Introduction to the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge

The three-masted schooner Atlantic set
the transatlantic Race Record in 1905.
The record will be in play again on its
100th Anniversary at the Rolex
Transatlantic Challenge 2005.

The Rolex Transatlantic Challenge 2005 is for larger sailboats attempting to break the world's oldest ocean-racing record, that of the three-masted schooner Atlantic. The 3,000-mile race from New York to England will start on May 21, 2005. It is open to single-hulled sailboats with a minimum length on deck of 70 feet and with no maximum size for entrants.

May 1905...
The race will be run by the New York Yacht Club with the cooperation of England's Royal Yacht Squadron. Starting off New York Harbor and finishing in the English Channel, the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge 2005 will be sailed over the same course as the famous race 100 years earlier in which the transatlantic racing record was set. In May 1905, the 185-foot (56m) three-masted schooner Atlantic covered this course in 12 days, four hours, one minute and 19 seconds.

Oldest race record
The record for the New York Yacht Club's Transatlantic Race is recognized by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, part of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), and is included in its list of Ocean Race Records. It is the oldest race record in sailing.

Classes
There are at least three divisions at the start: Classic, Performance Cruising and Grand Prix. The handicap system for the Classic division is a modified NYYC Cruising Rule. The handicap systems for Performance Cruising and Grand Prix are Americap II and IRC.

Social Events
Social events are planned in New York as well as at the Royal Yacht Squadron Castle at Cowes, England. A highlight will be a race around the Isle of Wight on the same course where in 1851 the yacht America, representing the NYYC, won what became the America's Cup.


Source: www.nyyc.org