With an outright speed record of 2 days, 10 hours, 24 minutes and 42 seconds that has been on the books since 2005, it is possible that 2019 will be the year that it will fall. One of the fastest boats currently racing, the Mod70 Argo, have their sights set on that record set by Tom Hill’s Titan 12.
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 are also joined by Daryl Wislang, who was on last year’s winning Dongfeng 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?
Chad Corning, Boat Captain and Crew onboard the MOD 70 Argo owned by Jason Carroll 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, has 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 coveted Pineapple Cup Trophy.”
The 2019 edition of the Pineapple Cup will have two starts: the PHRF fleet will start at 11h00 ET on January 27 and the IRC and Multihull fleets will start on January 28 at 14h00 ET. Entries include Volvo 70 Wizard, MOD 70 Argo, TP52 Conviction and two British entrants: Lady Mariposa (Ker46) and Lee Overlay Partners II (Swan60).