Atlantic Cup - Flatline racing out of first leg start

by Julianna Barbieri on 10 May 2014 In an unfortunate case of setbacks over the last three months, Flatline skippered by Kyle Hubley and Frederic de Mesel, will not make the start of the Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing in Charleston, SC, but will join the fleet in New York City. Kyle has been single-handedly rebuilding Flatline for the past year in an effort to race in the 2014 Atlantic Cup.

Issues arose fitting new equipment for the mast in April, which delayed the team by over a week to depart Newport in advance of the start. After leaving Newport Harbor on Monday this week, the team was pleased with the boat’s performance, however just off Cape Hatteras they discovered issues with the rig that needed immediate attention. The team will stop in Beaufort, North Carolina to make the necessary repairs before turning north to join the fleet in New York City.

Kyle Hubley, Skipper Flatline Racing: 'I’m completely disappointed, this is very frustrating. Where we’ve come in the last few weeks it feels like we’ve already finished a Vendee Globe, this is leg 13 for us, so to not make the start is very tough. The boat is performing great, not really having any major issues, so at this stage we want to make the necessary adjustments and get to New York so we can finish cleanly.'

Flatline will be scored as DNS (did not start) and be given zero points for the first leg. The first leg represents one third of the scoring for the overall Atlantic Cup so Flatline is still in contention once they join the fleet.

The four remaining teams will start tomorrow at 12pm eastern in Charleston to race en route to New York Harbor. Models are showing an estimated arrival time of sometime early Tuesday morning, May 13. The second leg of the competition departs on May 17 at 12 p.m. The annual event culminates in Newport, R.I. with two days of Inshore racing (May 25 – Atlantic Cup website