Atlantic Cup Leg 2 - Bashing along onboard GryphonSolo2

by Joe Harris on 21 May 2012 Atlantic Cup 2012, presented by 11th Hour Racing, second leg of the three stage race is under way. Joe Harris onboard GryphonSolo2 provides a progress update:

Welcome to leg two of the Atlantic Cup from New York to Newport. We are a bit less than half way back up the course to Montauk after going south to a turning mark off Barnegate Inlet on the Jersey shore (hello Snookie). The race has been a bit up and down for us thus far, as we had a good start but then sailed into a hole just before the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge and got a bit behind the leading pack. We compounded that deficit by choosing to stay off the Jersey coast, while the guys who went in close made out like bandits and had a nice angle to the mark. We rounded the mark around 11 last night and set off to the East on port tack, as the wind was from the Northeast and our course was precisely Northeast to Montauk... right on the kisser as they say. So we have been bashing along in 20 knots of wind with full water ballast but still a heel angle of about 30 degres and very lumpy seas, making it difficult to move around the boat. We hope to pull off another miraculous comeback like in leg one and will keep working our asses off until we get the gun off Fort Adams in Newport. I hope some of you are having a more relaxing Sunday morning having coffee and reading the Sunday times…; think of us in our wet foul weather gear getting bounced around out here and relish the heat and roof overhead. Sailing is good for making you appreciate the basic things in life.

Until later,
Joe Atlantic Cup Gryphonsolo2 website