With a fleet of eleven Class40s competing in the 2018 Atlantic Cup #145 Eärendil skippered by Catherine Pourre and Pietro Luciani, crossed the Angola Cables finish line first at 17h02m46s ET, with an elapsed time of 77h02m46s, to complete the 648 nautical mile first offshore leg of the Atlantic Cup from Charleston, S.C. to New York City! The race, the most sustainable sailing event in the United States, saw France's #145 Eärendil finish 1 hour 31 minutes and 27 seconds ahead of #127 Amhas (78h34m13s).
The race began at 12:00pm on Saturday, May 26th from the Charleston Maritime Center, which saw teams representing nine countries battle over the three day leg. The teams left Charleston Harbor in near perfect conditions with a large number of spectators both on land and on the water.
Eärendil moved into the lead after a long, intense battle with #127 Amhas on Monday 28th. The French/Italian duo played the conditions perfectly allowing them to gain a both a tactical and speed advantage after gybing in from the Gulf Stream to race alongside the New Jersey shore.
Nine boats remain on the racecourse with between eight and eighty-two miles until they too cross the Angola Cables finish line!
Catherine Pourre, #145 Eärendil:
"It was a more difficult situation when it was windy and we were downwind. We had to hand steer because the autopilot wasn’t good in tough winds. And then we were racing with Amhas, and wanting to stay with them until the end. We didn’t know we were going to have so much time between us."
Micah Davis, #127 Amhas:
"It was great, it was fun race, we saw a little bit of everything and it was fun to be next to Eärendil and try to stay next to Eärendil and Angola at the beginning. It was fun, but it was hard."
Rob Windsor, #127 Amhas:
"It's really hard to do well in all three legs. I think that boat [Eärendil] is really fast. But, number two we're in a good position and there is a lot to be sailed and who knows what the next leg will bring. We might not be able to reach for too long and it might not be their conditions."
Provisional results are listed below. The remaining nine teams are still en route to New York with expected arrival times to run through the evening and into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Our thanks go to Billy Black, the Atlantic Cup's Official Photographer for these amazing images! Head over to our Facebook page to see more images from today's finish.
The Atlantic Cup is committed to being the most environmentally responsible sailing race in the United States. Teams, participants and race management work together to create an event that is carbon neutral and ISO 20121 compliant. As the race grows, we will continue to seek innovative ideas and products that align with our mission and produce a truly sustainable event.
