Two maxis, two records

Rambler and Speedboat have their respective goals in this Friday's Newport-Bermuda race

Two supermaxis will be trying to break both the ‘traditional’ and ‘open’ records in the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race starting this Friday, June 20th.

George David’s Reichel Pugh 90 Rambler will be going after the traditional record of 53 hours, 39 minutes, 22 seconds set by Roy Disney in 2002 on Pyewacket. Alex Jackson’s Speedboat and the professional crew loaded with personnel from the TeamOrigin's America’s Cup team, including famed navigator Stan Honey, will look to eclipse the unofficial ‘open’ record set by Hasso Plattner’s canting keel maxZ86 Morning Glory in 2004 - of 48 hours, 28 minutes and 31 seconds.

And when your favorite yacht, taking family or friends to Bermuda, sails over the horizon in Friday’s Newport Bermuda Race, you can follow them too. Click onto iBoattrack . Starting at noon Wednesday June 18th the iBoattrack race site will be active, but you’ll probably see a lot of yachts stacked up at Race HQ since many don’t do their final registration until late in the day.

Position reports will not be in real time. To reduce the advantage that downloading positions may give the racers on the course, the positions are updated at 2-hour intervals with a 4-hour delay in position. Basic information provided will be the four-hour delayed position, a snapshot of boat speed, course, and distance to go to Bermuda. Speed and course are based on distance covered between each time a yacht’s transponder reports its position.