Sailors awarded for tough and slow Charleston to Bermuda
by Meaghan Van Liew on 23 May 2005
Midnight Rider at the start Debra Gingrich
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club knows how to throw a good party, and sailors in the Charleston to Bermuda Race will attest to that this morning. Last night sailors, spouses, sponsors and dignitaries gathered to celebrate the completion of the 2005 C2B event. Bermuda’s Minister of Tourism, The Honorable Dr. Ewart Brown joined U.S. Congressman Henry Brown to commend the sailors and promote the future of the race.
Midnight Rider, the Santa Cruz 70 owned by Hank Hofford and Susan Ford, took home more trophies than they could carry. Their hard working and focused crew of fifteen was rewarded with First to Finish, First in Spinnaker Class and First Overall. Watch Captains Jeffrey Wargo and Teddy Turner were asked to receive the First Overall trophy, an impressive large silver cup standing tall above a leather wrapped stand, designed and constructed for the event by sponsor Bauer International. Charles Gosling complimented the grand trophy by presenting the sailors with a special bottle of Gosling’s Old Rum.
Bermuda sailors graced the stage as well when Richard Hartley and his crew aboard Alice Kay won 2nd Place in the Spinnaker Class.
'We were pushing hard to win,' said Hartley. 'Jody Walker and the rest of our crew had every sail out of the locker.'
Bermuda was watching Hartley, marking the first Bermuda entry in the C2B event. As Hartley and his crew tacked up the south shore of Bermuda, dozens of calls came in to race organizers and finally they were greeted on the dock with a healthy crowd of spectators, family and friends.
Other trophy winners included Zippity Do Dah, an Island Packet 40, taking 2nd overall and Weed, a Bristol 40, taking 3rd overall. The early end to the C2B Race tended to favor the highest rated vessels. On Wednesday, May 18 the race implemented an unusual rule (11.2 in sailing instructions) which allowed the race to be completed early if weather inhibited boats from finishing the race under sail in a reasonable amount of time. Positions were marked at 20:00 EDT via GPS tracking devices onboard each vessel and the Race Committee calculated the distance traveled and corrected time.
Other strong performers in the race included Crescendo, a Swan 44 captained by Australian James Wilmot, and Kintaro, a C&C 44 captained by Kevin Hogan, which completed the course under sail even after motoring was permitted.
The next C2B Race will take place in 2007.
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