Racing to Bermuda

Marion to Bermuda Yacht Race

On behalf of the Beverly Yacht Club, Blue Water Sailing Club and the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, please accept our personal invitation to participate in the 2021 Marion Bermuda Race. 2021 will mark the 23rd running of the Marion Bermuda Race.  A race that began with two old sailing buddies talking about racing from Marion to Bermuda and inviting their friends, to each boat being tracked through satellite navigation for all the world to follow. It has always been a race aimed at cruising boats and remains so today.

If you have never raced to Bermuda, we are very pleased to continue our Race Mentor Program especially developed for those skippers who have never done the Marion Bermuda Race before. You will be linked to an experienced Marion Bermuda skipper in your area who has been chosen for their understanding of the race and its requirements. If you want to get into a good conversation, or follow and interesting thread about the race, join the growing number of Fans and Followers on our Social Media pages: Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and our ongoing Race Discussion Forum.

Competition for special awards will continue in the following areas (see Notice of Race for details):

• Celestial navigated yachts
• Youth crewed yachts
• Short-handed crewed
• Double-handed crewed
• Family crewed
• Female crewed
• Mini-class yachts of the same hull design
• Service Academy
• Oldest average age
• Regional crewed
• Combined performance with selected other races

Back in 1977 when the first race was run, all navigation was celestial. Over the years, with the advent of GPS, the sextant has been put aside for the ease and accuracy of GPS. The Marion Bermuda Race is now the only ocean race in North America that offers a celestial class for those skippers that want the challenge. To help stimulate participation in using celestial, in 2015 we increased the time benefit from 2% to 3% over electronically navigated yachts and are providing additional opportunities to learn celestial navigation. Also, since it is difficult for many younger sailors to participate in an offshore race the Marion Bermuda Race added a Youth Trophy to the 2015 event with the goal of increasing the number of younger sailors in our sport. This is another first in offshore racing. If you can accommodate a minimum of four young sailors between the age of 16 and 23, you can qualify for this new trophy and give some young sailors and opportunity of a lifetime!

The unique value of our race really lies in our mission to maintain its roots in blue water cruising while staying abreast of the changes in our sport. The race added electronic navigation in 1997. The average size of a cruising boat in 1977 was 38 feet. Now you’ll find the average boat size to be 47 feet with some boats over 70 feet. It is very interesting to note however, that last year’s overall winner of the Founders Trophy, was “Ti”, a 36 foot Alden Mistral, one of the smallest entries in the race, which also happened to be a family crewed boat.

Today’s boats are often equipped with modern technology that makes the handling of sails and rigging simpler and offshore navigation more precise, but the challenge of this ocean passage, the camaraderie of the crew, and the personal reward of a good finish in this competitive event remain unchanged.

Good Sailing!

Allan McLean
Executive Director
Marion Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race Association
director@marionbermuda.com

2023 Marion to Bermuda Berth Registration Form

Annapolis to Bermuda Yacht Race

2016 marked the inaugural co-sponsorship of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club with the Eastport Yacht Club for the 20th running of the Annapolis Bermuda Ocean Race (A2B). A2B provides a unique combination of inshore and offshore racing through its route down the Chesapeake Bay, across the Gulfstream, and on to Bermuda. It enables many sailors to fulfill a lifelong ambition: a blue water passage to a coral island with pink sandy beaches and legendary hospitality.

We are delighted to announce that we will be running the race again in 2022 from EYC to RHADC!!

The Race from historic Annapolis, MD, home to the United States Naval Academy and the premier sailing waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The course covers 753 miles, making it the longest ocean race on the east coast of the United States. The first A2B Race was run in 1979 with only 7 yachts competing. The organizers determined there was sufficient interest in the race, and it became a popular biennial event starting in 1980. Since then the fleet has grown, and now attracts both racing and cruising boats.

A number of PHRF and class divisions ensure a competitive experience for both seasoned racers and more casual racer cruisers. A major objective of the Race is to promote the art of navigation for more sailors. A2B provides these challenges within a framework designed for safe offshore sailing.
The fleet is limited to only 50 entries, which allows the committee and host clubs to be responsive to the needs of each entrant – a major objective of the Race organizers.

The Eastport Yacht Club hosts pre-race social and technical preparatory events leading up to the race start, while the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) provides participants with a wonderful venue upon their arrival in Bermuda. RHADC provides dockage, a restaurant and bar, showers and laundry, and is conveniently situated across the harbor from downtown Hamilton.
The A2B race awards trophies for the “first to finish” overall, fastest corrected time out of the Chesapeake, fastest corrected time for the ocean leg, as well as first, second and third place finishes in each class. In addition, the Race committee also awards the following trophies:
The Storm Trysail Club Trophy is awarded to a club and to individual yachts. The club whose top two racers achieve the highest combined score wins this beautiful trophy to display in its clubhouse until the next race. High point skippers also receive a small trophy to commemorate their achievement.

The Weems & Plath Navigator Trophy is awarded to the navigator whose logs and plotting sheets are found to be complete, neat and readable. The judge(s) will look for that navigator who exhibits conservative, knowledgeable and conscientious navigation incorporating proper dead reckoning, charting some celestial and some electronic navigation. This includes keeping a proper dead reckoning tract, the plotting of lines of position and other phenomena in the proper and traditional manner, and exhibiting navigational enthusiasm.

We invite you to learn more about this exciting race. Visit our website (www.bermudaoceanrace.com) 

 Annapolis Bermuda Ocean Race Committee
chair@bermudaoceanrace.com

Newport to Bermuda Yacht Race

Welcome to the R.H.A.DC. web site. If you have found your way to this section of our site you are probably either looking for information on berthing your craft at the RHADC at the conclusion of a crossing to Bermuda or you are lost…in which case I would think twice about navigating to Bermuda! If you are planning on sailing in to Bermuda in the Newport Bermuda Race in 2022  please visit the Newport to Bermuda website to download the berth reservation form.

Looking forward to seeing you at R.H.A.D.C.!

R.H.A.D.C. is proud to partner with The Bermuda Tourism Authority