Alex Jackson’s Speedboat crossed the finish line at St. David’s light in Bermuda at 09:12:56 (Atlantic time) to take line honors and the “First to Finish Prize” for the 2008 Newport-Bermuda race. Skipper Mike Sanderson was very pleased with the performance of the boat, reporting "The boat has been faultless, a full credit to the big team back in Spain at Juan Yacht design that designed her, as well as the many thousands of hours that where put into her by the team here on Speedboat".

Navigator Stan Honey commented that “the fleet was faced with a High as it headed toward Bermuda. There was a shift to the southeast, so we had to get east to have some runway to use up. We had a couple of good shifts coming into the finish.” The Gulf Stream did not play a big part in the navigational plans for the boat. “It was quicker to foot and let the boat go fast rather than to go hard on the wind and try to get to the warm eddy. With a big boat, you are just not in the Gulf Stream as long as the smaller boats.”

Following the Newport Bermuda Race, Speedboat will head north and the crew will be on standby for the right weather window to scream across the Pond and try to break the Trans-Atlantic record.  Alex Jackson, Speedboat’s owner said after the finish, “I can’t wait to get the boat going on a long reach.”

Ramber finished a few hours behind Speedboat at 12:45:27. Owned by George David, the 90' ILC maxi takes line honours in the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse division.

Check back for more details as they become available.