It was another stunner of a day to start the second leg of the Atlantic Cup – Newport to Portland! In a first for the Atlantic Cup, teams will race to Portland. Although the race has visited the historic maritime city multiple times, this is the first time the teams will race from Newport (previous editions had teams race from New York).
With a very light northerly breeze in a flooding tide, the start gun was fired just off Fort Adams State Park at 12 p.m. with local support from onlookers on both land and sea. The French team La Manche Évidence Nautique won the start, with Vogue Avec Un Crohn and Nestenn Entrepreneurs Pour La Planete following closely behind. With the northerly breeze, the teams were able set their spinnakers and sail downwind out of the bay making for a stunning sight on the water.
The course has teams sailing south out of Newport to a series of way points designed to avoid a whale breeding ground before turning north for Portland making this leg of the race a total of 360 nautical miles. The distance and weather will make this race just long enough to demand a lot from the teams with very little sleep expected in the next 36-hours.
Unfortunately, USA 200, Scowling Dragon has had to retire from this year’s race. After sustaining major structural damage during the Charleston-Newport leg, the duo of Mike Hennessey and Roger Junet have deemed it necessary to withdraw from the remainder of the race.
Head to the Race Tracking page on our website and follow the teams in real time thanks to YB Races.
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