Transatlantic

Racing

RORC Transatlantic Record for RP’s 130′ My Song

December 4, 2018 · Posted by kate

Pier Luigi Loro Piana’s 130′ Supermaxi My Song finished the 2018 RORC Transatlantic Race on December 4th at 17:47:11 UTC taking Monohull Line Honours. The Baltic 130 owned by Pier Luigi Loro Piana, a member of the International Maxi Association (IMA), has also set a new Monohull Race Record after completing the 3,000 mile race between Lanzarote and Grenada in an elapsed time of 10 days 5 hrs 47 mins 11 secs, shaving 1hr 19mins 48 secs off the previous monohull race record set in the 2015 race by Jean-Paul Riviere’s French Finot-Conq 100, Nomad IV.

My Song, delivered in 2016 and features a rotating retractable propulsion system, high-performance keel and other innovative features. Her naval architecture and engineering is by Reichel/Pugh, Interior, deck design by Nauta Yachts of Milan, and she was built by Baltic Yachts with project management by Nigel Ingram, MCM. Following World Superyacht Awards for Best Sailing Yacht between 30m and 39.9m and the Showboats Design Awards in which she was voted Most Innovative Sailing Yacht and took the Best Exterior Design and Styling award, she also won the International Superyacht Society’s 2017 award for the Best Sailing Yacht between 24m and 40m.

It was a champagne moment for My Song’s team once alongside the dock at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis as they were greeted by marina staff and well-wishers. Nikoyan Roberts, Manager of Nautical Development for the Grenada Tourism Authority presented Pier Luigi Loro Piana with a basket of Grenadian goods, including chocolate, local spices and condiments.

RORC Race Officer Steve Cole presented Pier Luigi with the magnificent International Maxi Association Transatlantic Trophy for Monohull Line Honours and congratulated the team for setting a new race record.

“I’m tasting the Caribbean right now!” smiled Nacho Postigo, sipping an ice cold beer courtesy of Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina. “The conditions for the RORC Transatlantic Race were the best I have ever had. Almost every day we had very few squalls, and at night we had brilliant stars, so it was fantastic. After getting through the pressure ridge at the start, the wind was between 16-22 knots, which is perfect and really pleasant. The main objective for us was to safely get the boat to the Caribbean. After the first few days, we were 240 miles behind the record, so we just forgot about it. Then slowly we were cutting it down and in the last three days, every half an hour someone was coming to the chart table wanting to know if we were on record pace. Personally, I love coming to Grenada; the atmosphere of the island, the fantastic sailing, but especially the people who are super, super nice.”

My Song Crew for the RORC Transatlantic Race were: Pier Luigi Loro Piana, Giacomo Loro Piana, Luca Albarelli, Jaime Arbones, Andrea Balzarini, Gerri Baracchi, Giorgio Benussi, Alberto Bolzan, Ambrogio Francesco Maria Cremona Ratti, Gaetano Figlia di Granara, Andrea Forlani, Flavio Grassi, Cristian Griggio, Jose Ignacio Braquehais, Giorgio Peretti, Jacopo Piazzolla, Ignacio Postigo, Nicola Simoncelli, Vittorio Zaoli, Gabriele Zoppi.

My Song will be spending the winter cruising and racing in the Caribbean.

Title photograph courtesy of Carlo Borlenghi

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The 50th Transpac Kicks Off

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Reichel/Pugh racers to watch:
Alive – Design 162 – 66’ CBTF Racer (formerly Black Jack & Stark Raving Mad)
Grand Illusion (featuring Reichel/Pugh-designed keel and rudder appendages)
Lady Kanon – Design 177 – 45’ IRC Racer
Shadow II – Design 122 – TP52
Taxi Dancer – Design 39 – 70’ ULDB
Vitesse – Design 199.2 – Southern Cross 52’

Race Tracking
Event News
Photography

Phillip Turner’s Australian-based Alive Yachting team most notably won the 2018 Sydney-Hobart overall, and recently swept 2019 California Offshore races with back-to-back line honor wins in the SoCal 300 (Santa Barbara to San Diego), Coastal Cup (Monterey to Santa Barbara), Spinnaker Cup (San Francisco Bay to Monterey), and Newport-Ensenada Race.

HIGHLIGHTS OF REICHEL/PUGH TRANSPAC HISTORY

Reichel Pugh Maxi’s have held the Transpac Course Record for nearly two decades, from 1999 (Roy Disney’s 75’ Pyewacket Maxi Sled) until 2017 (broken by Comanche – setting the new Merlin trophy elapsed time record at 5 days 01:55:26). Until 2017, the record had been broken 4 times since 1999 – always by Reichel/Pugh designed yachts. R/P yachts have won the Barn Door Trophy 7 out of 10 editions of the race since 1999.

