With spectators lined up across Chandler Hovey Park and Castle Rock on Marblehead Neck, the 39th Biennial Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race kicked off Sunday with 70+ yachts setting course to Halifax.
Featuring 14 boats over 50 feet, including the 75-foot Brooklyn Boat Yard Isobel, 68-foot Mills Space Monkey, Naval Academy’s Reichel Pugh Kodiak, and 60-foot Lyman-Morse Windwalker, things are tightly-contested through Wednesday.
Space Monkey, a 68-foot Mills, finished first (1d 23h 18m 29s) at 2:43 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by fellow American boats Kodiak and Rikki.
Space Money and Kodiak were the only boats to finish the 363 nautical mile race by Tuesday. By press time Wednesday, nine boats had crossed the finish line:
Space Monkey: 1d 23h 18m 29s
Kodiak: 2d 0h 57m 17s
Rikki: 2d 12h 41m 10s
Dragonfly: 2d 18h 15m 19s
Wahoo: 2d 20h 9m 16s
Polaris: 2d 21h 5m 56s
Zig Zag: 2d 21h 6m 1s
Fast Company III: 2d 21h 53m 29s
Blue Jay III: 2d 21h 54m 26s
In the PHRF division, Kurt Locher’s J42 Atalanta is just three minutes ahead of Dan Workman’s Express 37 Ursa.
The race returned this year after a four-year coronavirus hiatus. First beginning in 1905, its last in 2019 was won by Steve and Stephen Murray in the modified Volvo 70 Warrior from the Southern Yacht Club with a time of 40 hours and 24 minutes.