NESS Board of Directors, Michael Hennessy, received Line Honors of the first & second leg of the Bermuda One-Two Offshore Yacht Race on Tuesday, June 8th and Monday, June 21st. The Bermuda One-Two begins with Leg 1 at Newport Yacht Club, RI and finishes at St George’s Yacht Club, Bermuda, and then back for Leg 2. Invited yachts and Skippers race two legs – the first, solo from Newport to Bermuda; the second, double-handed from Bermuda to Newport, by any course. Mike and his boat, Dragon, are based in Mystic, CT and have raced in Class40 for a number of years. Mike’s first offshore race was the Bermuda One-Two back in 2003!

“The objective of this particular race is and remains the making of a single-handed/shorthanded passage, which encourages safety, good seamanship, communication, and on-going gear and technique development and testing.  It is an event designed to accommodate and challenge both single-handed cruisers and racers alike – from the “rock star” to the Corinthian “every man”.  The race is sailed in two parts: Leg One by a lone skipper from Newport to Bermuda, and, following a brief layover, Leg Two back Newport with one crew member – hence the origin of the event’s name.”  Read the Full History.

Dragon Ocean Racing
Skipper: Michael Hennessy
DTF: Finished at 08 Jun 2021 15:23 EDT
DTF: Finished at 21 Jun 2021 05:04 EDT
1st in Line Honors
1st in Class 5
1st in Class 40

Photo Credit: Dragon Ocean Racing

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LEG 1 RACE NOTES

“June 4 1200
23 boats started in foggy conditions.

Dragon emailed: Good evening. Wind is 223 True and blowing 12 to 14. Fog has shut visibility down to 0.10 since the start. Sea state is maybe 1 meter. Start was relatively slow tacking out the passage but was successful against Kent Racing and Kiwi Spirit. Graphic Solo’s AIS is not being received, so not clear how I did there. Once I cleared R2 and was able to free up a bit, it’s be steady progress. Batteries are acting up a bit, and I missed radio hour because I was charging. I tried to hail class 5 on 72 and 16 at 1918 hours and got nothing. It’s possible I am out of range. Otherwise all is good an pushing to clear the continental shelf in the next few hours. I hope if there are fishing boats out here, they are transmitting AIS!

June 5
Dragon emailed: Good morning, Roy. Please email me back to confirm that you are getting these. Crossed the continental shelf at 0100 in dense fog, but as the water warmed the fog lifted. We are now at 69 degrees, up from 58 in Newport, and life is more comfortable. The water temp is also a sign that we are nearing the northern reaches of the Gulf Stream. That and the first signs of sea weed. The wind reached 20 knots last night, on reach to shy reach. It’s now gone aft about 30 degrees and dropped to low teens.
No boats responded to my hail during chat this AM. Have a great day.

Dragon emailed: Howdy from the eastern frontier. So far, am pretty happy with my routing choices. The second half of the race is going to be interesting since I have invested a lot of miles to get into the favorable arm of a hypothetical eddy. I reached the northern wall of the Stream at 1300 this afternoon, right on schedule. I am in the process of exiting now. Wind is blowing high teens to 20 from 260 to 265 True and it means a broad reach while I pile up some more easting. I should hit my selected eastern boundary around 0100 Sunday morning and see what fortunes await. Back to work….Sea state is maybe 2 meters and messy – it’s bullying the autopilot. Hopefully that calms down when I am fully out of the stream. Skies were partly overcast, and Temps are comfortable. Sorry, I should have added that no one responded to my hail during the comms window. I am pretty much out of range at this point.

June 6 0700
Dragon emailed: Good morning, Roy. Decent night of sailing. Saw as much as 25 in the gusts, and a steady 18-20. I down shifted to 2 reefs in am abundance of caution and probably gave back to much as a result. I am trying to make up for it this AM by pressing more canvas. Skies are overcast, sea state has settled to a bit less than a meter. I am about 2/3 rds done and now comes the tricky bit. Do the westward boats take a hit from the eddy? Do I get the expected boost from the feature that we think is to the east? Do I have the better angle for the expected high pressure when we get closer to the island? Stay tuned! It’s gonna be exciting.

1900
Dragon emailed: Greetings from the eastern eddy. Been getting a bit of. About over her in the east. It helps offset the fact that I am more upwind now and the breeze is down to about 11. It’s been mostly cloudy today, which is giving a nice sunset right now. Temps were cooler today, also nice. And the Sea state has smoothed out from last night. I have been moving ground to Kiwi Spirit, a bit inevitable given her water line length advantage over me. But I seem to be holding my own over the other Class40s. I still can’t raise anyone from Class 5 on the VHF during the chat windows. Tonight should be straight forward, sailing into declining breeze. Tomorrow will be more interesting is the high pressure extends north and east. Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.

