Time to celebrate!

The ocean race is over now but the fun is just beginning. First of all, celebrations were in order for many crews as they arrived in Saint-Pierre. After all, finishing a 353 nm mile ocean race, no matter what your final place in the fleet, is an achievement.
The Volvo 60, Spirit of Adventure, wins line honours for crossing to Saint-Pierre the fastest of any boat in the fleet - 37:52:31.

The rest of the results are all calculated by using handicap systems.
Ciao Baby!, an Archambault 31 owned and skippered by race originator Philippe Paturel of Saint-Pierre comes out top in the IRC class.  While there were just two competitors in the non-spinnaker class this year, the winner is worth mentioning.  It's Race Chair Scott MacLeod with his Oceanis 40 Easy Company.

A Mini - a Nacira 6.50, Shanawdithit owned and skippered by Rodolphe Victorri also of Saint-Pierre is the overall PHRF and the PHR-1 class winner, as well as top double-handed crew.  Victorri sailed the distance in 44 hours and 7 minutes.
And Sea Smoke, the Bavaria 38 from the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron owned and skippered by Mike Evans takes the PHR-2 class honours.

Line honours to Spirit of Adventure!

The big Volvo 60 Spirit of Adventure crossed the finish line in St. Pierre overnight with an elapsed time of 37:52:31.  And then Sirius made it through the fog to arrive after 39:14:17 hours of sailing, the first double-handed crew to arrive.  Chantal Briand in Saint-Pierre sent us these pictures from the welcome:

Spirit of Adventure crew celebrates

Skipper Derek Hatfield at the helm

Stephane Bry and crew celebrate the finish

Sirius arrives in Saint-Pierre in the fog

Wed. 1900 update

Spirit of Adventure is closing in on Saint-Pierre this evening.  The big Volvo 60 was just 66 nm away from the finish at 1900 Wednesday.  Wind speed in the area is 18-20 kts.

Photo: Mike Cyr

Sirius, a Saint-Pierre boat skippered by Stephane Bry is keeping up the chase.  There's just 8 nm between the two vessels at this hour. The mini Nacira 6.50 owned by Rodolphe Victorri of Saint-Pierre is living up to its racing reputation.  He's moved into first place in PHRF racing and holding a strong boat speed of 11.4 kts despite its 21 foot length.  Larry Cohen and "Dawn Treader" are pushing through to the finish, holding on to first position for IRC racers. 

Wed., July 9th Race Update

Derek Hatfield’s Volvo 60 “Spirit of Adventure” is leading the fleet in Route Halifax Saint-Pierre as the second day of racing gets underway.  The 353 nm race started in Halifax harbour at noon on Tuesday, July 8^th.  The 18 boats are racing along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and will be heading out to the ocean to cross over to Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, the French islands off the Newfoundland coast.

Hatfield’s crew on “Spirit of Adventure” is paying for the opportunity to learn how to sail the grand prix racer. Many of them are experienced sailors but the chance to crew on vessel of this size and type is rare in the Maritimes. “Spirit of Adventure” is the largest vessel in the race this year.  The vessel is the former Amer Sports One from the 2001 Volvo Ocean Race.

"Spirit of Adventure" gets ready to start

Challenging “Spirit of Adventure” for line honours is Sirius, an Akilaria 40 from the Saint-Pierre Yacht Club skippered by Stephane Bry.Past race chair Mike Evans and his “Sea Smoke” is overall leader in the PHRF class.  Evans is racing double-handed with Andrew Sergeant.  “Sea Smoke” is a Bavaria 38.

There are boats from Virginia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Saint-Pierre competing this year.  While the largest is the Volvo 60, the smallest is a 21-ft. Nacira 6.50 from the Saint-Pierre Yacht Club that owned by Rodolphe Victorri.  That’s a class of high performance racing yachts built for the Mini-Transat race among others.

There was a spread of about 70 nm between the leader and the back of the fleet early Wednesday morning.  The race weather forecaster is predicting favourable southwest winds of 20 to 25 kt for the next day or so although there could be some fog.

The racers are carrying Yellowbricks and you can track their progress at: http://yb.tl/halifax2014

CTV report on the start of Route Halifax Saint-Pierre 2014

CTV reporter Amanda Debison met some competitors and was on the water to watch the start of this year's race.  Here's a link to her report:

CTV's Amanda Debison reports.

The race is on!

The boats are on their way to France.  A flawless starting sequence took place at noon off Sackville Landing on the Halifax waterfront.  The wind is coming from the southwest and the sun is out now.

Follow all the progress by using our Yellowbrick tracker:   http://yb.tl/halifax2014

Here are some of the sights from the dock where blasts from the navy gun crew sent the crews on their way.

Gun crew at easy, waiting for the start.

The Radio-Canada cameraman lines his shot up with the
Race Committee boat.

Boom!

Madame Karine Claireaux, maire de Saint-Pierre,
visits HMCS Sackville for the race
reception and a tour.

Smallest boat in the fleet

Meet a first-time participant in Route Halifax Saint-Pierre. This is the smallest boat to be entered in the Race this year - a Nacira 6.50 m. 

Owner Rodolphe Victorri of Saint-Pierre arrived safely on Friday night before the storm. He had just passed the boat inspection when we caught this picture of "Shanawdithit" at the RNSYS in the beautiful sun of Sunday afternoon. In case you are wondering, the boat is named for the last Beothuk who lived in Newfoundland.  Although small in size, the boat is designed for ocean racing.  After purchasing the vessel in Europe, Victorri sailed home to Saint-Pierre single-handed.

Off to France!

Read a feature about our race on Sail-World.com:
http://www.sail-world.com/Canada/Route-Halifax-Saint-Pierre---Off-to-France!/124114

Sail-World.com - Route Halifax Saint-Pierre - Off to France!

www.sail-world.com     

Ocean racers from the Maritimes, Newfoundland, the U.S.A. and France are heading out on another edition of Route Halifax Saint-Pierre on Tues., July 8th. The starting gun fires at noon and sends the fleet from Halifax harbour racing up the Atlantic Coast.

  The fog was starting to roll in around the RNSYS,  just as our Acadian-themed dinner was being served at the Spar Shed on Friday night.  Weldon Boudreau and his daughter provided excellent Acadian music for the event which included a fresh fish dinner thanks to one of our sponsors, Bluenose Seafoods.

Dinners in the Spar Shed!

With "Arthur" on his way to the Maritimes, race organizers have decided to move the Friday and Saturday night parties for Route Halifax Saint-Pierre 2014 inside to the Spar Shed at RNSYS.  Same great music, same delicious food.

Friday, July 4 - Acadian Night featuring a fresh fish dinner, great wine and the music of Weldon Boudreau, a well-known Acadian musician from Nova Scotia.

Saturday, July 5 - BBQ starts at 7:00 pm... mixed in with Gosling's Rum Squall (Dark 'n Stormies R US!), Heineken and the music of The Classics.

Weldon Boudreau

The Classics