Single-Handed Transatlantic Race

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
OSTAR-2013-LOGO-Artwork.jpg

The Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (short- STAR . On French deckchair anglaise : English transatlantic race) is a since 1960 every four years discharged transatlantic race for solo sailors who from the English Plymouth to the East Coast of the United States (mostly Newport , rare York New or Boston ) leads. The distance to be covered is around 2,820 nautical miles(approx. 5,222.6 kilometers). Depending on the weather and ice situation, the yachts sail a 5% to 20% longer distance to their destination. The course leads against the prevailing westerly winds and, with the appropriate course choice, over the Newfoundland banks, which are notorious for their frequency of fog and iceberg danger.

The regatta has had different names in its history thanks to changes in sponsors. Originally organized by the Royal Western Yacht Club of England and sponsored by the British newspaper The Observer , for many years it was called the Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race , or OSTAR for short . Later names retained at least the part of the name “STAR” (e.g. C-STAR) until the split after 2000, and the amateur regatta OSTAR today uses the original acronym again , with the first letter now standing for original .

Development of the regatta

The initiators of the regatta were the two British "Blondie" Hasler and Francis Chichester . According to legend, they had made a bet for a half pence as to who would cross the Atlantic faster . Chichester started in 1960 with his yacht Gypsy Moth III , while Hasler started with Jester , there were also three other participants. Chichester won in 40 days, Hasler finished second in 48 days. The Berlin sailor Walter Kaminski was also registered for this first edition of the race, but he did not reach the starting port in time.

German participants in this race were u. a. Claus Hehner (1972: 28th place) and Wolfgang Quix (1980, 1988, 1996), who, however, could not hold their own against the international competition.

Traditionally, the OSTAR is dominated by the French and the English, with multihulls having always been in the front seats since the 1980s. Until the first Route du Rhum in 1978, the OSTAR was the most important one-handed regatta in the world.

With each edition of the event, the race became more professional and the opportunity to sail in the front without sponsorship decreased. In response to the ever more expensive yachts that OSTAR launched, the Mini-Transat (now Transat 650 ) was launched in 1977. Inspired by the OSTAR and due to the exploding costs of the Transat 650, the Jester Challenge was held in 2006 for yachts between 20 and 30 feet. The race is named after the legendary yacht Jester , with which "Blondie" Hasler participated in the first two OSTAR regattas in 1960 and 1964 and Michael Richey in all subsequent races between 1968 and 1996. Start and finish are also Plymouth and Newport. This race takes place every four years in the year after the regular OSTAR.

Due to the great popularity and the professionalization of part of the field of participants, the OSTAR was after 2000 into a regatta for professionals ( The Transat , first organized in 2004 by Offshore Challenges Events Ltd. ) and a regatta for amateurs ( Original Single-Handed Transatlantic Race , short OSTAR , first organized in 2005 by the Royal Western Yacht Club of England ) split; On the one hand there is The Transat ( Plymouth - Boston ) for sailing professionals with boats of the IMOCA 60 and Class 40 classes and on the other hand the original Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (Plymouth - Newport RI) for smaller boats. At the Artemis Transat 2008, the German Boris Herrmann took 2nd place in the class 40 yachts. He thus achieved the best placement that a German single-handed sailor could achieve in one of the major single-handed regattas.

While the skippers at OSTAR are free to guide the route, at The Transat the regatta management names an exclusion area that is not allowed to be entered, depending on the ice situation over the Newfoundland banks (exception in 2004). This limits the possibility of reaching the destination on the great circle route.

OSTAR and The Transat have seen a decline in interest from participants in recent years, which is why The Transat has already been postponed several times. The Transat started under the name The Transat Bakerly on May 2, 2016 in Plymouth with destination New York. There were 25 participants in 4 boat classes (Class 40, Multi 50, IMOCA / Open 60, Ultimes).

At the OSTAR 2017, 14 yachts were at the start, five of which reached the finish. The OSTAR planned for 2020 has been postponed to 2024 due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

The Transat , also scheduled for 2020 , this time under the name The Transat CIC (departure port Brest / FRA, destination port Charleston / USA) has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . By changing the port of departure and destination, the ideal connection to the OSTAR was finally cut. The OSTAR is only used to market the race for promotional reasons.

Women at OSTAR and The Transat

In 1968, the German foreign language secretary Edith Baumann (26) was the first woman to take part in the race with her Kola III trimaran . She had to stop the race because of damage to her boat and was taken away. In 1972 Marie-Claude Fauroux was the first woman to successfully complete the OSTAR with the yacht Aloa VII after 33 days. The fastest woman at OSTAR in 2000 was the Briton Ellen MacArthur with the Open 60 Kingfisher . It took 14 days, 23 hours and 1 minute.

The 2016 The Transat Bakerly started with 2 female skippers: Anna-Maria Renken (GER) on NIVEA and Isabelle Joschke (FRA) on GENERALI - Horizon Mixité. Joschke had to give up the race due to structural problems with the hull.

Accidents

In 1972 the yachts Justa Listang and Mersea Pearl were de- masted and abandoned by their skippers Bob Salmon and Bob Miller. Both sailors were rescued.

In 1976 the yachts Three Cheers with the skipper Mike McMullen and Galloping Gael with Mike Flanagan on board were lost. Toni Bullimore was rescued from his burning yacht from another ship.

In 1988 the yacht Hyccup sank after a whale collision. The skipper David Sellings could be saved. The yacht Jester also had to be abandoned . Skipper Mike Richey has been removed.

In 2009 the Open 30 Città di Salerno of the Italian Gianfranco Tortolani fell into distress off the Canadian coast. The skipper was taken on board from a container ship.

