A fresh breeze blew into Newport, R.I., today with the arrival of sailing's social media star Nic Douglass and her video team of Celeste Bible and Aaron McLachlan.
The Australian social media trio led by "Sailor Girl" Nic Douglass began a full takeover of the Newport Bermuda Race's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, to which they'll be feeding copious amounts of photos and videos over the next 12 days.
They then dropped by race registration HQ at Harbour Court (New York Yacht Club), where traffic was light to moderate. If you're a competitor and haven't made it down yet, here's Nic's preview of what to expect. She recommends you arrive early tomorrow to beat the rush.
Tune in to the Newport Bermuda Facebook page every day at 6pm for more coverage from Nic, both before and during the race. She'll be livestreaming from the Goslings Rum Newport Shipyard Party on Wednesday at 6pm and the Captains' Meeting on Thursday at 6pm. The next day, she'll be on the starting line in the East Passage about noon on Friday—the warning signal for the first class is at 1pm.
For those scouring the website for the breakdown of entries by class (aka "scratch sheet"), it's not posted yet, as of this publication. Stay tuned. We will post it as soon as it's ready on the official notice board, likely late on Wednesday or early Thursday.