Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race – Renegade first across finish line

by Julianna Barbieri on 8 Feb 2017 Tom Slade's Santa Cruz 52, Renegade, was first across the finish line in the PHRF division in the 33rd Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race. 29 minutes 47 seconds later the Class40, Amhas, skippered by Micah Davis crossed the line. And in a flurry of finishes, Dragon, White Rhino and Hermie Louise all crossed within 10 minutes and 16 seconds of each other.

The provisional PHRF standings show Leah and Gerald Harris' Little Harbor 78' Hermie Louise, in first place on corrected time.

Gerald Harris, Co-Owner Hermie Louise: “This was great. The boat does sail well on a reach, but we got a little lucky, a few wind shifts here and there, very tenacious on the sail trim and a lot of sleepless nights.

How often can you sail for hundreds of miles in sight of land, it’s just a special treat. A special shout out to the MoBay yacht club, the hospitality is legendary and that’s one of the reasons we’re here, look at all these great boats!'

Leah Harris, Co-Owner Hermie Louise: 'How often do you sail 800 miles and finish with two other boats in sight, that was amazing! This was a special time for us, we filled the boat with old friends. But, we have to give credit, we affectionately call [the boat] out fat bottomed girl, and she definitely sailed very well and we had a fabulous crew.'

Tom Slade, Owner, Renegade: “We’ve been racing together for a long time, this is Renegade’s sixth race, we’ve seen all kinds of conditions, some of which were pretty extreme…epic is a good word. This year’s race set up pretty well, when we looked at our competition we thought we would struggle a little bit because there were boats bigger and faster than us. But, we started and raced hard, stayed at it all the time, so when we got here, we found it looks like we’ve done ok! So, it’s a real testament to each of these guys that sail with us and them pushing a boat which is pretty capable of being pushed.

And so here we are! The race couldn’t have been better, it really was spectacular all the way along. It’s one of those rare things where you get to race through amazingly scenic islands, the weather is good, the wind is from the right direction, and you come to a spectacular place.'

Early this morning at six minutes after midnight, TP 52 Heartbreaker finished in third place in the IRC Division.

Bob Hughes, Owner TP52 Heartbreaker: 'This is a beautiful race course. Heading out of Miami it was very light and took a while to get going. And going around the Bahamas it was very tight reaching, the longer waterline boats were just faster than us so they got away a bit. But, then we started hitting the windward passage and we got the kite up and were really ripping. We were hoping that we’d be able to carry that the last hundred miles past Cuba and here, but the wind lightened up on us and they [Prospector and Wizard] never got that. But, the guys sailed the boat hard, the scenery was beautiful, everything from the dolphins to the stars in the sky and the beautiful warm water and you can’t beat the welcome. It’s a great race, the conditions just didn’t play to our strengths. that’s the way it goes with boat racing, but you can’t beat the destination!'