Maxis prepare for HSH Nordbank blue race

by Herb McCormick on 23 Jun 2007 With powerful westerly winds providing double-digit boat speeds and more than a little drama on the race course, the first week of action in the HSH Nordbank blue race has been fast-paced and unrelenting. And the racing promises to be even more exciting in week two, as the three maxi-yachts in the 3,600 nautical mile race from Newport to Hamburg, Germany, prepare to join the hunt in what is becoming an extremely eventful dash across the North Atlantic.

At the very front of the fleet, the duel is on between the Elliott 52, Outsider – with New Zealand yacht designer Greg Elliott one of nine crewmembers on Tilmar Hansen’s blazing 52-footer – and Irishman Gerard O’Rourke’s well-sailed Cookson 50, Chieftain. Ironically, Chieftain was over early on the June 16th start from Newport, but recovered quickly and, by virtue of its initial northerly heading, jaunted out to the early lead. But when powerful westerly winds up to 45-knots filled in as the week progressed, Outsider revelled in the heavy-air conditions and overtook the Irish 50-footer. Yesterday, Outsider was the first yacht to round Point Alpha – the waypoint signifying the southern limit of icebergs at 41N, 45W – followed soon after by Chieftain. The German 53-footer Bank von Bremen currently holds third place, followed closely by the American 50-footer, Snow Lion.

Reports from Chieftain, in particular, suggest that their experience thus far in the HSH Nordbank blue race has been anything but ordinary. The boat reports jibing uncontrollably in 40-knots of breeze; colliding with and crushing a very large ocean Sunfish; and narrowly missing a collision with a whale while sailing at some 20-knots. Thus far, Chieftain’s top speed has been an impressive 27.8 knots.

The heavy-weather sailing, augmented by huge seas generated by the powerful currents of the Gulf Stream, have provided extreme, challenging conditions for other boats in the fleet, as well. The Andrews 56, Norddeutsche Vermogen Hamburg, lost its stern pulpit when it was washed away by massive following seas. Huge waves swept a pair of sailors on the Swan 45, Iskareen, across the cockpit. And a pair of boats reported to race headquarters that they’d lost life buoys, carried away be gigantic rollers.

The major casualty thus far, however, was 41-year-old German sailor Kerstin Troeger, who suffered a severely broken angle when she was launched across the cockpit aboard Martin Friedrich’s Luffe 48, HSH Nordbank. Due to the severity of the injury, which will require immediate surgery, skipper Friedrich made the difficult decision to abandon the race, at least temporarily, to make for the nearest port, some 450-miles away in St. John’s, Newfoundland. HSH Nordbank hopes to make St. John’s in a little over two day’s time.

Meanwhile, in Newport, RI, the three boats yet to set sail in the 24-boat fleet are preparing to begin the race this Saturday at 2 p.m. local time in the waters of Narragansett Bay. The forecast calls for clear skies and northwest winds around 10-15 knots when the event’s largest boat – the Perini Navi 177-footer, Parsifal III – joins the 90-foot Rambler and the 80-foot Bon Bon in the HSH Nordbank blue race’s second and final start.

'We’re a bit jealous of the fleet out there,' said Rambler skipper Ken Read, who is launching his campaign for next year’s around-the-world race in the HSH Nordbank blue race across the Atlantic. 'We really want to be with them. But we’re going to catch those guys.' Read has set a bold goal for himself and his 19-man crew: an 11-day passage that will put them in Hamburg on the 4th of July.

It remains to be seen whether the winds and weather will cooperate. But if there’s one thing Read and the others can be certain of after one week of racing in the HSH Nordbank blue race: Action and adventure awaits just over the horizon.

www.hsh-nordbank-blue-race.com