 40 race held annually in the U.S. with a focus on running an environmentally responsible event. The 2012 edition of the Atlantic Cup starts Friday, May 11th in Charleston, South Carolina and will showcase the top Class 40 sailors in the world as they race a 642 nautical mile off-shore leg double-handed from Charleston around the infamous, Cape Hatteras then north to New York City. Once in New York there will be a brief stopover before competitors start the coastal leg of the race. The coastal leg will take competitors along the same course as the 2011 race: 231 nautical miles, south out of New York to a turning mark off the New Jersey coast before heading north to Newport. Once in Newport, competitors will race a two-day, inshore series with a crew of six. The combined overall winner of both stages will be the Atlantic Cup Champion. The prize purse will be $30,000, making it again one of the largest purses for sailing in the United States.