The 1999 BERMUDA ONE-TWO is history, and everyone has become enmeshed in the rest of their summer. Betsy and I have already cruised to Maine and are heading back for another week. Again we'll miss the New England SOLO/TWIN Championships - which remains a nifty event - but we find we are more and more into cruising. Must be age or something.
For those readers who did not make the ONE-TWO this year - and a number of past participants were sorely missed - this is what happened:
The start of the singlehanded leg June 6 was in nearly ideal conditions, a 10-12 knot sou'wester. Thereafter it was a drag race all the way to Bermuda. Everyone just set their autopilots and sat back and let the boats make the dash. Well, almost everyone could sit back. Both Bob Dresser and Chip Howalt lost their autopilots and had to hand steer. For Bob that meant being at the helm for almost 500 mile, but it earned him the US Navy/Bermuda One-Two Award for Seamanship and 24 hours of sleep upon his arrival in Bermuda.
The first leg belonged to Jeff Siegal and his new Baltic 50 APPRECIATION. He clipped five hours off the record for the singlehanded leg set by Tim Troy with MARGARET ANNA in 1995. The new record: 67 hours, 48 minutes - with an average speed for 635 miles of 9.25 knots. The record didn't do much good on corrected time, however; APPRECIATION ended up last in her class. In fact, so fast was the race for the fleet that the only boats APPRECIATION beat on corrected time were the two that had been hand steered. But high marks to Jeff; he pushed a lot of boat a lot of miles at a lot of speed.
Special credit, too, to Tristan Mouligne. At 19 - sailing under a special age dispensation that made him the youngest participant ever in the Bermuda ONE-TWO - and with FROG KISS, he took first in the fleet on corrected time to win the Town of St. George's Trophy. He was two hours better than John Drozdal whose ARIANA was first to finish in her class, the fifth boat overall to finish, and second overall on corrected time. That's pretty good for an event veteran who has developed from one who basically cruised to one who now plainly has competitive juices coursing through his veins. The same can be said for Cabot Lyman and Doug Shearer. Both won their class, and both justifiably relished their accomplishment at the awards ceremony at the Dinghy Club in Bermuda.
And high marks to the entire fleet. Only two boats failed to finish the singlehanded leg. One of those broke down soon after the start, and the other ran out of luck when the wind went flat about the time the tail end of the fleet finished.
The return leg was in marked contrast to the outgoing. Alternately squalls, flat calms, headwinds, and perverse Gulf Stream meanders so protracted the passage that several boats took twice as long to get back as they did to get to Bermuda. A number of the doublehanders remarked on the miserable, exhausting conditions, made worse by sheer frustration. This time, though, APPRECIATION not only took elapsed time honors but saved her considerable time to win first overall on corrected time.
In second overall was Barrett Holby's Quest 33 TROLL FJORD. Barrett was second in class on the singlehanded leg and, with George Varga, first in class on corrected time in the doublehanded leg. TROLL FJORD's combined time for the two legs earned her the City of Newport Trophy for the best overall fleet performance in the Bermuda ONE-TWO. Barrett's competitive skill and initiative is at least comparable to such overtly and unabashedly competitive entrants as David Sharpe, Bjorn Johnson, and Jeff Siegal.
Another facet deserves noting: the competitiveness and enthusiasm of the newcomers to the Bermuda ONE-TWO. Martin Van Breems, with MONHEGAN, the J-44 he rebuilt from a wreck, finished second in his class on the first leg. Our sole foreign entry, Canadian Robert Patenaude with PATRIOTE, took second in his class on the return leg and second on combined time for the two legs. These are superb performances for first-timers, not to mention the extraordinary results for Tristan's first time as skipper. Of the returning starters, only two boats withdrew - one returning singlehanded and the other because of a broken headstay - despite the miserable conditions that kept the Newport finish line seemingly so unreachable for so long. Such perseverance is deserving of special praise.
- Jeff Spranger
Bermuda ONE-TWO Event Chairman
In expressing our appreciation to those who helped run the 1999 Bermuda ONE-TWO, Betsy and I would like to single out four people for special thanks not just for their help during this year's ONE-TWO.
The first is Muffin Dubuc. She has ably filled the position of being the Offshore Committee's social chairman - not only for the ONE-TWO, but for the twice-annual Shore Parties that have been so much a part of the ONE-TWO.
A second recipient of our special thanks is Ed Sisk, who served as the skippers' representative since the 1997 ONE-TWO. Not only did Ed make himself available to advise and counsel prospective entrants, he initiated discussion of such matters as dockage on Bermuda and in organizing the safety check procedures, all the while knowing that he would not be participating in ONE-TWO as a singlehander.
To Nancy Hassel goes not only our, but everyone's gratitude for developing the ONE-TWO website bermuda1-2.org. In December, Nancy approached us with an offer to design a website whereby we could promote the ONE-TWO as well as report the actual progress of the racers. Her efforts have been truly remarkable. Not only do we have a most handy place to refer prospective participants but we had a on-going graphic sailors' families could use to keep track of the race twice daily. Only the Around Alone Race had comparable information. The week of the return leg, we had a total of 5557 hits, which is very remarkable for this little-known or newly-advertised website.
Last, but by no means least, is Tony Lush. It has been years since Tony gave up singlehanding, but he continues to contribute invaluably to that special aspect of sailing by heading up the ONE-TWO safety checks. The one nagging concern every organizer of such an event as this has is safety; are we doing everything possible to assure participation by capably equipped boats? Tony has stepped up to oversee these checks - no mean task given the tight schedule and understandable preoccupation by participants in the days prior to the June 6th start.
Many, many people contribute much to the BERMUDA ONE-TWO. These four, however, are among those very special people who help by following through on important areas we simply could not handle without their help.
