Sam Hollliday,a Consultant for the Atlantic Cup, Anthony Villalohos, Warrier Sailing Project, and a Volunteer with the Atlantic Cup, and Hugh Piggin, Race Organizer, This Afternoon on Maine Wharf. Vilaholos (C) Served in the US Army; Two Tours in Iraq and One in Afghanistan.
Profssioonal Sailor Antoine Carpentier (L) with Ship Owner Catherine Pourre, (R) and Co-Skipper of Earendil.
Jeremy Brooks and Matt Noone, President of SingleSource, Professional Staffing Services. “We are looking for people in the skilled trades,” said Brooks. ssourcesstaffng.com
Woody Laliberte and Linda Bergeron, Both Employees of Shipyard, with Don Bergeron (R).
Eastern Promenade Resident Doug Fuse, And Owner of Bull Feeney’s With Jeff Grundy, Long Time Bar Tender for Fuse. The Tall Fuse said: “This is Perfect For Me. In My Spare Time I Serve as a Mast for Some of These Racing Yachts!”
Chef Brian Anderson, Peter Foster,Banquet Manager, and Andrew Plant, Beverage Manager for the Westin Hotel.
Nathan Fulcher (L) Owner of Talanta # 95, with Mikael Ryking, of Sweden, Crew Member, on the Maine Wharf This Afternoon.
By Carol McCracken (Post # 2,611)
Class 40 racers will return to Portland Harbor in 2018 said Hugh Piggin, Race Organizer, this afternoon at a waterfront reception hosted by Fred Forsley, Shipyard Brewery on the Maine Wharf. “Portland has been very welcoming to us and its been a good place for us,” he said. That’s good news for local businesses as well as for the large sailing community in this port city. yachts. The Atlantic Cup races along the east coast every two years.
The reception was for guests of Shipyard, and some of the skippers and crew of the offshore racing yachts joined in following a nearby skippers meeting – a meeting at which plans for the Friday & Saturday Portland Harbor final leg of the race were discussed. The third and final leg of the Atlantic Cup, can be seen from Fort Allen Park on the Eastern Promenade on Munjoy Hill. The race begins at noon.
The racing rules for the Portland Harbor on-shore requires each yacht to maintain a crew of six aboard according to Catherine Pourre, see above right photo. Performance is what matters in this third leg of the race. She has one local crew member and the others are coming from all over the country. She has never met any of them. It takes more people to compete in a short course like this because the skipper is changing courses constantly. It’s more physically wearing on crews she said.
Ten racing yachts, almost 40 ft. long, began the race in Charleston, South Carolina. Seven of those finished the race in Portland. There were American owned yachts participating as well as European owned yachts too.
Nathan Fulcher, of England, said this is the first time he has raced in the Atlantic Cup. He said the race was well-organized and that he will return to it. Following the completion of the Atlantic Cup, he and Mikael Ryking will go up to Quebec to compete in a 12-15 day race to France – about 3,000 miles. He is also a writer for the Swedish edition of a sailing magazine. (See below right photo.)
Pourre, who is from Paris, France has spent several days arranging for repairs to be made to her yacht. During the run from Brooklyn to Portland, one of the rudders collided with a fish – probably a tuna – and it had to be repaired. The automatic pilot needed to be worked on as well. She called upon Brian Harris, of Maine Yacht Center, to make them. Harris has unparalleled experience with Class 40 yachts in this country.
Others attending the reception at the end of Maine Wharf included: Jeremy Brooks and Matt Noone, of SingleSource. (See above left photo.) And others below:
The City’s Waterfront Liaison to City Hall, Bill Needleman, said he has been working on this race for two years now. “This has been an experiment,” he said. By all accounts it’s an experiment that has gone well.
Manuka Sports Event Management is the parent company of the Atlantic Cup.
See previous post herein for more background information on the Atlantic Cup race in Portland.