Honestly, we don't know a damn thing about the Bermuda race other than a bunch of Yankees get to race 600 plus miles and end up at a nice destination. We do know that much is made of the race, in fact here's what the race organizers think of their race:

"The Newport Bermuda Race stands with the Fastnet, the Sydney-Hobart and the Transpac as One of the top four ocean races in the world. This race, organized by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Cruising Club of America, is always a true test of blue water sailing skills. The objectives of the race are to encourage the designing, building and sailing of seaworthy yachts and the development of the art of seamanship and proficiency in the science of navigation."

In typical East Coast fashion, they think way too highly of themselves (one of the four top ocean races in the world? They might get some argument there), but it is that last sentence that really gets us. Go ahead read it again.

Isn't that interesting, given that the Bermuda race has officially declined to allow Open style boats in the race. These are the 60, 50, and 40 IMOCA footers that are designed and built for serious offshore shorthanded racing. Apparently, the race organizers have decided it would be too difficult to get around the movable ballast issue. That my friends, is complete bullshit. Funny, a couple of the other "top four ocean races in the world", notably the Fastnet, and the Sydney-Hobart seem to have dealt with the issue just fine. Wonder why these weenies can't do the same. I'm sure that some of the potential first to finish fat cats got wind of this and put the kybosh on it. Simply can't have some single-handed freak blast reaching by you, now can we?

What the hell happened to the "objectives of the race are to encourage the designing, building and sailing of seaworthy yachts"?

Here's the thing, it's not like the Open guys (and gals?) were asking for much. They simply wanted an Exhibition Class so that four or five of then could race together to Bermuda. We fail to see any reason why they could not and should not have been included.

So we hear that Brad Van Liew on Mission America and hopefully Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet and a couple others are going to quietly shadow the fleet. The plan is, according to Van Liew, "have a coffee while they pull up marks and then start picking them off and enjoy a nice tuning sail. It's intended to be a respectful, peaceful, sit in, kinda protest as to not get NYYC people too bent. Herb McCormick from the New York Times is going to be onboard, using it as a platform to cover the race (plus... he'll get there faster). J.P. Mouligne + a couple sponsors will be onboard too. The plan right now is to leave a couple hours after the Newport-Bermuda fleet. We are going to run our own deal, without being too "in your face." However, the intent will be clear. They call themselves "the most inclusive race" but we cannot officially play..."

Again it seems really lame to us, but it gets even better. Supposedly the race organizers have promised they will let them in next year. That's very nice, especially considering that the Open boats will be racing around the world at that time. Gee, thanks.