17 November 2021
Since
1934, some of the best offshore sailors in the world have battled
for the prestigious Miami to Nassau Cup, including Ted Turner,
Dennis Conner, Dick Bertram, and Ted Hood, aboard legendary boats
like Running Tide, Windward Passage, Tenacious, and Boomerang. Half
a generation after World War II forced a short intermission, the
race became part of the fabled Southern Ocean Racing Conference in
the 1980s until the series’ dissolution in the 1980s. Building on
the race’s welcome rebirth in 2003, the new SORC, a group of
race-veteran race managers, announced its management of the Nassau
Cup Race in 2010.
Starting in South Florida, racers leave Great Isaacs Light to
starboard and proceed past Great Stirrup Light, finally finishing at
Nassau harbor. The current course record was set in the 2012 race by
Ron O'Hanley on the yacht Privateer with an elapsed time of 13
hours, 31 minutes and 30 seconds. Today’s modern boats just need the
right conditions to claim this legendary prize, and racers of all
types will enjoy the navigational and crew challenge of the race
across the Gulf Stream.
The 2021-22 SORC Islands in the Stream Series, which provides five
events from November through March along the gulf of Southern
Florida, got underway with the 2021 Nassau Cup Ocean Race on
November 11. Seventeen teams started off Miami harbor in a solid
southeasterly breeze.
John Evans and Trey Sheehan on their TP52 Hooligan led all
finishers, completing the course in 21:48:54. Using ORC scoring with
the Predominant Upwind Medium course model, Hooligan was first
overall, with George Collin’s Tripp 62 Chessie Racing in second by
44 minutes and Tim Tucker’s C&C 115 Rockstar in third place by
another 34 minutes in corrected time.
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