First Light Retires from The Atlantic Cup Leg 2

by Julianna Barbieri 4 Jun 2018 17:25 NZST 26 May - 10 June 2018

#37 - First Light Retires from Leg 2 - 2018 Atlantic Cup © Billy Black / Atlantic Cup

At 16h40 Skipper Sam Fitzgerald of #37 First Light made contact with Hugh Piggin, Atlantic Cup Race Director to inform Race Management that it was their intention to retire from the second offshore leg.

Fitzgerald said, "Unfortunately due to significant delimitation to our main sail and further damage to both our solent and staysail my co-skipper Ashley Perrin and I have made the decision to head for Newport, Rhode Island prior to evaluating our options to see whether continuing to Portland, Maine and the inshore series is an option. We are all disappointed, however we are safe and approximately 45 miles out of Newport."

First Light is the oldest boat in the fleet, however in Leg 1 they sailed with the youngest team made up of Fred Strammer and Sam Fitzgerald. Fred and Sam sailed First Light to a fourth place finish in Leg 1. For the second offshore leg, seasoned sailor Ashley Perrin joined Sam as the co-skipper. First Light is currently in fourth place, however with their retirement they will receive 0 points for the leg.

Teams will face a building breeze this evening with wind speeds of 12-18 knots from the east gusting 20-24. The fleet will be racing upwind in a nasty sea state with short, choppy waves until they reach the Nantucket shoals and the only mark of the course. Once teams reach Point Alpha conditions will improve and current routing is anticipating a late Monday arrival.

Leg 2 takes competitors 360 nautical miles from New York to Portland, Maine. There is one mark of the course, Point Alpha, which is south of the Nantucket shoals. Overall in the standings French/Italian entry, #145-Eärendil is currently in first place with 22 points, followed by Amhas and Talanta. Both offshore legs of the Atlantic Cup are worth double points. The Atlantic Cup is scored on a high points system leaving 22 points up for grabs in this leg.

Leg 1 Results:

Finish Time					Elapsed Time	Time	Leg	Leg
Team	Start Time	Date Finished	H		M		S	H:M:S	Difference	Position	Points
Earendil	12:00:00	5/29/18	17	:	02	:	46	77:02:46	0:00:00	1	22
Amhas	12:00:00	5/29/18	18	:	42	:	52	78h34m13s	1:31:27	2	20
Talanta	12:00:00	5/30/18	02	:	49	:	12	86h49m12s	9:46:26	3	18*
First Light	12:00:00	5/30/18	03	:	33	:	29	87h33m29s	10:30:43	4	16
Toothface II	12:00:00	5/30/18	04	:	06	:	01	98h06m1s	21:03:15	5	14
Angola Cables	12:00:00	5/30/18	04	:	27	:	16	98h27m16s	21:24:30	6	12
Power of One	12:00:00	5/30/18	07	:	15	:	27	101h15m27s	24:12:41	7	10
Privateer	12:00:00	5/30/18	08	:	40	:	59	102h40m59s	25:38:13	8	8
Esprit Scout	12:00:00	5/30/18	09	:	23	:	27	103h23m27s	26:20:41	9	6
Dragon	12:00:00	5/30/18	11	:	21	:	10	105h21h10s	28:18:24	10	4
Oakcliff	12:00:00	5/30/18	13	:	29	:	27	107h08m37s	30:05:51	11	2