Reichel/Pugh’s original sled design, the 70’ Taxi Dancer took 1st place in Class A in the 1989 Transpac and second overall, this was during the heyday of the California Sleds when Class A of the 1989 race featured 19 Sleds. Thirty years later, Taxi Dancer is still racing!

2015 – WILD OATS XI – Roy Pat Disney’s and Bob Oatley’s 100’ Canting Keel SuperMaxi Wild Oats XI had the fastest elapsed time of 6d 10h 37m 2s to win the 2015 Merlin Trophy and take first in Division 1 at the Transpac’s Diamond Head finish line. Wild Oats XI is a 100-foot custom design famous for its record nine elapsed time victories in thirteen years (2005-2008, 2018) and three overall fleet wins (2014, 2012 & 2005) in the Sydney-Hobart race.

2015 – GRAND ILLUSION – Ed & James McDowell’s Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion was the overall winner. She was designed by Bill Lee and features Reichel/Pugh-designed keel and rudder appendages. Grand Illusion has now equaled the record for most overall Transpac wins, joining the 88′ Lurline which won the first two races in 1906 and 1908, and again in 1912. However, Grand Illusion holds the status alone for winning overall three times under the same Owner/Skipper, Ed & James McDowell.

2013 – RP74 WIZARD – David and Peter Askew’s 74’ Reichel/Pugh-designed and New England Boatworks-built Mini-Maxi WIZARD (formerly Bella Mente) finished ‘first’ in the 2013 Transpac Race winning the unique Transpacific Yacht Club’s Perpetual Trophy – a 3.5’ x 4’ plaque of hand carved Hawaiian Koa Wood – better known as the ‘Barn Door.’ This trophy is traditionally awarded to the fixed keel mono-hull employing no stored energy with the fastest elapsed time. Wizard’s elapsed time was 7 days, 7 hours, 53 minutes, 46 seconds, which was 12 hours and 13 minutes slower than Bella Mente’s Barn Door record run of 6 days 19 hours 39 minutes 28 seconds set in 2011.

2011 – RP74 BELLA MENTE – Hap Fauth’s 74’ Mini Maxi BELLA MENTE set a new fixed keel course record of 6 days 19 hours 39 minutes 28 seconds with an average speed of 13.6 knots.

2011 – RPTP52 PATCHES – Jorge Ripsteins R/P-designed TP52 PATCHES won Division 2 followed by R/P designs CRIMINAL MISCHIEF 45’ and VINCITORE 52’.

2011 – GRAND ILLUSION – Ed and James McDowell’s Santa Cruz 70 featuring R/P-designed appendages took first in division and first in fleet overall on corrected time.

2009 – RP100 ALFA ROMEO II – 1st to Finish (Lending Tree got a DNS!) 5 days 14 hours 36m 20s) (Moveable Ballast & Powered Winches Course Record). N. Crichton’s Alfa Romeo II, sailing in the “unlimited” class, was not eligible for the traditional “Barn Door” trophy, but instead was the inaugural winner of a new trophy dedicated by Trisha Steele, called the “Merlin Trophy”. On July 7, 2009, ALFA ROMEO II beat the MORNING GLORY record for best day’s run set in the 2005 race, by sailing 399nm in 24 hours. The next two days she broke her own best-day record by sailing 420nm and 431nm.

2005 – RP86 MORNING GLORY – 1st to Finish (SET NEW RECORD 6 days, 16 hours, 4 minutes, and 11 seconds to win “the Barn Door” trophy) (Moveable Ballast Course Record) – H. Plattner

2005 – RP52 ROSEBUD – 1st Class & 1st Fleet Corrected Overall – R. Sturgeon

2003 – RP77 PEGASUS – 1st to Finish Barn Door Trophy Winner – P. Kahn

2001 – RP75 PEGASUS – 1st to Finish Barn Door Trophy Winner, 2nd Fleet Overall Corrected – P. Kahn

1999 – RP73 PYEWACKET – 1st to Finish Barn Door Trophy Winner (SET NEW RECORD 7 days, 11 hours, 41 minutes, and 27 seconds Ending Merlin’s 20-year record) (Fixed Ballast Course Record) 2nd Fleet Overall Corrected – R. Disney

1995 – RP66 EXILE – 1st Place Class Winner – J. Warwick Miller

1989 – RP70 TAXI DANCER – 1st Place Class Winner (19 Sleds competing), 2nd Place Fleet Overall – M. Rousse

For more information on the yachts contact: [email protected]

ABOUT THE TRANSPAC
First organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club in 1906, the Transpacific Yacht Race or Transpac is an offshore sailing race from Point Fermin in Los Angeles to Diamond Head, just east of Honolulu, a distance of 2,225 nm. This is among the world’s great ocean races, and biennially attracts some of the world’s fastest sailing yachts, some of its most talented offshore racing sailors, and a wide variety of offshore sailing adventurers.

photography courtesy of Sharon Green/Ultimate Sailing

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