The 360-mile Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race and 635-mile Newport Bermuda Race have been major events on the East Coast sailing schedule for many decades. They offer some different challenges. The Halifax Race is sailed in odd-numbered years (the next race starts on July 5, 2009) in cool New England and Canadian waters, and usually is a long spinnaker run. The typical Bermuda Race, sailed in even-numbered years, is a “thrash to the Onion Patch” through the warm Gulf Stream. Yet the two races have numerous features in common, including long histories dating back over a century, international race courses, and starts and finishes at historic ports.

They also have an important joint prize. The Olin J. Stephens Ocean Racing Trophy is awarded yearly to the skipper of the boat with the best combined result in consecutive Marblehead to Halifax and Newport Bermuda Races.

The Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race is sponsored by the Boston Yacht Club and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, and the Newport Bermuda Race is sponsored by the Cruising Club of America and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.  The four clubs have created a new trophy and named it for the noted naval architect Olin Stephens, who designed many winners of the two races.

The idea for the trophy originated with John Winder, Richard Shulman, and Bill Langan at the Bermuda Race Organizing Committee. The Halifax Race was extremely receptive. “We’ve had a friendly relationship with the Newport Bermuda Race organization for many years, and have shared our entry lists back and forth to mutual benefit,” recalled race organizers Harvey Brand and Geoff Smith. “Honoring Olin was something any sailor could easily take to heart because of the tremendous positive influence he had on the design of sailboats over a great number of years.” 

The first winner of the Olin J. Stephens Ocean Racing Trophy was Peter S. Rebovich Sr. from Metuchen, N.J., and the Raritan Yacht Club. After winning a St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy in his Cal 40 Sinn Fein in the 2006 Newport Bermuda Race, Rebovich heard about the Stephens Trophy and entered his first Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race. His third-place finish in the race’s ORR Division in 2007 won him the trophy. Olin Stephens himself made the presentation at Halifax. When Rebovich, in his seventies, came up to the podium to accept his prize, the 99-year-old Stephens joked, “It’s good to see an old guy like me still sailing and winning.” A year later, Rebovich won his second St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy in the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race and was again presented with the Stephens Trophy at the award ceremony in Bermuda.

Olin Stephens’ connections with both races were long and personal. His first offshore voyage, when he was a teenager, was a boat delivery from Nova Scotia to the United States, and he sailed his first Bermuda Race in the crew of the famous Boston yacht designer John Alden. Stephens died in September 2008 at age 100.

The next Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race will start on July 5, 2009, and the starting gun for the next Newport Bermuda Race will be fired on June 18, 2010. For more information about the two races, go to www.marbleheadtohalifax.com and www.bermudarace.com.

--John Rousmaniere