Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing - #54 Dragon hits the rock

by Julianna Barbieri on 25 May 2014 The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing started its third and final leg racing today with its Inshore Series in Narragansett Bay. Heading into today #54 – Dragon was tied for first with #106 – Gryphon Solo 2. #54 Dragon was leading the first race of the day en route to the first mark when they hit a rock just off Jamestown.

Emma Creighton, their bowman, was launched into the water, but was quickly retrieved. The team withdrew from the race and motored back to the Newport Shipyard to assess the damage. Upon pulling the boat out of the water they discovered major damage to the keel box and have withdrawn from the remainder of the inshore series.

Dragon skipper Rob Windsor: 'We went out yesterday and practiced our timed starts and felt really good about our boat handling skills. Today we were about 15 boat lengths ahead and the boat was super fast. We were getting ready to take the kite down and Emma went out on the end of the sprit to get the lazy spinnaker sheet so we could douse. As she went out and we hit a rock doing 12 knots.

We were about 15 feet inside of where we should have been. It was a mistake, it got made and that’s it. We were in the wrong place with not enough tide. The boat is badly damaged, the keel grid, the structure foundation that holds the keel into the boat is cracked and broken inside the boat and the faring all around the outside is broken as well. I’m disappointed, I’m really disappointed, we were doing very well and we are all very disappointed.'

The third and final leg of the Atlantic Cup started at 12:05 p.m. ET today with a northerly 14-16 knot breeze. After Dragon’s incident the remaining four teams battled over three races with #39 – Pleiad Racing winning two races and #116 – JeffreyMacFarlane.com winning the third. Heading into tomorrow one point separates #106 Gryphon Solo 2 from #116 Jeffrey MacFarlane.com. Racing starts at 11am tomorrow, with two currently scheduled.

JeffreyMacFarlane.com skipper Jeff MacFarlane: 'I’m really happy with our position, the crew is working great together and we had the boat going really fast. Looking at the forecast I think it favors us for tomorrow so we’re going to go out there and sail clean and fast and hopefully come away with the win!'

Combined Point Standings	Total Points	Place
#106 - Gryphon Solo 2 – USA (Joe Harris, Patrick O’Connor)	27	1
#116 - JeffreyMacFarlane.com – USA (Jeff MacFarlane, Jake Arcand)	26	2
#39 - Pleiad Racing – USA (Ed Cesare, Chad Corning)	23	3
#54 - Dragon – USA (Michael Hennessy, Rob Windsor)	16	4
#25 - Flatine – CAN (Kyle Hubley, Frederic de Mesel)	7	5

Points and Prize Money
Scoring for the 2014 Atlantic Cup will be based upon a 'High Point' scoring system. Each boat’s overall score will equal the total points earned in both offshore legs plus points earned from the inshore races. At the conclusion of the event, the boat with the total highest score will be declared the winner.

To determine the podium winners, the 'High Point' scoring system combines all three legs of the race into the boat’s overall score. The points for individual race scores are based upon the number of entrants (unless disqualified or retiring after finishing). The points for each leg are allotted as follows; first place will be awarded points equal to the number of entrants, second place points equal the number of entrants minus one, third place points equal the number of entrants minus two, fourth place points equal the number of entrants minus three, and so on.

For two the offshore legs, points awarded will be weighted by a factor of two. For each inshore series, points will be weighted by a factor of one. The inshore series will consist of a maximum of five races, should four or less inshore races be completed; all races will count toward the boat’s overall score. If five inshore series are completed, a boats overall score will consist of the four best inshore races. In the event of a score tie between two or more boats, the tie will be broken in favor of the boat with the most points earned amongst the two offshore legs.

The competitors have a chance to win prize money in all portions of the race. The $15,000 purse will be split between the three legs with $5,000 available per leg. The prize money for each leg will be divided as follows: first will receive $2,000, second, $1,500, third, $1,000 and fourth place receives $500.

 Overall Results:

Final Position	Leg	Leg	In Shore Races					Inshore Pts.	Total Pts.
Team	1	2	1	2	3	4	5	Points	Points
106 – Gryphon Solo 2	10	6	3	4	4				27
116 – JeffreyMacFarlane.com	4	10	4	5	3				26
39 – Pleiad	6	4	5	3	5				23
54 – Dragon	8	8	0	0	0				16
25 – Flatline	0	2	2	1	2				7