The Storm Trysail Club has a long, deep and proud history of achievement in the Bermuda Race. This makes perfect sense as the club was founded in 1938 when the crew of the yacht Salee – who set “the” storm trysail during a gale in the 1936 Bermuda Race – gathered together to commemorate their adventure. In fact the top three for the record for most lifetime Bermuda Races are all STC members: Jim Merz (30), Club Secretary John Browning (29) and Past Commodore of STC and current Chair of the Storm Trysail Foundation Rich du Moulin (28). Past Commodore Leonard Sitar is a relatively newbie with “only” 18! With that much experience, one can easily predict, and be proven correct, that a good number of STC members will be garnering silver in any given year.
This year, STC’s representation on the podium was no exception as STC “showed well” in the results; with The St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy being taken by Carina (owned by member Rives Potts, and helmed by member Barrett Holby), while the Gibb’s Hill Trophy was grasped by Andrew Berdon on his new-to-him TP 52 Summer Storm, plus multiple class wins and podium finishes. Rounding out the podium are:
- Hound – Dan Litchfield – 1st in SDL5
- Phantom - Chris Schoen – 1st in SDL6
- In Theory - Peter McWhinnie – 2nd in SDL3
- Zig Zag – Andrew Clark – 2nd in SDL4
- Cougar - Leonard Sitar – 2nd in SDL7
- Entropy - Paul Hamilton – 2nd in SDL6
- Selkie - Sheila McCurdy – 3rd in SDL1
- Blue Skies - William Gunther – 3rd in SDL3
One of the bigger stories in the race was the battle between Carina and Hound. As Rich describes it: “The 2024 race was perfect for an older heavier boat refitted with a huge carbon mast and extended boom, new sails, winches, rudder and keel. We knew the race could provide a real contest for the 59-foot Hound versus our "friends"- (almost all Storm Trysail) aboard Carina (my home for the past three Transatlantics). In the end Hound seemed to beat Carina by 18 minutes but our starting penalty of 27 minutes put Carina ahead. Congrats to skipper Barrett Holby, navigator Devin Santa, and other STC Carina crew members including Chris Simon, Peter Bauer and others.”
Carina now holds the record of most Bermuda Race wins by a single yacht with four: 1970, 1982, 2010, 2012 and now 2024.
Even the three commentators on the live stream of the starts off of Fort Adams were STC members: Ken Read, Cole Brauer and Jesse Fielding. Not to mention all the STC members who crewed, were officials, or shore-side supporters and volunteers. In fact, almost 15% of the crews were STC members.
Congratulations to STORM TRYSAIL RED on winning the H. Irving Pratt Trophy in the Bermuda Race! The team made up of Carina, Summer Storm, In Theory dominated the category.
The following are a smattering of insights, experiences and moments from the race:
On Strategy:
Past Commodore Ed Cesare, Navigator on Hound: “We had been moving Point Alpha around in the two days leading up to the race and finally nailed it with our sixth candidate. Correlating Current Labs modeling with detailed NOOA altimetry data georeferenced into Expedition was a great tool… Navigating the last 20 miles is always a challenge, and the way we managed the last 20 miles into the Island was the best I’ve ever seen. If you are going to be on the short tack more than 10 miles from the island, there better be a good reason.”
Past Commodore AJ Evans , Reserve PIC and Watch Captain on Past Commodore Lenny Sitar’s Cougar: “When we reached the stream first in our class, the four boats behind us were one or two "lanes" west of us and passed us on the right with 2-3 knots more current than we had for two hours. We clawed our way back to 2nd corrected thanks to pure boat handling.”
Rich du Moulin: Both Hound and Carina broke out of their starts by playing the west then heading for the crest of the meander to ride it southeast at 4.5 knots. We both exited near the rhumb and headed for Bermuda. We ignored the temptation to bear off to the east to pick up the edge of an eddy. To gain a theoretical thirty minutes on Expedition, but sail 11 extra miles and be further to leeward did not look attractive.”
On Crew Work:
Barrett: “Actually all the crew played a big part in the race and all did their jobs very well: Like a strong chain, no missing links. Watch captains, navigator, crew, we probably could not have won with any of those links missing.”
Rich – “Hound’s crew totaled 88 Bermuda races, more than any boat in the race. Out of a total of 16 crew, half were STC members: Dan Litchfield (owner), Ed Cesare (navigator), Jamie Anderson, my son Ed, me (navigator), Jason Black, Lindsay Gibbons-Neff, and Chris Huntington.”
AJ had this quintessential STC observation: “Pleasant acquaintances that become good shipmates are on a level above friends, and that's largely why I keep doing races like this. In general, this average weather race will likely soon be forgotten, but the routine teamwork in making the boat go fast and the laughs shared in the cockpit are what made the lasting memories.”