KRYS OCEAN RACE| HISTORY| NEWYORK | JULY

The first event of the MOD70 circuit
It has to be said that since the start of the 20th century, very few recurrent crewed races have sailed this legendary eastbound course across the North Atlantic.

Thanks to the willingness of a handful of men and partners, all anxious to take up with a thrilling maritime past once again, the KRYS OCEAN RACE, a crewed race aboard MOD70s, will set off on 7 July 2012 to open proceedings for the one-design trimaran circuit.

In the wake of the first eastbound transatlantic races...

The custom of Atlantic races and records goes back a long way. The result of a somewhat crazy gamble taken in 1866 by two owners during dinner at New York's Union Club, the initial confrontation was played out between three American schooners, Vesta, Fleetwing and Henrietta.

The reference time established by the crew of Henrietta back then was 13 days 21 hours and 55 minutes… However, it was necessary to wait until 1905 for the organisation of the first official race, the Kaiser Cup, an initiative by Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany. On 18 May 1905, the starting canon echoed across the bay, releasing a disparate fleet of 11 English and American yachts into the Atlantic.

Very soon, two craft were marking each other's every move: ATLANTIC helmed by the Scottish-born, naturalised American and triple winner of the America's Cup, Charlie Barr and HAMBURG, a schooner with a shorter waterline length, which was perfectly prepared and a vessel fitted out by the Kaiser himself. 

12 days and 4 hours were enough for Charlie Barr and his crew to cross the finish line off Lizard Point. It took 75 years for the reference time to fall into the hands of a certain Eric Tabarly and his three crew. On 31 July 1980, Paul Ricard recorded the light of Lizard Point at 0°, which indicated a period of 10 days and 5 hours that had elapsed since setting out from Ambrose Light offshore of New York.

 Since that time, a number of crews and solo sailors, both during races and record attempts, have continued to try to improve on this performance along what has now become a celebrated course.



The KRYS OCEAN RACE by Marco Simeoni, President of Multi One Design S.A:

"It's now three years that we've been working intensely with Franck David and Stève Ravussin so that our circuit sees the light of day. With the launch of the first MOD, the KRYS OCEAN RACE constitutes both a success and the start of the adventure. The various partners associated with this event - Krys, our title partner, as well as the cities hosting the start and finish, the cosmopolitan New York, and Brest with the fabulous Tonnerres de Brest maritime festival – all come together to provide some very promising elements in terms of notoriety and popular success for this first race, whose aim is to be a great event on the MOD70 circuit."

Krys Ocean @http://www.krys-oceanrace.com/en