Bermuda race count down

Pyewacket and Morning Glory line up to demolish course record

Roy Disney and his Pyewacket crew have returned to Newport with a new maxZ86 maxi yacht built not so much break, but smash the record for the 630 mile Newport/Bermuda Race beyond the reach of the traditional racing yacht.

Two years ago, Disney’s previous Pyewacket set the present record of 53 hours 39mins 22secs. Now, he and his crew have high expectations of knocking at least 15 hours off that time. The only problem for Disney is that there are two other crews with equally high expectations. Hasso Plattner’s German entry Morning Glory is identical to Disney’s rocket ship, while Rich and Doug DeVos have a similar Reichel Pugh designed 86 footer Windquest which relies on water ballast tanks for her stability instead of the swing keels that the other boats employ.

Previous racing form gives little indication of who might win. When the three first raced together in the Caribbean over the winter, the Pyewacket crew led to the first windward mark on each occasion, but then lost their way further down the course. “I didn’t know there were so many ways to lose a yacht race," Disney jokes. "It wasn’t until I hit my head and had to stay ashore for the last day that we got our act together”.

The Pyewacket crew have been in Newport this past week preparing and practicing for what Disney forecasts will be ‘a great race’. "On Wednesday, I joined the crew for a day of sail testing on Rhode Island Sound and witnessed first hand the extraordinary speed potential of these boats. Sailing in just 3.5 knots of true wind, we were slipping effortlessly through the water at almost 3 times that speed. ‘There are not many times when we can’t sail faster than the wind," Disney enthuses. "If we get 15 knots winds, we will be doing 20 knots easily."

Dee Smith, the skipper of Pyewacket's rival, Morning Glory is just as confident. "These boats can cover 500 miles in a day on delivery, so we should be able to do this race in a day and a half!"



Meanwhile Susie Klein, her husband Jim Hammitt and their two sons Robbie (15) and Galen (13) set sail Friday in quest of the new Family Prize in the Newport Bermuda sailboat race. Both Susie and Jim were college All American sailors and the Bermuda Race will begin their family training for a Trans Atlantic crossing next summer.

The yacht they are sailing is their Sigma 41 Reville. Joining them are navigator Graham Kelley and John Bell, expert on sailing with teens. The two were invited to fill out the crew with offshore sailing expertise and to balance the watches with strength and experience. Jim, Galen and John will be on one watch; Graham Susie and Robbie on the other. They are out for the family prize, but there is sure to be competition onboard for top watch of the race.

Reville will be sailing against only one yacht Starlight a Swan 46 for the family prize in the AMERICAP Non-spinnaker Division.

In the IMS Cruiser/Racer Division eight families are vying for their own prize. Jamie 'Sparrow' Wilmot is up from Australia to sail the Swan 44 Crescendo brother Robert, son Jeremy and tactitian/brother-in-law Hugh Treharne. Wilmot stands second in the Onion Patch Series after a strong showing in the NYYC Annual Regatta presented by Rolex and appears the team to beat for the prize in Cruiser/Racer. Frank Eberhart’s Hound, a classic Nielsen 60 which won their class in the 2002 Newport Bermuda Race, will be a contender along with Bill Read and Peter Gibbons-Neff’s Farr 395 Upgrade, William Ewing III on the J/42 Althea, Newton Merrill on another J/42 Finesse, Lawrence Glenn on the J/44 Runaway, and Jeff Willis on the Frers 66 Kodiak. Rick and Nonnie Burnes on their IMX45 Cybele, and they will be signing up with a large contingent of Burnes aboard. Rick was one of the original proponents of the prize.

All in all about 80 prizes will be awarded in this 635-mile ocean classic.