Mare claims opening leg

First leg of Class 40's Atlantic Cup reaches New York

Mare, skippered by Jörg Riechers and Ryan Breymaier, crossed the finish line first at 1:20:13 a.m. ET to take line honours on the opening leg of The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing between Charleston, S.C. and New York Harbour. The German-American duo made the 642 mile passage in an elapsed time of 78 hours 55 minutes and 13 seconds arriving first in the 15 strong Class 40 fleet.

Mare finished ahead of Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron's Campagne de France (79:16:38), followed by the American boats Bodacious Dream (79:51:56) and Gryphon Solo 2 (80:48:05), with France’s Eole Generation – GDZ Suez (81:50:45) rounding out the top five.

The race began at 6:25 p.m. on Friday, 11 May. Icarus made the best start, and this was followed soon after by the dismasting of 40 Degrees after her cap shroud failed.

Boats were mostly in sight of each other until they rounded Cape Hatteras, where the fleet split into two groups. One group opted to go inshore where the wind was forecasted to be stronger while the other half opted to sail further east into the Gulf Stream to take advantage of the three knot push. Forecast winds didn’t materialise for the inshore group shore allowing the group offshore to establish and extend their lead over those inshore.

“It couldn’t get any better, really," said Mare skipper Jörg Riechers. "So first place and the second win in the second race for the boat, which is pretty cool and I think we had a really really good race.

Co-skipper Ryan Breymaier added: "We tried to make a plan long before the start and stick to it, and I think that helps when you don’t let other people in on what you’re going to do. The weather conditions might change a little bit, but as long as you sort of stick with the plan you know is right from the beginning, it’s all going to work out in the long run.”

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