Old School vs. New School

by Race Committee, July 22nd, 2016

Both Longboard, Peter Salusbury’s Riptide 35 and 2014 Vic-Maui Overall winner, and Atalanta, the 74 ft, Tripp designed Maxi and 5 time Vic-Maui veteran skippered by Louis Hoffer arrived on Thursday ending their battle of Old-School – New School that started 10 days ago in Victoria 

Both had their share of adventures in this buster of a race. Longboard had witnesses to a broach and uncontrollable gybe situation that bruised the crew’s confidence. And Atalanta’s massive 5000 sq ft spinnaker ended being the cause of a serious broach and overloaded the hydraulic cylinder seal and compromising steering. Added to that were other issues on both boats such as frayed halyards and sheets, broken boom gooseneck that limited the number of gybes, and very wet conditions below.

Both boats rumbled along the course as fast they could possibly be driven and both set new best times for Vic-Maui. In the end Longboard came in at 11 am on Jul 21, 13 hours ahead of Atalanta. That difference could be almost all traced to light conditions on the day after the Start where Longboard’s 6000 lbs could still make good progress, while Atalanta’s 110,000 lbs of displacement could not.

It was a very interesting battle to follow from shore. In the end the new kid bested the old girl. But just barely. 

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