The Offshore 160 is a single-handed sailboat race 160 nautical miles long that started at noon on Friday, July 15. The race is run by the Newport Yacht Club and starts in Narragansett Bay just outside of Newport Harbor and runs south into open waters past Block Island.
Seven skippers started and five finished. The first boat to finish was Inigo Montoya, an Elliot 35ss in Class 1 sailed by Mike Piper, at a buoy off Brenton Reef at 12:28 a.m. Sunday morning, July 17. Nineteen minutes later Breakaway, a J35 sailed by Paul Grimes, finished and won on corrected time Class 1. Wild Goose II, a Jeanneau 40 sailed by Dan Walsh, finished first in Class 2 at 6:53 a.m. Sunday morning.
The boats had periods of up to six hours becalmed and other times of beautiful winds between 12 and 16 knots. Three skippers reported getting hooked on lobster trap lines. Two were able to get off fairly quickly; however, one boat, Meridian, had a line fowl both rudder and prop and he was forced to go into the water to rectify the problem.
The Offshore 160 may be used as a qualifier for the Bermuda One-Two (next one is June 2, 2017) and several of the skippers are hoping to do the Bermuda One-Two. Two skippers, Murray Beach and David Paine, participated in the 2015 Bermuda One-Two.
The following is a summary of the corrected time results:
Class 1
- Breakaway – Paul Grimes
- Meridian – Murray Beach
- Inigo Montoya – Mike Piper
Class 2
- Wild Goose II – Dan Walsh
- Highlander – Jonathan Bixby
The Offshore 160 has been run since 2000 initially as a single-handed fix for the Bermuda One-Two skippers and later allowed it to be a qualifier for the Bermuda One-Two race. More information can be found at www.newportyachtclub.org/Racing/Offshore/Offshore160/offshore-160.
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