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North Sails Loft 57 Podcast

First Light Retires from The Atlantic Cup Leg 2

by Julianna Barbieri 4 Jun 2018 15:25 AEST 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

* Result pending protest to be heard in Portland, Maine.

North Sails Loft 57 Podcast