June 7 0700
Dragon emailed: Good morning. Tough night out there. Wind faded around 0100 and went pretty variable at various points.  Several tiring sail changes. Weather is slightly cloudy, minimal wave state and slightly shifty winds. We are in the final push.

1900
Dragon emailed: If you let me choose between a day of 35 knot sailing or a day of 3 knot sailing, I would pick the gale over the calm every time. In the gale you gear up, reduce sail, and hunker down. Other than the fear, it’s pretty simple. The calm is a misery. It’s hot, it’s frustrating and it’s never ending work trying to squeeze even a knot of boat speed out of the whispers of wind. You are constantly looking for cats paws of wind on the water’s smooth surface and wishing you could teleport the boat to those patches of good fortune. And when it gets below 2 knots, often the best you can hope for is to keep the bow of the boat pointed in generally the right direction. For more specifics, I have fought for the past 18 hours to ouch my way generally south. Not able to point at the island, but generally close. I had a half knot of favorable current for most of the day, but that was about the only gift. Otherwise I am waiting for the forecasted shift to the SE, one that I can use to tack towards the mark and that will also put the whammy on my pursuers given their more westward location. But that shift is proving to be coy and my patience is tested. So…how was your day? Sorry, I should add that there still is no one within hailing distance for the chat window.

June 8 0700
Dragon emailed: Does anyone else find it intriguing that the three boats in the lead of this leg are named after mythical creatures. Sure, Kiwis exist but they give off a mythical vibe. 25 miles to go with clear skies, 5 to 8 knots of (finally) a SE breeze. The SE was predicted way back in our pre-race prep and has always been part of the Dragon plan, setting us up a clean line into the finish. Taking the east side of this course is always tempting, particularly if the meander does lure you away. Doing the initial half of the course on a broad reach is a tempting way to build an early lead. But too often it sets you up for a slow uphill beat to the finish, giving up all your early gains and then some to boats coming in from the west side which is exactly what happened in the 2019 edition of this race. In 13 outbound legs to Bermuda, I went east one other time. This time, however, it all lined up. The broad reaching, advantageous current from multiple eddys, and a SE to finish in. I have had my doubts in the leg, all the way until this morning when the South Easterlies finally kicked in. A couple more hours will tell the tale, and answer Stanley Paris’ question. Can Dragon’s slay Kiwis and Gryphons?

June 8 1236
Dragon emailed me that he is 90 minutes away from Mills, the finish line.  Said he tried to hail me but I didn’t hear him.

June 8 1523
Dragon finished.  Second race in a row Dragon, sailed by Michael Hennessy, has had line honors winning both in different ways; from the East this year and the West in 2019.”

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LEG 2 RACE NOTES

“June 17 1300
The rain/thunder storms went north and south of us so we had a sunny day with winds out of the southwest 16 to 20 kts. All boats, 22, started except for Rubicon which is in Dock Yard repairing his weak cockpit floor to be able to sail back maybe next Tuesday. He has a tracker and it will be displayed. Not long after we finished we heard Bermuda Radio hail Dragon, Gryphon Solo and Kiwi Spirit 2 that they were heading toward the reaf and to turn east, now.  Dragon actually went over the reef.  Sounds like a change to the SIs is called for in 2023.
Just looked at the radar picture here and they will be running into thunder squalls in a little while.

June 17 1900
Dragon emailed: Heard no one during chat hour, and can’t see anyone on AIS. Blazing start out of St. Georges then down shifted as we passed Kitchen Shoals. We have been rhumbline for now, but know that will change after the front comes through. Speaking of which, we reached the forward edge around 1430 hours and I think we are just now seeing the backside with a pretty big wind shift towards the NW. Up to and while in the front it was blowing 20+ with gusts to 28, now it is settling a bit to high teens. It’s a sloppy 2.0 meter sea state with waves from both beam and Stern quarter. Lots of weed catching on keel and rudders. The auto pilot is working overtime. Have a good night!