In 2016 Richard Tolkien had to be picked up from his Open 60 44 with a head injury from a freighter. The yacht was left to its own devices in the middle of the Atlantic.

At OSTAR 2017 the yachts Tamarind and Illumia 12 were abandoned. Both skippers could be saved. At the end of November 2017, the keelless hull of the Illumia 12 was washed up on the west coast of Ireland.

Individual editions of the regatta

Line Honors from 1960 to 2013, from 2005 without ORMA 60 trimarans at the start

The registered boats and the boats that made it to the finish (in accordance with the rules) are given to the participants.

  • 1960: Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR); Plymouth - New York (only time approached New York), 5 (5) boats (only time only monohulls participated)
  • 1964: Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR); Plymouth - Newport, 15 (14) boats
  • 1968: Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR); Plymouth - Newport, 35 (18) boats
  • 1972: Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR); Plymouth - Newport, 55 (43) boats (minimum length)
  • 1976: Observer Single-Handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR); Plymouth - Newport, 125 (73) boats (3 classes, by hull length only)
  • 1980: 1 / OSTAR (sponsors: The Observer, Europe 1 ); Plymouth - Newport (3 classes, only by hull length)
  • 1984: 1 / OSTAR (sponsors: The Observer, Europe 1 ); Plymouth - Newport (5 common classes of single and multihulls)
  • 1988: Carlsberg Single-handed Transatlantic Race (CSTAR or C-STAR); Plymouth - Newport, 95 boats
  • 1992: Europe 1 STAR; Plymouth - Newport
  • 1996: Europe 1 STAR; Plymouth - Newport
  • 2000: Europe 1 New Man STAR (sponsors: Europe 1 , New Man); Plymouth - Newport, 24 IMOCA (monohull) boats and ≥ 7 ORMA 60 (multihull) boats (in 2 separate classes)
  • 2004: The Transat (professional regatta); Plymouth - Boston, 37 boats ( ORMA 50 & 60; IMOCA50 & 60 )
  • 2005: Faraday Mill OSTAR 2005 (sponsor: Faraday Mill; amateur regatta); Plymouth - Newport, 35 (19) boats
  • 2008: (The) Artemis Transat (Sponsor: Artemis , Great Britain; professional regatta); Plymouth -
  • 2009: OSTAR (amateur regatta); Plymouth - Newport, 31 (23) boats (in 4 classes), Line Honors for the Dutchman Jan Kees Lampe with the Open 40 "La Promesse" in 17: 17: 40: 00
  • 2013: OSTAR (amateur regatta); Plymouth - Newport, 17 registered yachts in four classes, Line Honors for the Italian Andrea Mura with the Open 50 "Vento di Sardegna" in 17:11:22
  • 2016: The Transat Bakerly (Sponsor: Bakerly LLC); Plymouth - New York, 25 registered boats in four classes, Line Honors for the Frenchman François Gabart with the ULTIMES trimaran "Macif" in 08: 08: 54: 39
  • 2017: OSTAR (amateur regatta); Plymouth - Newport, 14 registered yachts in two classes, Line Honors for the Italian Andrea Mura with the Open 50 "Vento di Sardegna" in 17: 04: 06: 19

Rated German participants in OSTAR (Plymouth-Newport)

  • 1968: Claus Hehner, SY MEX (37 feet), 41:10:46
  • 1972: Claus Hehner, SY MEX (35 feet), 40:08:23 (including a 24 hour time penalty due to a rule violation); Wolf Dietrich Kirchner, SY White Dolphin (32 feet), 38:07:17; Heiko Krieger, SY Tinie (26.5 feet), 46:13:52
  • 1976: Folkmar Graef , SY Dadztoy II (38 feet), 32:20:55; Gerd Bucking, SY Helene II (35 feet), 33:08:41; Klaus Schrodt, SY Liliam (29.5 feet), 37:21:25; Wolfgang Wanders, SY Amitie (35 feet), 42:17:30
  • 1980: Wolfgang Wanders, SY Stadt Krefeld , 21:14:22; Wolfgang Quix, SY Jeantex (31 feet), 38:03:02, the SY Jeantex sank on the return journey to Germany at the level of the Newfoundland banks. The skipper could be saved.
  • 1988: Wolfgang Quix, SY Jeantex T 3000 (40 feet), 22:12:58; Roland Treinzen, SY Stella Polare (40 feet), 27:21:30
  • 1992: Karl Brinkmann, SY Little Fritzzz (26 feet), 36:22:57
  • 1996: Wolfgang Quix, SY Wolfie's Toy (50 feet), 20:01:45
  • 2009: Uwe Röttgering, SY FANFAN! (40 feet), 21:22:42

German participants in The Transat (Plymouth - Marblehead or Plymouth - New York)

  • 2008: Boris Herrmann, SY Beluga Racer (Class 40 of the Akilaria rc1 type), 17:12:10
  • 2016: Anna-Maria Renken, SY NIVEA (Class 40 of type Pogo S3, owner: Stefan F. Heidenreich ), 21:13:19

Participants from Austria and Switzerland

  • 2004: Norbert Sedlacek (AUS), SY Brother (IMOCA 60), The Transat, 17d 18h ​​35m
  • 2013: Ralph Villiger (CH), Ntombifuti (40 feet), OSTAR, 36d 08h 12m (with a repair stop in Brest )

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ This legend has been persistently cultivated over the decades, it cannot be substantiated, cf. Half Crown Club on the Royal Western Yacht Club of England website ; accessed February 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ http://yb.tl/rwyc_transat2017
  3. ↑ http://www.yachtingworld.com/all-latest-posts/108311-108311
  4. ↑ http://www.ybw.com/news-from-yachting-boating-world/ostar-race-illumia-12-yacht-found-in-kerry-ireland-61939