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Class 40 Open sailboat Cutlass with Alex Mehran in Newport RI Credit: www.billyblack.com
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Class 40 Open sailboat Dragon with Michael Hennessy in Newport RI Credit: www.billyblack.com
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Class 40 Open sailboat Cutlass skipper Alex Mehran with designer Merfyn Owen Credit: www.billyblack.com
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American Alex Mehran and his Owen Clarke Class 40 in runaway victory in leg 1 of the Bermuda 1-2
In his debut single-handed event Alex Mehran on the Owen Clarke Class 40 Cutlass has won the first leg of the Bermuda 1-2 on elapsed time. On passing the line at Mills Buoy at the north end of Bermuda his nearest competitor in the following fleet was over 100 miles astern. An impressive margin for this 650 mile race. Cutlass pulled into the lead shortly after the start and as the boats headed out into Rhode Island Sound never looked like relinquishing his position. This is the second time in four years that this leg of the bi-annual race race from the United States to Bermuda has been won by an Owen Clarke designed sailboat. Kip Stone won the leg and broke the existing record on Artforms (now Philippe Kahn's Pegasus) in 2005. After the first night which saw breeze in the twenty five knot range, Cutlass had extended to a lead of thirty miles on her Class 40 and Open 40 challengers before crossing a ridge of variable light airs that signalled the second phase of the race and some shifty light airs running conditions. By 10.am on Sunday morning, twenty three hours after the start Cutlass held a fifty mile lead over second placed Dirigo.
Alex admitted to being aprehensive before his first race alone: "I felt nervous as anything up until I left the dock. Uncontrolllably.Couldnt eat the nice breakfast Maggie made for me. Once on the bay, I thought about the months of tireless preparation and felt the boat was totally ready for this journey. I just had to sail it fast, properly and in the right direction. I knew I had to push it on boathandling since all the other competitors had done this many times and knew the tricky racecourse. I had to start better, sail faster and make quicker and more sail changes to keep her that way. Help from Merf and Phil Garland on tactics put me on the right track out of Newport and filled me with information about making decisions down track. Past the channel markers I was pacing the other 40s and focused on setting the boat up for the reach. Speed was off a touch, which worried me. A sea littered with fish traps, 8 foot seas and 25 knots, dense fog with no breeze and a littney of fishing trawlers at the 1000 fathom line made the first night a total nightmare, but disaster did'nt strike. After all the sail changes, course changes, dealing with minor breakdowns and generally getting comfortable, pulled up the tracker over the Fleet to find out I was 30 miles in front of the next boat. That was the high point - after such a tough night of no sleep and hard work - what a rewarding feelng - even more racing alone for the first time. From there just a game of protecting and tryign to stay in the favorable breeze and current. Many moments of extreme frustration with sails slatting back and fourth becalmed (particularly in the gulfstream), but during the following three days time was primarilly passed reaching under Code 0 or A2 with ease in sunshine. About to kick off the 100 mile party so have to go. Good times! "
That first night saw a string of problems on Dragon, the other Owen Clarke Class 40 in the race, which caused her to drop out of contention early on, although she is now back up to third place. This started with a broach under A2 spinnaker in which the sheets flogged off the sail and ended with a mast climb to recover the double wrapped spinnaker on the forestay. An exhausted Mike Hennessey five hours later still managed to keep his sense of humour and write a down to earth report on his ‘bad day at the office’. Dragon report on Sailing Anarchy We have to wait to see if Cutlass has finished first on corrected time under PHRF. If Alex and Cutlass manage this, then it will be quite an achievement given the light airs prevailing for much of the race. A corrected time victory would come on the back of winning under PHRF in the S Division (against J120, J105’s etc) in the fully crewed Figawi Race two weeks ago. Merf Owen's Figawi race report Of the growing fleet of twelve Class 40's in the USA, four are racing for the first time in this year’s Bermuda 1-2. The race also features a strong contingent of seven Mini Transat boats along with the US based Open 40, Wildeyes. Leg 2 which is sailed double-handed back to Newport begins on the 18th June. The leg record is currently held by Kip Stone and Artforms who took along as his crew in 2005, designer Merfyn Owen. I assure you that St Georges on Bermuda definitely rates as one of the places you don't particularly want to leave once you've got there ! More pictures are available from and to be credited to www.billyblack.com
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