June 19 0700
Dragon emailed: After fighting our way to the back side of the front on Thursday night, our nex navigational challenge was dealing with the light and variable air that was in the high pressure ridge that followed. We never got to flat calm and saw at least 3 knots and as much as 10. It meant we were able to keep the boat moving. The original expectation was that we were going to see NW breeze that we could use to ooch our way towards the west side if the rhumb line, but it stayed more WNW which meant we ended up on a long VMG tack on the east side of the line where we were crossing tacks with Kent Racing for a while in the early hours of Friday morning. Through the day on Friday, there were multiple instances of large wind shifts, leading us to make tacks to stay on the favored board and all of which brought us back to, and then a little bit west of the Rhumb line where we met up with Gryphon Solo. That turned into a drag race down the rhumb line. Straight line for most of Friday afternoon, then some tacking with the wind shifts on Friday night. We ended up with some separation last night, and now they are doing a bit deeper than us and sliding a bit further west than us. The wind has made an expected shift to the SW as we have sailed out of the ridge in the past 5 hours and into the new system. We are expecting this direction for the rest of the race, with a build from the current 15 knots to as much as 25 knots tonight before settling back down on Sunday. Meanwhile, it’s partly cloudy skies and 76 degree air Temps. We are slightly cracked off and near reaching in a light chop. Nothing wrong with a day of that kind of sailing!

1900
Dragon emailed: Doing the rhumb line rumba out here. It’s blowing from the southwest and a sporty 20 to 25 knots so we are blast reaching parallel to the rhumb line. We are set up a few miles to the west right now, prepared for the Gulf Stream to sweep us east as we cross it. It’s been a sunny day, and very wet. The sea state has built to 2+ meters and the combination of waves and our speed that occasionally spikes to mid teens means there is water coming over the deck regularly. Going on watch means suiting and booting for protection. Dragon is doing well with two reefs in the main and Solent reaching. The auto pilot is earning her keep, given a sea state that is throwing the boat around a bunch. Good spirits as we are finally making good speed towards the finishbin what has been a slow race up until now. Otherwise, we are keeping an eye on Claudette. We should hopefully be in the barn by the time she reaches the race course, but that will still leave a bunch of boats that have to contend with her. Fingers crossed.

June 20 0700
Dragon emailed: Well, Dragon spent her night snacking on Kiwis. Good for vitamin C, or so we have been told. Forecast was spot on, with winds remaining from south west but building to 25+ after dinner through to about 0200 hours, then low 20’s until dawn. Now they have settled to mid teens. We used the pressure to haul the mail, blast reaching up the rhumb line at speeds that occasionally made it as high as 18 knots. It was wet and violent sailing. The Stream itself was virtually a non event. We reached it around 2245 hours (10:45 pm) and were through it by just after midnight. It was maybe 20 miles deep at most, and only noticeable because of the 81 degree water temp and the fact that the sea state calmed down while we were in it. Just before dawn we crossed a long line of squalls, marked out in front of us by the lightening that would blossom in first one cell, then another, then the first cell then a third. We ended up avoiding all but one, which dumped torrential rain on Cole who was standing watch at the time, and served her up 35 knots for a good 10 minutes. Now we have mostly clear skies, with mares tails at high altitudes perhaps warning of Claudette’s approach in the next 36 hours. Seas are fairly light. We expect the breeze to fade down to as low as 5 knots as we go through the day, remaining SW. Kiwi is west of us, and for her to get east it will mean sailing deeper angles in a light breeze which won’t be fun for them. They have 13 feet of boat length on is, but we like our chances given our better angle as we sail right down the rhumb line. The only wild card is Gryphon Solo who’s tracker has not transmitting since yesterday morning. Dragon – on the prowl in the north Atlantic.

1500 
Dragon emailed: Home stretch, and Dragon is speeding her way towards Awesome Town. Today turned out to a bit more tricky than we had planned for. Around 11 AM, the steady 10 knots of breeze first moved forward, heading us, then died out and left us struggling for a solid 4 hours. All we could really do was keep the boat moving and hope was that Kiwi Spirit and Gryphon Solo were going through the same ridge. But after the whammy we laid down last night, it was a mood killer. Persistence paid off and the SW breeze filled back in around 3 and got us back up to speed. We crossed over the continental shelf shortly after, the last major milestone before the finish. We continue to point at the finish, with 80 miles to cross to get there. The boat and crew are in great shape, the sun just set on a beautiful day, and we are lucky to be here.  Dragon, rumbling along in the North Atlantic.

June 21 0504
Dragon finished.  1st to finish on return leg as well as the 1st leg. It’s only appropriate; they started in fog and finishing in fog! Although not quite as dense.”