There’s just three days until the first start in the 34th edition of the Pineapple Cup. Six teams will depart Miami, Sunday at 11am ET, in the PHRF Fleet! The IRC and multi-hull fleet will follow on Monday at 2pm ET. The starts will be live streamed on Facebook weather permitting.
Safe to say we’re looking forward to what is sure to be another fantastic edition of this classic offshore race!
As part of the Montego Bay Yacht Club’s aim to continually grow the event, we’re delighted to announce a partnership with Virtual Regatta that will allow those following at home to race alongside Volvo Ocean Race Winners, America’s Cup veterans, friends and family all from the comfort of their sofa! Scroll down or click HERE to register to play!
A Who’s Who of Offshore Sailing Talent Ready to Race
The Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race, an offshore classic first run in 1961, has seen a plethora of world class sailors competing on high performance racing sail boats since its inception. This year is no different as the Volvo 70 Wizard owned by Peter and David Askew, will be crewed by some of the Vestas 11thHour Racing team, including Charlie Enright, Mark Towill, Simon Fisher, and Phil Harmer. They’re also joined by Daryl Wislang, who was on last year’s winning Donfeng Volvo Ocean Race team.
Argo will be racing with Brian Thompson who is no stranger to record breaking, he’s broken many of them including winning the Jules Verne Trophy as the helmsman on Loïck Peyron’s Banque Populaire V. Also racing on Argo will be 2010 America’s Cup winner and French sailor Thierry Fouchier. Both the Multihull (Steve Fossett, Lakota, 1999) and Monohull (Tom Hill, Titan 12, 2005) records are some of the longest standing records for an offshore race. The question now is: will the MOD70 beat its predecessor the OMRA 60 and the outright record set by Titan 12?
Check out all the teams and their stellar crews HERE!
Chad Corning, Boat Captain and Crew onboard the MOD 70 Argo said “The weather is looking strange this year. The first bit of the race should be rough and very fast but the conditions down the track look light and unstable. While we have one eye fixed on the Multihull record set in 1999 by Steve Fossett on his legendary ORMA 60 ‘Lakota’ we’ll try hard to get inside Titan’s outright record. We’ll need the trade-winds to re-establish themselves quickly after the frontal passage to make that happen. Regardless we’re looking forward to a great ride down one of the world’s most scenic and challenging racetracks.”
Charlie Enright, Tactician, Wizard said “Wizard, owned by David and Peter Askew have a robust racing calendar which includes the Pineapple Cup, RORC Caribbean 600, New York Yacht Club Transatlantic, Fastnet and the Rolex Middle Sea Race. It’s brilliant to be sailing with such a campaign and reunited with many of the crew from Team Vestas 11th Hour Racing. For now, our thoughts are on the Pineapple Cup and as ever it is our intention is to take the monohull line honors while setting ourselves up for the best chance to take home the historic Pineapple Cup Trophy.”
Mike Hennessy, Skipper, Dragon Ocean Racing said “The forecast for the race looks a bit less vicious than it did earlier this week, but it still looks extremely challenging. Early high wind reaching evolves into a light air hate drift down the east side of the Bahamas and the tantalizing hint of breeze in the Caribbean. But the models still disagree in many respects, and navigators are going to need to pay attention to each grib update.”
We’re delighted to have partnered with Virtual Regatta, the French technology company providing spectators at home to race alongside those competing within the Pineapple Cup! To play, click the photo found directly below
