Benn Smith (#1324), one of Bermuda’s top junior sailors and son of veteran sailor Malcolm Smith (2003 World Sunfish Champion) takes us on a late afternoon, front seat ride around the optimist course in Hamilton Harbour (Granaway Deep)
“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment Would you capture it or just let it slip?” – Eminem
The Spirit of Bermuda is a modern-built Bermuda sloop. She is a replica of a Royal Navy Sloop-of-war, depicted in a well-known 1831 painting.
History of the Bermuda Sloop
The Bermuda sloop was a type of small sailing ship built in Bermuda between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Fitted with Gaff rig, a combination of Gaff and Square rig, or Bermuda rig, they were used by Bermudian merchants, privateers and other seafarers. Their versatility, and their maneouvrability and speed, especially upwind, meant they were also jealously sought after by non-Bermudian operators for both merchant and naval roles. Bermudians built large numbers of them for their own merchant fleet and for export before being obliged to turn to other trades in the Nineteenth Century. At the end of the Twentieth Century, no Bermuda sloop remained anywhere in the world, and most Bermudians had no practical or romantic connection to the island’s long history as a maritime economy. These were among the facts that prompted the construction of a new Bermuda sloop, the Spirit of Bermuda, and the creation of a sail training organisation, the Bermuda Sloop Foundation, to utilise her in instilling an awareness of the sea and of Bermuda’s maritime heritage in her youth.
Design and Construction of the Spirit of Bermuda
Unlike the original vessel, which would have been built primarily from wood, the Spirit of Bermuda was manufactured from modern materials.
“The vessel utilizes modern wood composite construction (seven layers of wood and epoxy), it has carbon fiber spars, outside ballast, and up-to-date systems to ensure longevity, performance and comfort. She was designed by Langan Design Associates of Newport, Rhode Island.” rockportmarine.com/boat_details
She was built in the US for the charitable Bermuda Sloop Foundation (BSF) to serve as a sail training ship for Bermuda’s youths.
Bermuda sloops were built with up to three masts, although purists might insist the term sloop be applied only to single-masted vessels. The single masted ships, with their huge sails, and the tremendous wind energy they harnessed, were demanding to sail, and required large, experienced crews. The Royal Navy favoured multi-masted versions as it was perennially short of sailors, at the end of the Eighteenth Century, and such crewmembers as it had, particularly in the Western Atlantic (given the continuing wars with France for control of Europe), received insufficient training. The longer decks of the multi-masted vessels also had the advantage of allowing more guns to be carried.
The Bermuda Sloop Foundation chose a three-masted design for one of the reasons the navy had: it was easier to handle (and less dangerous) for the inexperienced youths who would crew her. A design with Bermuda rig was also favoured, although the majority of Bermuda sloops historically built probably were fitted with Gaff rig.
The final design, naval architecture and engineering of the vessel was accomplished in Newport, Rhode Island by Langan Design Associates, headed at the time by company founder Bill Langan.
The Bermuda Sloop Foundation
The BSF was founded in 1996 by Malcolm Kirkland, Alan Burland and Jay Kempe. During the next eight years, the Foundation grew as donations were sought, and the design decided upon. Bermudian singer-songwriter Heather Nova recorded the single Sailing to raise funds for the project. Rockport Marine, in Rockport, Maine, was contracted to build the ship in 2004. The Spirit of Bermuda was completed in August, 2006, and sailed to Bermuda that October. Since then she has operated locally and internationally on sail training cruises.
A team of five young sailors from the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) traveled to Napier, New Zealand at the end of 2011 (Dec 30, 2011- Jan 10, 2012) to compete in the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) Under 16 World Championship against another 210 sailors from around the world.
The Bermuda team was made up of Rory Caslin (45th), Makai Joell (141st), Antonio Bailey (150th),Michael Barit (150th), and Ceci Wollmann (157th)
Rory is mentioned in the “Day 3 Report” (3:00 min) as “doing pretty well in the top ten” and in the “Day 7 Report” (2:43 mins) as he “had a great performance leading the race.”
The “Day 4 Report” gives extensive coverage of the Bermuda/GB Team Regatta starting at 1:17-2:00 mins. The Bermuda team is penalized for breaching the rules during a downwind stretch and lose the lead they had up to this point over the Brits, who end up winning the race in the last few meters. (Singapore wins the World Optimist Team Racing Title over Peru)
(Verse 1) The wind is up, I’ll take you with me We’ll ride the waves and build a dream together We’ll set the sails and as in life We’ll take each turn; the fair and stormy weather
(Bridge 1) Cause it’s in our hearts, it’s in our minds With only our fears to leave behind
(Chorus) And we’ll be sailing to get there Sailing to come back home Sailing, sailing Together we can learn to live as one
(Verse 2) We are an island in the sea We are all sailors you and me, remember So like our fathers did before Let’s weigh the anchors and explore together
(Bridge 2) Cause it’s in our blood, it’s in our veins We’re taking it back to win again
(Chorus) And we’ll be sailing to get there Sailing to come back home
Sailing, sailing
Together we can learn to live as one
(Break) We have the chance to shine To pull together, leave our differenes behind Cause it’s in our hearts, it’s in our souls Just as they did in days of old Take up the challenge of the sea And we can set our mind and spirits free
(Chorus) Cause we’ll be sailing to get there Sailing to come back home Sailing, sailing Together we can learn to live as one
The Bermuda Race, or Newport Bermuda Race, is a biennial yacht race from Newport, Rhode Island to the island of Bermuda (in odd years, the Marion-Bermuda Yacht Race occurs), a distance of 635 nautical miles (1175 km) across open ocean.
Early History
The first Bermuda Race was started by the Brooklyn Yacht Club started in 1906 from Gravesend Bay, N.Y. with three entries. It ended that year at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club off St. David’s Head, Bermuda. The winner (and one of the two that finished) of that first race was a 38-foot yawl Tammerlane, commanded by Thomas Fleming Day, then editor of The Rudder magazine. The race was held several more times in the 1900s and 1920s.
At the close of World War I Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Vice-Commodore Eldon Trimingham met with a group of New Yorkers, including Herbert L. Stone, editor of Yachting. The result was a revival of the Race, and in 1923 22 boats started at New London, Connecticut, and every one finished.
Starting in 1926, the Cruising Club of America (CCA) and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) have co-organized the race, setting a regular schedule for holding the race in even-numbered years. That schedule has continued to the present except for a hiatus during World War II. In early years, the race started at Gravesend, Marblehead, Mass., New London, Conn. and Montauk, N.Y., but since 1938 it has started at Newport. Over the past 100 years, some 4,500 boats and 46,000 men and women have raced to Bermuda, most of them with little real hope of winning. One founder, Tom Day may have hit the reason so many people join the race, they are seizing the opportunity “to get a smell of the sea and forget for the time being that there is such a thing as God’s green earth in the universe.”
Recent History
“The Bermuda Race is the pre-eminent distance race on the East Coast,” to quote Gary Jobson, Honorary Chair of the event’s 2006 centennial race. “It’s a feather in every sailor’s cap to have done the race, and many consider the Lighthouse Trophy the most coveted trophy in distance racing.” With 265 yachts the 2006 edition was the largest yet. Winners, that year, received trophies from The Princess Royal at Government House, the residence of the governor.
The 1906 race was won by Tamerlane, a 38 ft (11 m) yawl, captained by Frank Maier in a time of 126 hours. The current record of 54 hr was set by Roy Disney’s Pyewacket in 2002.
Artist: Eminem “Lose Yourself Soundtrack Version” on: iTunes
