Rambler 100, PUMA Honored in Transatlantic Race

While the Rambler 100, crossed the finish line of the Transatlantic Race 2011 on Sunday, July 10, PUMA’s Mar Mostro, skippered by Ken Read of Newport, has taken overall honors in the Transatlantic Race 2011.   

Mar Mostro’s crew also includes Rome Kirby and Casey Smith, both of Newport. Line honors went to Rambler 100 which has Jerry Kirby of Newport and Aubie van Buren of Portsmouth in crew. 

George David, skipper of the Rambler 100, talks below about the race. The elapsed time for Rambler 100 was 6 days, 22 hours, 08 minutes and 2 seconds, which establishes a new record for the 2,975 nautical mile course from Newport to Lizard Point, South Cornwall, U.K.

"For the first 80 hours of this race we were ripping along," said David shortly after finishing. "Towards the end we hit a few holes in the wind, but the net speed average was 15.7 knots across the Atlantic. Kenny Read [of Newport and skipper of PUMA’s Mar Mostro] is about 100 miles behind us with his PUMA Team. The odds are he is probably going to win the race on corrected time, but we will see what happens over the next 15 hours, which is about the amount of time that we give them.

"Flying along at 28 knots is an exhilarating experience but one that concentrates the mind. Rambler is a finely balanced machine and anything can go wrong and there are huge forces opposing each other. If those forces go out of balance, bad things can happen very quickly. But as I say this has been an exhilarating race, where we have been well out of sight of land, completely unsupported and in a high performance machine, which you are taking close to the edge, for a very long time - that is, without doubt, exhilarating."

PUMA’s Mar Mostro was not only the second boat across the Transatlantic Race 2011 finish line at The Lizard (at 05:40 UTC on July 11) but also the current overall standings leader based on corrected time, as David had anticipated. 

Read and his crew completed the 2,975 nautical mile course in 7 days, 11 hours and 40 minutes.

And, after careful calculation, the race committee confirmed that none of the 24 yachts still racing has a mathematical probability of beating PUMA’s Mar Mostro on corrected time, and they have been declared provisional winners of IRC Class One and IRC Overall for the Transatlantic Race 2011.

“We entered the race with zero expectations, just like the other IRC handicap racing we’ve done this year,” said Read. “We wanted to learn the boat and the crew. Now here we are in the position of possibly winning a race that we didn’t expect to win.  

"We are pleasantly shocked. We didn’t break anything, the sails held up, the team is certainly coming together, and there’s not a single negative to this race. It was a great experience.”

PUMA’s Mar Mostro reached a maximum speed of just over 30 knots early in the race, traveling 551 nautical miles on day three. By day five, however, light air slowed their pace towards the finish at The Lizard and the last several hundred miles were slow going.

“The finish was excruciating,” said Read as he detailed a bizarre twist to the finish. “We approached The Lizard knowing we had to get there quick because the current was about to change and go against us. As we entered the English Channel the breeze was dying steadily to the point where the current did change. Literally, when the race committee said we were finished, we were stopped and about to throw the anchor as we would have been going backwards with the current.”

While PUMA’s Mar Mostro is now making its way to the team’s summer training camp in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Rambler 100 has made its way under motor to Endeavour Quay (Gosport, Portsmouth, U.K.) where the 100’ Maxi will be based until competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race next month.  

“Puma made it through the windless zone better than us,” said George David in complimenting Read and his team.  “Maybe they had a better roll of the dice or maybe they just outdid us. 

PUMA’s Mar Mostro is a 2011-edition Volvo 70 and has a world-class crew, so to just lose out on handicap is not such a bad thing.  Our time was the fastest average speed that any monohull has ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean and we have got to be very happy with that.”