….and what a finish it was –  with after just over 5 days the wind filling in and a rain storm coming down and about 20 boat all within 1/2  a mile or so of each other beating towards the St David’s Lighthouse line.  The 20 or 30 miles coming  south to the East of Bermuda is superb as the blue water is so clear you can see the bottom – varying between 5 and 10 metres below.  This is quite alarming when you see the maps of wrecks around Bermuda but we were all reassured when reminded that it was probably deeper than a substantial part of UK East Coast sailing.  Despite overall ORR result being 72/96 we felt honour was satisfied when we cross-tacked 4 boats and got ahead for line honours in the last few seconds. Our total times was 120h  43 minutes  56 seconds. Not our finest result but in the light of the final 3 days was acceptable.  This was the slowest Bermuda Race for decades and over 100 of the yachts arrived on the Tuesday – a logistical nightmare for Race Officers and berthing master.  One  finished the boats travel back north and go west around the North of  the Island into Hamilton Harbour through a channel blasted in the Bermudan reef.  It takes about 2 hours get in and once in the harbour we jilled around for 1/2 h whilst other yachts were berthed and we then berthed stern to at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.   Requests for yachts to dress overall of course meant the flying of EAORA flags, Rolex Fastnet and Middle Sea flags, ARC flags.   Hamilton and Bermuda generally were fantastic – great hospitality by the Bermudians and beautiful weather.   This was probably one of the most frustrating long-distance races because of the light airs and although huge emphasis is placed by all on the Gulf Stream, what was probably more important was having a faster, lighter boat and going for the wind.

There were many highlights of the Race and the race preparation. In particular we all want to return to New England and Long Island Sound.  We chose an ideal prep venue at Brewers Pilots Point Marina, in terms of both location and ability to do complex boat work in short time.  The ‘can-do’ attitude was very evident and we were lucky to have the support of Jeremy Maxwell at the Marina.   This, of all the races we have done, was logistically the most challenging,  in terms of distance,  entry requirements, rating requirements, last minute major work (keel removal and replacement) but once again the Heartbeat team were up to the challenge.   The start and pre-race time at Newport, Rhode Island was amazing and to be sailing in an area where so many famous yachts and events have been was overwhelming. We all had our pics taken in America’s Cup Avenue.  Pre-race fun was mainly had away from marina but the Heartbeat team made its usual mark at the crew party.

Once again we had a superb team – in no particular order (I would say that wouldn’t I) – Jude, Marcus, Roger, Nic, Sarah, Paul, Grace, Trev, Jason, Ash and John.  Couldn’t have been more fun which was balanced by a huge amount of hard work!!

Heartbeat IV is now safely back in Antigua in Jolly Harbour for the hurricane season having been delivered by Captain Chris Rundlett and crew.

A few photos below give some sense of what we got up to.  A lot more can be seen at http://jjpaynejames.smugmug.com/Boats/Newport-Bermuda-Race-2014.

Gosling's Rum Crew Party at Newport Shipyard. The crew of Heartbeat IV

Newport-Bermuda - Class 4 Race Start

Heartbeat IV start of the Bermuda Race 2014

A rival!

Considering the Gulf Stream

Where's the bloody wind?

Getting near the finish

Almost there!

Wahey! We've finished.....

Heartbeat IV in RBYC Marina at end of race

Bermuda Race Finish Party

Lovely gels

This man needs help

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