Warrior Breaks 16-Year-Old Course Record At 2017 A2N

From the Annapolis Yacht Club: Some very impressive sailboats have taken aim at the Annapolis to Newport Race record since it was set in 2001. A few have come tantalizingly close to accomplishing the feat, but the mark managed to stand through seven subsequent editions of the offshore classic.

Finally, the combination of a fast boat and proper conditions finally came together. Warrior, a Volvo 70 skippered by Stephen Murray Jr., capitalized on predominantly reaching conditions to smash the course record in the 2017 Annapolis to Newport Race.

Warrior completed the 474-nautical-mile course in 40 hours, 14 minutes and 36 seconds. That tremendous time took nearly three hours off the previous record of 42 hours, 58 minutes and 12 seconds, set in 2001 by the Farr 60 Carrera (Joseph Dockery).

“We are absolutely thrilled to now hold the record for one of the world’s greatest offshore races,” said Murray, an attorney from New Orleans. “I didn’t want to talk about the possibility of breaking the record before the race because I didn’t want to jinx it. We were extremely excited as we got closer to Newport and realized the record was within reach.”

Warrior started the race just south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at 11:05 a.m. Saturday and crossed the finish line off Fort Adams at 3:19:36 a.m. Monday.

“What makes this so satisfying is that this is such a difficult record to beat. You need to get very lucky in terms of conditions,” Murray said. “This boat is a real rocket ship in power reaching conditions and that’s mostly what we got.”

The Murray family made a grant to the Merchant Marine Academy to purchase the Volvo 70, which was sailed by the Camper syndicate in the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race. The Merchant Marine Academy subsequently donated to the boat to the Warrior Sailing Program, which provides maritime education and outreach for wounded, injured, or ill service members and veterans.

“One of the reasons I am most pleased about this record is that it brings attention to the mission of this boat, which is to raise awareness of Warrior Sailing,” Murray said. “I’m really happy this accomplishment can help shine a spotlight on the program.”

This was the second major offshore distance race for Warrior, which captured line honors and was overall winner of the Antigua to Bermuda Race. The Volvo 70 will not wind up as overall winner of the 36th biennial Annapolis to Newport Race, but Murray was more than satisfied to come away with the record.

“We are certainly very proud to have the record and can only hope it stands for a while,” Murray said. “I would think our time will be tough to beat. There are a lot of great boats that have the ability, but it’s very hard to get the right conditions for this race.”

Black Pearl, a Carkeek 47 skippered by Stefan Jentzsch of London, was the second boat across the line. The German-flagged entry, which started Saturday alongside Warrior, crossed the finish line at 12:58 p.m. Monday with an elapsed time of 49 hours, 53 minutes, 40 seconds.

“It was a very fun and interesting race,” Jentzsch said after arriving at the docks of the Newport Shipyard. “We basically saw every type of condition. This race was never boring, always a challenge. We had to stay on our toes the entire time.”

Black Pearl made its Annapolis to Newport Race debut in 2015 and placed second in IRC 1 behind Murray and his Carkeek 40 Decision. This time around, Black Pearl has already corrected over Warrior by a little less than three hours.

“We kept our foot on the pedal the whole way,” Jentzsch said. “I think we sailed the boat very well. We didn’t make any mistakes. We shall see how we do against the fleet, but I cannot think of anything we could have done better.”

Black Pearl had quite a duel with the TP52 Hooligan for a good portion of the race. Hooligan, which is being raced by members of the Naval Academy Varsity Offshore Sailing Team, finished the race at 4:11 p.m. Monday.

“We had a close battle with Hooligan in the Chesapeake and during the early part of the offshore leg,” Jentzsch said. “We finally started to put some mileage on them when the wind piped up in the ocean.”

Orion, a J/122 owned by Annapolis Yacht Club member Paul Milo, was the fourth finisher. Orion came across at 4:37 p.m. Monday to earn line honors for boats that started Friday.

Kenai, a modified J/44 owned by Chris Lewis of Houston, Texas finished 27 minutes after Orion. Kenai was also among the 32 boats in four classes that started Friday.

Photos courtesy of the Annapolis Yacht Club