The sailors in this year's race departed Marblehead thinking that it would be a mostly upwind, light air event with a dose of fog thrown in. After an exciting reverse-order start with just enough visibility for spectators to see the fleet, the first 18 hours mostly followed the predicted conditions. However as the race progressed, the wind increased to 15-18 knots, and the Gulf of Maine developed steep, sporadic chop the fleet worked through into the second night. The pounding upwind in foggy, wet conditions was a challenging endurance test or many competitors and led to a few retirements. 

Cape Sable provided many of its typical current related dilemmas and most every boat had trouble with it at one point or another. While mired in fog for the first days of the race, it eventually cleared and on Wednesday the sun came out as competitors had a chance to dry their gear, open the hatches and taste some of the beautiful downwind conditions that are more typical in the race. 

The J/122 Zig Zag skippered by Andrew Clark. Photo by Lexi Pline.

Within the race there were many impressive performances like the US Naval Academy's staggering margin of victory on Kodiak and on Zig Zag for taking their division and beating many larger boats in the overall standings. Christopher Dragon won the Olin J. Stephens Trophy for the best combined performance with Newport-Bermuda and made a daring move into the coast during the windy, foggy 2nd night with some impressive navigation. 

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