The Statue of Liberty Race Marathon hosted by Hobie Fleet 250 and the Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club lived up to its name again this year. The race began shortly after 11 am in a light northwest breeze. Sailors sailed slowly but mostly drifted out of Sandy Hook Bay until the the southerly seabreeze filled in just before 1 pm. This year the race featured two foiling Nacra 20’s which were able to foil from Romer Shoal to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, reaching the bridge under the set time limits for the race. The rest of the fleet also was able to get under the Bridge and the race was on to the Statue of Liberty. The racers encountered extreme currents flowing out of the river with low tide occurring somewhere around 1 pm at the Statue. Line Honors went to Todd Riccardi and Blair Tolland on the Nacra foiling carbon 20 in just under 6 hours (5:48:28). The corrected winners for the second year in a row are John and Peter Guliano on an F18. Single Handed Honors went to Bill Raska on an F16. Once again the largest class was the Hobie 16 (8 boats) and the winners were Mark Modderman and Katie Durrua who completed the course in 7:57:13. Results can be found at: https://div11.hobieclass.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2016/07/Staue-Race-final-2016.pdf
Katie Durrua with the Founders trophy