The following folks and organizations receive the warmest of thanks from the organizers and participants of the 1999 ONE-TWO (in no particular order of importance):
Thanks to the RI State Yachting Committee, particularly to Dr. Robin Wallace and George Pike; the City of Newport and Mayor David Gordon; The Town of St. George's; the flag officers, boards of directors and members of Goat Island Yacht Club Ltd, St. George's Dinghy & Sports Club, and Newport Yacht Club; Buddy & Lois Heaton for housing visiting SGD&SC guests Mariea Caisey and Mary Malone, and Buddy's support of the event through Newport Nautical Supply; LInda & Ed Lupo of Artistic Embroidery for our event shirts, trophies and the SH Leg Skippers' Send-Off Breakfast; Ken & Brynn Campbell from Commander's Weather Corporation, Jenifer Clark Gulfstreams and Roger Williams from the Bermuda Weather Service for our pre-race weather briefings and Gulf Stream reports; Ruth Taylor and the staff at the International Yacht Restoration School; Patricia Beausoleil at PHRF-NB; George Crowninshield, Claire Harrington and the dockhands at Goat Island Marina; Carol Hermann of Kwik-Kopy; the staffs of Rough Jewelers, Dansk/Newport and Viewpoint Gallery, Peter Pacheco of Interstate Trophy and Julie Baxter of Ocean Navigator Magazine for our trophies; and Shorty Chubb and Gosling's Brothers for providing the Dark N' Stormy Cocktail Party in Bermuda.
Special thanks go to Peter Dunning and Fred Chew for their unceasing radio communication performances - particularly Peter's monitoring of the passages of FRACTION and STILL CRAZY to Bermuda during the hurricane; and to Bermuda Harbour Radio for its usual diligence and support of the ONE-TWO.
We'd like to recognize the efforts of Newport leg on-the-water race committee members Frank Sailes, Nancy Babcock, Tom Whayman, Roy Guay, David Del Nero, along with Ned & Nancy Anderson and Bubba Martin in HELENA. In Bermuda, Jeff & Betsy were ably assisted at the start by Irvin Hayward on his boat ADMIRAL, along with Michael Oatley, Buddy & Lois Heaton and Mariea Caisey.
Our thanks to Newport Yacht Club office manager Debbie Logler; NYC steward Rob Packer, Float & Dock Chair Nelson Chaffee and the entire NYC dock crew; the NYC house staff, including Denise Cyr and her NYC bar staff; Phil LaGasse & Rosemary Pilz, Don & Debbie Barrett, Steve & Diane Clarke for providing spectator vessels for the Newport leg start; Dick & Linda Cyr for their help with the Newport Awards party and clothing sales; Tony Lush's crew of safety check scrutineers (which included Ed Sisk, Mark Williams and Bill Biewenga among others who we apologize for not mentioning here); Customs Officer George Monk; Newport Harbormaster Jake Farrell and his crew; Arthur Richardson and his special brand of expertise; judges Peter McCrea and Ted Singsen; Mark Hassel; Patrick Mouligne; Pat Clayton; and Lillian Lopes.
In Bermuda, our many thanks go to the following folks who each pitched in to help in ways too numerous to mention in this space: Mariea Caisey; Verna Oatley; Mary & Dave Malone; Tom Whayman; Michael Oatley; Bernard Oatley; Skip Tatum; Danny & Joanne Hollis; DeRoy Butterfield; Robert Brown; Colonel Hollis; the bagpiper corps; and special thanks to the Town of St. George's Town Crier, who made the passage through the Town Cut memorable for all. We also recognize those folks who did so much to prepare the Steak Barbeque, Fish Fry and DH Leg Send-Off Breakfast - including Gerry, Earl, Tom, Richard, Sandy, Moe, Margaret, Diane, Patti, DeRoy, Dave, Brian, Debbie, Danny, Lynda, Bea, and Wendy. Our sincerest apologies for not having everyone's last name and for whoever we might have missed!
We've surely forgotten to thank someone, and we hope it's understood that the error was not intentional. Running an event of this magnitude, which spans more than ten months, takes special help in numerous ways from so many people. We can only tell everyone that your help, however great or small, meant a lot.
The Bemuda ONE-TWO Fall Shore Party preceded by a Skippers' Forum will be November 6 at Newport Yacht Club. The Skippers' Forum will begin at # pm, with a dinner to follow. The party notice and reservation dinner cards will be mailed early in October.
The start of the 2000 OFFSHORE 160 will be Friday, July 16, 2000. The third sailing of this race will again serve as a qualifier for the 2001 Bermuda ONE-TWO and will have the same 160+-mile course to the buoy southeast of Block Island to Davis Shoal buoy south of Nantucket and return. It will not require a life-raft, but otherwise will mandate the same safety equipment as the ONE-TWO and it will remain strictly a singlehanded, spinnaker-rated monohull event. The Notice of Race and entry form will be in the mail February, 2000.
All singlehanded participants in the ONE-TWO since 1993 should find a copy of a questionnaire with this newsletter. Please complete it and mail it back to us ASAP. We will announce the results at the Fall Shore Party. If you qualify and did not find a questionnaire enclosed, please call us at 401-846-1016 or e-mail at greenend@dxmusa6.com, and we will get a copy out to you.
At the traditional meeting of participants in Bermuda between legs of this year's race, Bjorn Johnson was elected the Skippers' Representative to the Offshore Committee. Anyone wishing to bring an issue to the attention of either the organizers or the participants of the Bermuda ONE-TWO should give Bjorn a call days at 201-871-1101 or evenings at 732-291-1765, or e-mail: mjbjohnson@msn.com.