by 11th Hour Racing media
Under beautiful sunny skies, with a terrific crowd cheering the teams on, five Class 40s from the United States and Canada started Leg 2 of the 2014 Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing at 12:05 ET today in a southwest 6-8 knot breeze with flood current on the New York side and ebb current on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. At the start #39-Pleiad Racing was first across followed by Leg 1 winner #106 Gryphon Solo 2. A huge right shift on the New Jersey coast benefited both #54-Dragon and #116-JeffMacFarlane.com. The Leg 2 course will take teams down the New Jersey coast to a turning mark near Barnegat. Once the teams make the turn they’ll head north for Newport, RI.
The passage to Barnegat Light is going to be the most challenging any Atlantic Cup fleet has ever seen. As we can see there have already been a few lead changes. After a sustained period of light winds upon exiting the harbor, it looks like the boats that have hugged the Jersey Shore, have made the right decision and have the advantage.. It’s still a very tightly grouped pack and this leg is setting up to be anyone's game.
On board Dragon. Image copyright Dragon Racing
Once the teams round the mark, they'll reach towards Montauk into a diminishing breeze. The light air will fill in from the west around noon tomorrow so my advice to the teams would be sail fast take chances and the team that can squeeze the most boat speed out of light breeze will prevail.
While racing, tracking will update every five minutes and can be found at: http://atlanticcup.org
Recap of Leg One
“For me it feels awesome to win, I’ve been around the Atlantic Cup for four years and this was my first year racing so to come out and get a win in the first leg is fantastic.” Gryphon Solo 2 co-skipper Patrick O’Connor
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