This past Friday marked the start of the 125th year of the biennial Newport Bermuda race which features two Marblehead teams now currently offshore and heading for Bermuda, as well as individuals from town serving as navigators, tacticians and crew in this renowned offshore competition.
Marblehead resident and rear commodore of the Boston Yacht Club Robert Bova is on board the Beneteau 40.7 PHOENIX. Additionally, Rick Williams from the Boston Yacht Club is on board his J-130 CHARIAD, along with Marblehead resident and past BYC commodore Peter Fine who is the navigator on board the Swan GEMINI 2 to name some of those from town who are in this race. There were an estimated 5,000 spectators at Fort Adams in Newport on Friday, where the race started right off the fort.
The Current heard from Rob Bova on Sunday through his wife, Sally, who, at press time, is now 200 miles away from Bermuda, which is the start of the final stretch of the race.
“All good onboard Phoenix. We have had very sporty conditions over the last few days. We had winds gusting up to 35 knots, with seas running at about 15 feet. We double reefed the main and were using a small jib. It was very rough conditions, but Phoenix managed it well along with the crew,” Bova said. “Now, we are sailing in beautiful sunshine, calm seas with about 200 miles to go to Bermuda.”
Bova is an avid offshore sailor and last year placed fourth in his division in the Marion to Bermuda race, as well as winning his division in the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean race in 2023 and 2019. Rick Williams is a champion sailor in both offshore and fleet racing.
There has always been a keen interest in Marblehead for this 636 nautical-mile biennial ocean race which in the past was won by Marbleheader Ted Hood (overall winner 1968), Rich Wilson (overall winner and youngest to win, 1980) and Robbie Doyle, the winning navigator in 2014 on board Shockwave to name some of our famous townspeople who have competed in the aptly named Thrash to the Onion Patch over the past 125 years. It is so-called because sailors face unpredictable, heavy weather, high winds and massive waves crossing the Gulf Stream combination known as a “hard thrash” and because Bermuda earned the nickname “onion patch’ due to its rich agricultural history, where large, sweet onions heavily thrived and were exported for over a century.
IOD Worlds
In other news, this past week also featured the finale of the International One Design
Worlds ended on Friday. Overall winner and Nova Scotia, Canada resident Peter Wickwire (representing the Chester IOD Fleet) won the event by two points over second place finisher Charlie Van Voorhis. Wickwire overcame a dramatic last-race dismasting but through accumulative points over six days of racing was able to secure the championship.
The IOD worlds featured intense, high-wind conditions with a gale warning limited racing on Thursday, and the final day on Friday saw massive breeze and dramatic racing. Bermuda sailing legend Peter Bromby was in early contention but suffered setbacks in the heavy breeze. Marblehead’s Bill Widnall and last year’s world champion placed 10th overall, and Marblehead’s Carolyn Corbett was 12th.
Looking ahead
In further news, this Sunday marks the fourth annual Fast Mermaid Pursuit Race on Sunday, June 26. This is a yearly fundraiser to support the ongoing recovery of Marblehead native Lindsay Smith, who was the victim of domestic violence in November 2021.
Smith is the daughter of Jud and Cindy Smith of Marblehead. Jud Smith is a 10-time world champion and two-time Rolex Yachtsman of the Year sailmaker at Doyle Sails in Salem, where Lindsay also works. Lindsay needs continual physical therapy as she works her way back from a catastrophic event three years ago when she was shot in the head three times by her ex-boyfriend. She initially recovered from that but had setbacks including a stroke. The fundraiser helps to cover the costs of that therapy, which is not covered by insurance.
“The fundraiser is for Lindsay who continues to improve but it is a long tough process,”
said family friend and event organizer Bump Wilcox. “Lindsay is working hard to improve. It is a battle.”
The Eastern Yacht Club will be hosting the event which will be a pursuit race. The pursuit race format means that competitors cross the finish line quite close to one another after staggered starts have the slowest and smaller boats starting first. It is always exciting to see when all the top boats converge on the finish line together.
