With all but one of the 183 starters gently tugging at their dock lines in Bermuda, the 2010 Newport Bermuda Race finally ended at 10:17 PM EDT Wednesday night when the last finisher, John Melvin’s Westray (Riverside, CT), arrived at St. David’s Head. A 39-foot classic wooden Concordia class yawl designed in 1938, Westray is not as fast as modern boats in the light air that dominated this year’s race. In weather that better suited her, however, she was third on corrected time in the St. David’s Lighthouse Division in 2006 and sixth in 2008. This year Westray beat two boats in the 103-entry division on corrected time.
People arriving at prizegiving at Government House. Her tardy finish means that at the prizegiving at Government House on Saturday, her cook, Jake Kramer, will be presented with one of the race’s oldest and most famous prizes - The Galley Slave Trophy for the cook of the last boat to finish. As many boats prepare for the two races in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta, which counts for the Onion Patch Series, the race committee is carefully reviewing provisional finish times. There has been a change in the standings due to a sailor’s sportsmanship. When Scott Bearse saw that his Slide Rule, a First 44.7 out of West Barnstable, MA, was listed as winning Class 4 under the IRC Rule, he chased down race committee chairman Bjorn Johnson and told him something was wrong. "I sailed a good fourth-place race, not a first-place race," Bearse later explained. Johnson and Bermuda Race scorer Brin Ford discovered a small error that gave Slide Rule a better rating than she deserved. A sailor who heard about Bearse’s initiative commented, "That’s the way it’s supposed to be." When the mistake was corrected, Slide Rule ended up third in IRC in Class 4. Provisional results may be found at
http://63.134.239.39/2010results/index.html.
Because Slide Rule also stands fourth under the Offshore Racing Rule, Bearse will receive a prize at Government House in the prizegiving ceremony on the top of one of Bermuda’s highest hills, with its spectacular vista of the island. Presiding will be the island’s Governor, Sir Richard Gozney, the Queen’s representative on Bermuda. Assisting him will be Commodores Sheila McCurdy of the Cruising Club of America and Peter Shrubb of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Sir Richard and the Commodores will present the race’s most important trophies to the corrected time winners of the five divisions. The St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy for the top amateur boat will go to Carina, owned by Rives Potts (Westbrook, CT). This is the second time Carina has won this trophy, a replica of the lighthouse off which the race finishes. The Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Trophy for the professional division will be presented to Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy’s Noonmark VI (London, UK).
The Carleton Mitchell Finisterre Trophy, named for the winner of three consecutive Bermuda Races, will be presented to the winner of the Cruiser Division, Neal Finnegan’s Clover III (Dedham, MA). The Philip S. Weld Prize, named for a well-known transAtlantic singlehanded racer, will be awarded to the winner of the Double-Handed Division, Jason A. Richter’s Paladin (Mt. Sinai, NY). And the Royal Mail Trophy will go to the winner of the Open Division, Genuine Risk, sailed by Mark Watson, of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. In addition, the North Rock Beacon Trophy will be presented to Carina as the top boat under the IRC Rule, and the Corporation of Hamilton Prize for first boat to finish will go to Speedboat, owned by Alex Jackson (Riverside, CT). Suitably, the ceremony will end with the presentation of the Galley Slave Trophy, accompanied by the cheers of hundreds of sailors, all of whom know very well the demands made on a cook in small boat that is racing a long distance across the Gulf Stream. A list of prizes and trophies is available by clicking here.