Built in 1929, the 52-foot yawl Dorade has won more ocean races than any other yacht in history and on June 28th, she will attempt to repeat her first and most significant win, when she takes on the 2015 Transatlantic Race from Newport, R.I. to Plymouth, U.K. Dorade first made her mark in the sailing world in 1931, when her then-21-year-old designer Olin Stephens, along with his brother Rod, their father, and four other young amateur sailors, raced her to victory in the 2,800-mile race across the Atlantic. Dorade’s 2015 crew, led by owner Matt Brooks (San Francisco, Calif.), has its sights set on finishing the race in good order again this summer, 84 years after the first victory, and beating Dorade’s time of 17 days, one hour and 14 minutes.
HOW TO FOLLOW:
- Real-time tracking of Dorade will be available through the Transatlantic Race’s Yellowbrick Tracking Link located on the upper right hand side of any of our web pages (will be activated 24 hours before the first start, June 28 at 1400 EDT).
- For frequent updates throughout the race, follow Dorade on our home page
- For full race reports and updates from the team, visit http://Dorade.org/blog/
- For updates on the entire 2015 Transatlantic Fleet, follow the event on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and at http://transatlanticrace.com
LOCAL VANTAGE POINTS (Sunday Start, June 28 at 1:50 p.m. in Newport, R.I. )
Prior to the start of the 2015 Transatlantic Race, Dorade will be making last minute preparations from the docks at IYRS off Thames St. in Newport, R.I. Spectators are welcome to come and view.
The best vantage point for watching the start is at Castle Hill. The fleet should be in the vicinity of Castle Hill Light at least an hour before the 1:50 p.m. warning signal and can be seen from the Jamestown shore as well, and then from Newport’s Brenton Point and Jamestown’s Fort Wetherill and Beavertail State Park as the fleet heads from the East Passage into Rhode Island Sound and on their way across the Atlantic.
RETURN TO BLUE WATER CAMPAIGN:
The Transatlantic Race is the third in a series of four major ocean races in the “Return to Blue Water Campaign.” Conceived shortly after Brooks and his wife Pam Rorke Levy bought Dorade in 2010, the campaign was initially called “Matt’s Crazy Idea,” but soon after the completion of a year-long refit Dorade began winning races, both offshore and in coastal regattas in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean and on the West Coast, proving that she could once again be competitive. The team silenced the campaign’s critics once and for all in 2013, when Dorade was the overall winner (on corrected time) in the 2013 Transpacific Yacht Race, 77 years after its first victory with the race. That was followed by an IRC class win in the 2014 Newport Bermuda Race. The campaign wraps up this August with the Rolex Fastnet Race, which Dorade won overall in 1931 and 1933.
DORADE BACKGROUND:
Dorade was designed in 1929 by Olin Stephens and built under his brother Rod’s supervision the following year in City Island, New York. Dorade’s 1931 Transatlantic victory helped the brothers launch their careers and established them as two of the sport’s most gifted innovators. Dorade went on to win many of the world’s most demanding ocean races, including the Fastnet and the Transpacific Yacht Race, and Olin Stephens became one of the most successful yacht designers of the 20th century, responsible for six America’s Cup wins. Brooks and Levy purchased Dorade five years ago; since then the boat has been restored to its original racing form, with the addition of modern safety and navigational equipment. The current campaign has adopted the rigor and discipline of a modern race program, continuously searching for ways to improve performance under all conditions, and relying on the combined strengths of a skilled and passionate team. For Dorade’s full history visit http://Dorade.org/history/