Hank Hofford wins 2011 C2B

COLBERT SETTLES FOR A SUBLIME SECOND IN CHARLESTON BERMUDA RACE

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA (May 28, 2011)-Late yesterday evening, Stephen Colbert and his fellow teammate sailing on board the OnDeck Farr 65 Spirit of Juno in this 777-mile race were just 25 miles from the finish. They were well within striking distance of their chief rivals - the mostly family crew on board Tucana, a Shipman 63 that had just crossed the finish line (7:46:12 EDT). If they could finish within 4.5 hours of Tucana, Colbert and company would be crowned the winners, based on corrected time with the handicap ratings factored in. But it was not to be. After sundown, the easterly winds moderated, causing Juno to crawl slowly to the finish, eventually crossing the line well into the wee hours of Saturday. A weary but happy and bewiskered Colbert turned up at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club this morning, eager for a shower and a chance to rediscover his land legs. When asked how his voyage was, he said "Sublime. We've not gotten a lot of sleep this week, but we sailed as hard as we could when there was wind. It's hard," he said, "but even the hard parts are sublime. There's really no frame of reference for watching sperm whales breach of your starboard bow. It's an incredibly beautiful experience. I'd recommend it to anyone." Comparing this race to his experience in 2005, he offered: "I was hoping we'd get here sooner since we were on this fantastic machine, but nature didn't want to cooperate. That doesn't matter; it was incredibly beautiful. It's too much to digest quickly. Meanwhile, the winning crew from Tucana spent the night on board, tied securely to the yacht club's docks in Hamilton Harbor. Upon arriving at the yacht club, strategist and co-navigator Michael Miller told Bermuda news cameramen that Tucana had run into light winds borne of high pressure systems "again, and again, and again. Then we got wind, but it was upwind sailing." Miller described a strategy that quickly morphed from proactive to reactive. "When we ran out of wind, the only option was to go south, and that's what we did." Tucana's track (depicted on the Yellowbrick tracking system online) indicates that she was the only one of the 11 yachts racing to drop south of the rhumbline before Friday. The rest of Tucana's crew consisted of Hank Hofford, his wife Susan Ford, son John, daughters Jessica and Anna, and several friends, along with the boat's permanent skipper Pat Maflin and two paid crew. According to Hofford, one of the highlights was catching and releasing a blue marlin, which the crew did on their final day at sea. They also caught three Mahi Mahi earlier in the trip. For Hofford, this is his fifth Charleston Bermuda Race, and the fourth for Susan Ford. Also on board were race veterans Ken Bauer (four times) and Dan Valoppi (three times). As of the 11:00 a.m. position update today, four boats are continuing to race and five others have retired. Some 146 miles southwest of Bermuda, David Skidmore and Barry Ling on board Skidmore's 41-foot ketch, Eables' Wings, are continuing with good pace. Their progress was recorded at 5.7 knots. They need to finish within 38.4 hours of Noel Sterrett and Matt Henderson on board Sterrett's J/130 Solarus in order to win the Doublehanded Divison. At this time, Solarus was closing in on Bermuda at 5.4 knots, still 25 miles from the finish. And the duel at the rear of the fleet between Rob Turkewitz's team on board his classic Cherubini 44 First Light and Bernie Schapiro's crew on his Beneteau 411 Pied-a-Mer continues. As of the most recent position update, Schapiro and company were some 22 miles ahead. In a ship-to-shore call this morning, Schapiro reported larger swells in the three to four foot range. "We've got 11 to 12 knots of wind just south of east, so we're reaching and making good headway. Everything is fine on board right now." With any luck, and some wind, all of the remaining competitors will arrive in Bermuda on time for the official awards ceremony, which is scheduled to take place at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Sunday evening. To see past blog coverage of the C2B click here.