Racing with Boris

(Brian Hancock, Halifax) With New England sweltering under an early summer heat-wave, seven Class 40 yachts took to sea heading for the cooler waters of Halifax, Nova Scotia in a special feeder race to the start of the Quebec St Malo race set to get underway later this summer.
A light easterly wind made for a downwind start and a few seconds before the gun fired most of the fleet had hoisted their spinnakers and were rolling over glassy water at 10 knots. Miranda Merron, skippering “40 Degrees”, took an early lead closely followed by our multi-national team on board “Beluga Racer”. Skipper Boris Herrmann, the German national 505 Champion, had called in some heavy hitters including world 505 champion, Danish sailor Jan Saugmann , an Austrian hotshot, Arno Kronenberg and myself.
We quickly settled into a routine and as the shimmering land sank into the sea behind us with the promise of a cooler night ahead, six boats were level pegged for first. It promised to be a close race all the way to Canada. Surprisingly the first night was all about staying warm, and competitive. The water kept offshore temperatures freezing and we huddled on deck alternately trimming,driving and blowing on cold hands.
The on-board trackers carried by each of the yachts sent automatic position updates to our computer below and the screen flickered the news that the racing was extremely close. “40 Degrees” still hung onto a slim lead but there was less than half a mile between first and sixth place.
Out to the east Tanguy de Lamotte on “Novedia” seemed to find a favorable shift and by daybreak they had taken the top spot just as the last of the wind sent a light zephyr scooting across a flat sea.
The course between Marblehead and Halifax transits the Gulf of Maine before making landfall at Cape Sable on the southern end of Nova Scotia. It was clear that the fleet would converge at this point and as darkness fell on the second evening most of the yachts appeared out of a light mist. We were still in the hunt a couple of miles behind “40 degrees” with French sailor Halvard Mabire between us, but the wild card was still “Novedia” who had cunningly shut off their position reporting beacon and disappeared from our screen. We suspected that they had found a private breeze and we were correct.
A chilly northerly wind filled in and it was a short tacking crash and bash sail up the coast of Nova Scotia which was unfortunately shrouded in mist and out of sight. Finally just as we were running out of warm clothes and food, the finish line loomed as dusk settled in.
“Novedia” had won the race, Halvard Mabire had slipped past “40 Degrees” to take second and we had also been overtaken to finish in fifth.
Fortunately we were in time for dinner at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club where a blazing fire warmed chilled bones.