By Talbot Wilson
To race the 50th anniversary Onion Patch Series, boats must race to Bermuda. The deadline for entry in the 2014 Newport Bermuda Race (without a potential late-entry time penalty) is April 1st. Enter now at the race portal: bermudarace.com/entry/race-entry-portal/.
Hamilton Bermuda, March 23, 2014: As the three-event Onion Patch Series turns 50 this summer, organizers have decided to add a new, more relaxed Navigators Race Series format for the 25th running of the traditional series. The new series for more cruiser oriented race programs will be scored with ORR ratings. The traditional series raced for the Onion Patch Trophy and Henry B. DuPont Trophy will continue to be scored under IRC.
The new Navigators Race Series will allow those skippers not interested in racing intense windward-leeward courses in the New York Yacht Club 160th Annual Regatta or not interested in racing on a Great Sound course with the professional grand prix boats and more intense racers in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club‘s Anniversary Regatta to sail separate scenic and fun “round the buoys” races in their own series.
One Navigators Race will be scheduled each day for the June 14-15 NYYC Annual Regatta in Newport RI. The group will then sail to Bermuda in their regular Bermuda Race divisions and be scored against each other as an overlay event. On Friday June 27th, they will sail one race in the RBYC Anniversary Regatta around a scenic course following the start of the last regular Onion Patch Series Anniversary Regatta race.
By Fred Deichmann, Chairman, 2014 Bermuda Race Organizing Committee
Newport RI, March 17, 2014: With two weeks to go before Applications for Entry close on April 1st for the 49th Newport Bermuda Race, 158 boats have filed Applications for Entry. Many boats long identified with the race are coming back, and there is an enthusiastic response from first-time skippers, who make up 20 percent of the total.
The variety of entries is notable. Among the returnees are 2006 and 2008 St. David's Lighthouse Division winner Pete Rebovich with his family crew in Sinn Fein. Remarkably, the nearly 50-year-old Cal 40 was almost entirely destroyed in superstorm Sandy in 2012, but she's been rebuilt and will be on the starting line on June 20. The famous Classic wooden 52' yawl Dorade, built in 1929 for designer Olin Stephens, returns under owner Matt Brooks. Last year Dorade won the Transpac Race in the Pacific Ocean.
Rives Potts' 2010 and 2012 St. David's winner Carina and Hap Fauth's perennial Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division contender and elapsed time top finisher Bella Mente will be at the starting line. Kodiak, winner of the big boat class in St. David's in 2012 under skipper Llwyd Ecclestone, is also racing.
Spirit of Bermuda, owned by the Bermuda Sloop Foundation and modeled on 19th century Bermudian commercial ships, will race again. In 2012, sailing with a crew of Bermuda youngsters, she was awarded a special seamanship award for her efforts to assist another racing boat that was in trouble.
Applications for Entry are due by 1700 hours, April 1, after which applicants may incur a time penalty. The process begins in the race entry portal on the race web site. Also online are a complete guide to entry, race documents and requirements and an extensive FAQ, all found under the "Entry" section of BermudaRace.com.
By John Rousmaniere
Newport RI, February 23, 2014— With 120 applications for entry received for the upcoming 49th Newport Bermuda Race, the race’s organizers are noting a larger than usual proportion of first-time entries as the April 1 entry deadline approaches. More than one-fourth of the applications are from boats that have not sailed the race. “It’s satisfying to see so many experienced sailors entering a boat in the race for the first time,” said Bermuda Race Organizing Committee Chairman Fred Deichmann.
Registration for the Bermuda Race is online at BermudaRace.com. Race applications submitted after the April 1 deadline will be subject to a penalty applied to the boat’s corrected time.
Deichmann added that the race’s safety at sea seminar on March 15 at Newport is experiencing heavier than usual signup. He urged sailors to register soon at BermudaRace.com/entry/safety-at-sea-seminars.