MARBLEHEAD — If July 4th is just around the corner, so is the Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race.
The 363-mile race is called the “granddaddy of all ocean races,” began in 1905 and will begin July 7 from the Boston Yacht Club. An international fleet of more than 70 boats, including the 2017 Performance Handicap Racing Fleet winner, will compete.
“We are excited about the strength of the entries this year,” said David Bows, vice commodore of the Boston Yacht Club, who co-chairs the race along with Michael Simms of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.
The race is rooted in the prosperous trade that existed between Nova Scotia and the U.S. northeast during the 18th and 19th centuries. A north-south trade route existed before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620, having started soon after John Cabot landed in Newfoundland in 1497 (or Nova Scotia or Maine, depending on whose history you read).
The movement of people, money and goods between what would become New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces became the economic engine of British North America.
Recreational yachting arose from the commercial and fishing traffic moving along the corridor, which resulted in the establishment of yacht clubs including the RNSYC (1837), the Boston Yacht Club (1866) and the Eastern Yacht Club (1870). Ultimately, a race along this same familiar corridor would come to mind.
According to the sailing magazine “The Rudder,” members of the Eastern Yacht Club noted the success of the race from New York to Marblehead, which took the yachts around Nantucket Lightship, and decided to go one better. And the race to Halifax was on. And when the Easterners pitched the idea to the Nova Scotians at their yacht club, its members enthusiastically agreed, according to the race committee’s history records.
The first race occurred in 1905 and continued sporadically until 1939, when BYC (the third oldest yacht club in the U.S.) teamed with RNSYS (the oldest yacht club in North America) and formalized the biennial event. There was a break in the race during WWII, but it resumed in 1947.
Since then, the race has run continuously, alternating years with the Newport-to-Bermuda Race.
Oddly, in Boston it’s called the Halifax race and in Halifax it’s called the Marblehead.
The race always begins the first Sunday after July 4 at Tinker’s Gong, which is a buoy just outside Marblehead Harbor. It runs approximately 360 Nautical miles northeast across the Gulf of Maine and through the strong tidal currents at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy, and from there up the shore to a finish in Halifax Harbour.
Several large boats with impressive records have signed up. Among them is Valiant, a 12-meter yacht, skippered by Gary Gregory of Marblehead. Now a race veteran, Valiant first competed in the “Halifax” in 1991.
Warrior, a 70-foot Volvo out of Southern Yacht Club, has added the race to its summer itinerary.
From Nova Scotia, Airborne IV, a Beneteau 50 owned by Halifax businessman Bill Greenwood, is among the larger boats in the Canadian fleet. Greenwood is a former Commodore of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. Airborne IV won her class overall and the overall PHRF racing division in 2017.
“One of the pleasures of organizing this race is seeing which familiar friends are returning from prior races (almost 60 percent) and the excitement of seeing some of the first-time entries” says Bows.
Among those first-time entries is Gigi, a J122 skippered by BYC Rear Commodore Tom Mager.
“I am looking forward to roughly three days of great teamwork with the crew racing around the clock. I’ve heard the stories of beautiful sunsets, sea life along the way and the huge welcome at the RNSYS.”
