Racing
Throwback Thursday: Stark Raving Mad
Last week, team members Will Cyr and Adrian Sawyer toured Westerly Marine with the local Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers (SNAME), where Alive (Ex. Stark Raving Mad) was built in 2006.
Alive formerly known as Black Jack, was acquired by Tasmanian businessman Phillip Turner from Peter Harburg early in 2014 and is currently racing out of Brisbane and registered with the Derwent Sailing Squadron, Tasmania. Alive was originally launched in the US in 2006 as Stark Raving Mad and owned and campaigned by Jim Madden. At 66 foot Alive fits into the ‘mini-maxi’ size category. Her narrow, light and canting keel combined with a powerful new Southern Spar rig makes her a technically advanced and challenging boat.
Philip Turner and his crew have enjoyed consistent success, recently claiming Line Honours in the 2016 Rolex China Sea Race and writing her in to the history books by setting a new record for the race of 47h 31m 08s, 11 minutes and 59 seconds inside Beau Geste’s record, set back in the millennium edition. She also holds back-to-back IRC wins in Southport Yacht Club’s XXXX Sail Paradise Regatta both in 2014 and 2015, a first place ORCi and IRC overall in the 2014 Brisbane to Gladstone 308 n.m. race, second overall IRC Division 1 at the 2014 Hamilton Island Race Week and most notably, the 1,850 nautical mile MYC 2014 Melbourne to Vanuatu in which she won Line Honours and IRC as well as cementing a new race record of 5 days, 23 hours, 52 minutes and 45 seconds. Black Jack took 3rd overall in fleet in IRC to R/P-designed Wild Oats X1 and Loki in the 2012 Sydney-Hobart race, and first overall in ORCi.
The Reichel/Pugh team designs for performance longevity and has unparalleled success at producing some of the world’s most distinctive, most enduring and consistently rewarding sailing yachts including designs that have continuously won major regattas over several decades.
Pictured: Stark Raving Mad (now called Alive) at Miami Race Week in 2006.
Tags: Alive, Harburg, Stark Raving Mad, throwback thursday, Turner
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Throwback Thursday: Built in the 80s, Taxi Dancer Starts the Newport-Ensenada Race Tomorrow
Wishing Reichel/Pugh racers, R/P staff David Oliver on Blue Blazes (RP50) and Dan Flanigan on Aszhou (previously know as RP63 Invisible Hand and Limit), and all competitors, safe competition on the annual 2016 Newport-Ensenada Race which kicks off tomorrow. Pictured is the RP68 Taxi Dancer, originally built for Mitch Rouse of LA, which took 1st place in the 1990 N2E Race and won its Class in the 2010 race. Taxi Dancer was a custom ULDB 70 (West Coast Sled) built and launched in San Diego in 1988, winning the Big Boat Series ULDB 70 Class in 1990 after ULDB 70 Class wins in the ’89 Transpac and Newport-Cabo Race. She then went on to win the ULDB 70 Sled Class in the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Big Boat Series. “Reichel/Pugh designs have proven over the years to perform from launch, and have the longevity to continue winning long after.” Four decades after launch, Taxi Dancer recently won the 2012 Cal Cup Regatta is entered in the race tomorrow. Read More …
Tags: Rouse, Taxi Dancer, throwback thursday
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Newport Beach, CA (August 25, 2019) – Congratulations to Alec Oberschmidt and his team for the overall win (and B division win for the third year in a row) at the 2019 Long Point Race Week aboard their Reichel/Pugh-designed 50’ racer Staghound. David Clark’s ULDB 70 Grand Illusion with Reichel/Pugh-designed keel and rudder appendages was 2nd in ORR Division. Grand Illusion won the Transpac overall in 2015. 
Cowes, Isle of Wight (August 17, 2019) – Mark Rijkse’s Reichel/Pugh-designed GP42 42° South (ex-Seawonder 007) shone brightly at the 2019 COWES WEEK, scoring four bullets in six races to win Class IRC 0, winning the prestigious Brittania Cup and New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup in two of those races. 
A piece of Dr. Skip Sheldon’s legacy lives on as his 66’ racer-cruiser Zaraffa continues to win with the grateful U.S. Naval Academy Varsity Offshore Sailing Team.
As the 50th Transpac kicks off this week Reichel/Pugh wishes all owners and crews a safe race, especially our very own Naval Architect and Structural Engineer David Oliver who is navigator aboard the 60’ Good Call.
Porto Cervo (June 8, 2019) – The 12th edition of the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta was organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in the waters of Porto Cervo, Sardinia and hosted 20 boats ranging from 25 to 52 metres in length. Reichel/Pugh-designed 100’ Magic Carpet3, owned by YCCS member Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, won Class “A” ahead of the 33-metre Inoui and the Wally 107 Open Season with a perfect scoreline across all three races. The Silver Jubilee Cup, assigned to the top yacht over 30 metres with an interior cruising set-up and in the division with the most competitors, also went to the WallyCento Magic Carpet3. Jim Pugh was apart of the racing team.
Ensenada, Mexico (April 28, 2019) – Congratulations to all competitors in the 72nd annual Newport to Ensenada (125nm). On the heels of its 2018 Sydney-Hobart victory, the Australian-based Reichel/Pugh 66’ Canting Keel Mini Maxi ALIVE (formerly Black Jack & Stark Raving Mad) earned the NOSA Trophy for overall best elapsed time, the Amigo Trophy awarded to a first-time skipper and the Lahaina Yacht Club Trophy for best elapsed time all PHRF. Congratulations to owner Phillip Turner, skipper Duncan Hine and the entire Alive Yachting team. 
RP100 Black Jack is Winner of 2019 Brisbane to Gladstone Line Honors and Four Cities Cup for best performing yacht.
St. Barths (April 21, 2019) — Launched in 2010, Les Voiles de St. Barth is an event created specifically to keep the long, colorful history of racing on the island vibrant — building on Loulou’s Regatta back in the 1970’s with its 100 sailboats to the Transat AG2R, the Route du Rose, and the St Barth Bucket Regatta. The 2019 regatta marked the 10th anniversary and fielded scores of teams across nine classes, despite the remaining traces of hurricane Irma, which ravaged the island in September 2017.