Twenty Big Yachts Entered in the Event of the Century:

The NYYC Rolex Transatlantic Challenge

Note: Departed New York City ... start delayed 24-hours by weather. Visit the NYYC website for updates.

With its entry list final, the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge 2005, hosted by the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) with the cooperation of the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) in the UK , is holding the promise of being one of the greatest sailing races of the 21st Century. Starting off from New York Harbor and finishing in the English Channel , the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge 2005 will be sailed over the same course as the famous race 100 years earlier in which the transatlantic racing record was set. This is most exciting for New York City , whose sailing heritage is great but has suffered in recent years. 

Atlantic set the transatlantic race record in 1905, a record that still stands.
Photo (c) Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection

In May 1905, the 185-foot (56m) three-masted schooner Atlantic covered this course in 12 days, four hours, one minute and 19 seconds. It is the oldest ocean-racing record in sailing.  Sponsored by Rolex, the Transatlantic Challenge 2005 is for larger sailboats attempting to break this record.  It is open to single-hulled sailboats with a minimum length on deck of 70 feet and no maximum. The 3,000-mile race from New York to England will start on May 21, 2005 .

Twenty yachts will compete for honors in this year's event . Although other yachts - the tri foiler Paul Ricard, the monohull Mari-Cha IV, the maxi-cat PlayStation, and others - have broken the record, none have done it in a race and without the benefit of starting when conditions are ideal. The maxi-schooners Adix and Adela came closest to breaking the record in '97, but both fell short. With decent conditions, Mari-Cha IV should break the century old mark.

The New York to Lizard Route sailed by Atlantic in 1905.

An event with a rich history...and a new one in th making!

Run by two of the world’s oldest and most prestigious yacht clubs, the New York Yacht Club in co-operation with the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes , England , the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge will celebrate the centennial anniversary of the 1905 race for the Kaiser’s Cup. The original event came about when Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (whose reign continued through World War I before he was forced to abdicate) issued a challenge to anyone willing to race his 158-foot (48.1m) yacht, Hamburg , across the North Atlantic . While transatlantic races had been held before then, the 1905 event was significant for drawing a large number of entries - 11 - and is remembered principally for the record time set by the race winner, Atlantic .

Mari-Cha IV, an entrant in the Rolex Transatlantic, is favored to smash the record. She set the transatlantic passage record in 2003 but not in a race. Her time was 75% faster than the race record pace! 
James Burton, photographer.

On May 21, twenty entrants—ranging in size from 70 to 230 feet (21.3m to 70.1m) and averaging 111 feet (33.8m)--will set out on a course from New York to The Lizard in England, recreating the Great Ocean Race of 1905. In that historic race, the schooner Atlantic , skippered by Charlie Barr, a three-time defender of the America ’s Cup, set a record that has not been broken by a monohull in a race for 100 years.

Atlantic ’s crossing, in 12 days survives as the oldest race record in sailing despite the fact that some monohull yachts have crossed the Atlantic Ocean faster.  Their crews picked their own weather. If a yacht without powered winches were to break Atlantic ’s racing record, that yacht will become the new official record holder for this race.

A yacht in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge will have to travel roughly faster than 10.32 knots to break the long-standing record. (Of course, the exact speed necessary to beat the record depends upon the course sailed, the location of Point Alpha, an ice limit, and other factors.)

During her successful attempt to set a passage record, Mari-Cha IV, one of the entries in the 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, sailed the same course in six days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds, averaging 18.05 knots -- an incredible 75% faster.  Passage records differ from race records because in attempting to set a new passage record, a yacht waits for a favorable weather window before starting. A racing yacht must start at a predetermined time set for the race and must comply with all the race’s conditions. 

The 90-foot classic Fife ketch Sumurun is registered to race. 
Photo from ‘lectronic latitude.

All entered yachts can be seen on the NYYC website.  There will be daily tracking of positions and news updates available online for the duration of the race. 

Pre-race social events are scheduled to take place at the New York Yacht Club in New York City and aboard the aircraft carrier and museum USS Intrepid in New York Harbor , where entrants will be berthed.  Yachts are scheduled to begin arriving May 15 (Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum Pier 86, 12th Ave and West 46th St ).  When the fleet arrives in England , it will be welcomed by the RYS and entertained at Cowes during England ’s 200th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Trafalgar. A highlight of the post-race festivities will be a race around the Isle of Wight on the same course where in 1851 the yacht America won what became the America ’s Cup.

It’s great to have the action back in New York again!  Keep them coming.

Atlantic records:

• New York – The Lizard route (theoretical distance calculated by the WSSRC): 2925 miles (5,417 km) in 12 days, four hours, one minute and 19 seconds set in 1905 by Atlantic and held for 100 years
• Single-handed record: Laurent Bourgnon, Primagaz, 7 days 2 hours 34 minutes 42 seconds (June 1994)
• 24-hour single handed record: Laurent Bourgnon, Primagaz, 540 miles (June 1994)
• Record passage not under race conditions:  Mari-Cha IV, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds, averaging 18.05 knots set in 2003.

 Atlantic's record-setting passage in 1905 based on noon positions: