Newport - Bermuda Race

The 2022 Newport-Bermuda Race (also known as “the thrash to the onion patch”) took place from June 17th to June 25th. I was crew on a Jeanneau 53 called “Challenge Accepted” and skippered by Michael Cummings, who I had met shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak while I was heading from Annapolis to the Caribbean.


In total we had 10 sailors aboard:

Start

The start was busy, with almost 200 boats milling around and waiting for their division and category to start. There were some bigger waves in the area, which made for some uncomfortable rolling around while under engine. Nonetheless we managed to start well and zipped out on course despite the congestion and confusion. Unfortunately, soon after the start we were becalmed for a while as a thunderstorm discharged close to the start line. Although this forced a postponement in the classes behind us, that didn’t help us.

Race

With 630 miles ahead of us we headed to the southeast, with Mike using the internet connectivity given to us with an Iridium Go! and Expedition Software to plan an optimal course for the boat. The Newport-Bermuda race is known for varying conditions. From calm to storm plus  the Gulf-Stream eddies.

But we had some issues that prevented us from making as good a course as we’d hoped, this included hitting a hole in the wind which held us up long enough to miss the frontal passage which would have propelled us towards Bermuda. Then we had a spinnaker wrap which could not be fixed, so that sail had to be dropped and then a puff of wind while under Code 0 blew out our pulpit! This was a blow to our chances of placing highly in the Newport-Bermuda race, but we still had a long way to go and a chance at repairing the damage.

Offshore

Nevertheless our race was a challenging one, with winds ranging from almost non-existent to over 30 knots constant with gusts over 40 knots.  Challenge Accepted is exceptionally nimble and certainly faster than my boat, despite Zanshin being longer on the waterline.

The only sour note during the race was that we found out that there had been a fatality aboard one of our competitors, the skipper (with 10 Newport-Bermuda races under his belt) of another boat had gone overboard in a storm. Sadly, when he was recovered back aboard was no longer responsive.

Despite this, the 2022 Newport-Bermuda race was a resounding success, in my opinion.

Once was not enough, I opted to try the whole thing again for the 2024 Newport-Bermuda Race

Here are some pictures taken by crewmembers with various cameras: