THE RACING
Emma Delivers After 4,200 miles of sailing alone in a 21-ft Mini 6.50, Emma Creighton became the first American woman to finish the Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50 in 10 years. On November 3, Cr eighton's Simon Rogersdesigned Pocket Rocket, was the 23rd proto to arrive in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. In doing so, she became only the third American woman to finish the race in its 34year history. In Emma Creighton a race where a total of 15 of the 72 boats dropped out, finishing the trip is an amazing accomplishment. Along the way, Creighton sacrificed places to render assistance to a stricken competitor and earned plaudits from both organizers and the rest of the fleet. Creighton — a native of Maine who has called the Bay home for the last few years — had just arrived home from Brazil as we went to press. We hope to have a full debrief for you in next month's issue of Latitude 38.
PIERRICK GARENNE/GPO
Creighton received the traditonal Brazilian samba welcome after 4,200 miles alone on a 21-ft boat.
The winner, David Raison, was sailing what is certain to be a game changer for the proto mini fleet — a Scow! When close reaching, Raison's Teamwork Evolution was untouchable, often sailing a knot or more faster than his closest competitors. You can find more on the race at: http://www.charentemaritime-bahia. transat650.net/en/ Great Pumpkin If you missed the Richmond YC's Great Pumpkin Regatta, you missed out on one of the most awesome weekends of racing this year. With full sunshine and temps in the 70s, breeze that ranged from 8 to 14 knots — aside from a two-hour hiatus on Saturday when a westerly kicked the morning northerly to the curb — the conditions were the perfect complement to an event that represents the perfect end to the Bay's summer sailing season. The Great Pumpkin is always fun, but this year's was definitely a vintage one. With a phenomenal party and some great costumes milling about what seemed like a capacity crowd, the good vibes were palpable. Of course getting to that capacity required entries, and this year's event had them in spades — 258 to be exact. They were split into 11 one design and nine handicap divisions with some solid division breakdowns amongst similar boats. Unfortunately, the boats on the Southampton course were shut out of one of their three scheduled buoy races on Satur day, but those on the other courses managed to get their races in. With four course areas there was surprisingly little traf fic overlap, and we didn't
PAUL TODD/VOLVO OCEAN RACE
PIERRICK GARENNE/GPO
The nights are getting longer and the air is getting colder, but that doesn't mean there isn't still plenty of racing going on, and a quick tour of last month's racing action bears that out. Enjoy our seasonal offerings for some early winter reading. Happy Holidays!
hear any gripes about the race management. In fact, it received an unsolicited plaudit. "I had my Dad, Len Delmas, on board with Billy Barton on Saturday and Don Jesberg on Sunday," said Cinde Delmas of the gorgeous Alerion Express 38 Another Girl, "and all of us were so impressed with the professionalism of the Race Committee, especially in light of the amount of boats, races and courses. I thought the way Eric Arens and all the volunteers organized was impressive both days!" You almost had to feel sorry for the crews of the two TP 52s, Jim Swartz' Vesper, and Peter Cunningham's Power Play. Due to their draft, the duo was based out of St. Francis YC, and raced in the Central Bay on both days, unable to take part in Sunday's pursuit race. They also missed the party on Saturday night due to being on the opposite side of the Bay. Swartz' reigning Rolex Boat Series winner took the title by a point after scoring bullets in the first and third races.
