Argo takes Newport Bermuda
MOD70 trimaran Argo is the first-ever Saturday finisher in the history of the Newport Bermuda Race.
Photography by Daniel Forster
20 June 2022
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Owner/skipper Jason Carroll and the crew of the MOD70 Argo outran every elapsed-time record associated with the Newport Bermuda Race when they completed the 52nd edition on Saturday night.
Argo’s elapsed time of 33 hours, zero minutes and nine seconds is more than 30 hours faster than Carroll’s Gunboat 62 Elvis, set in the first multihull division of the 2018 Bermuda Race.
It’s also one hour, 42 minutes and 42 seconds faster than the 100-foot monohull Comanche’s Open Division mark of 34 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds, set in the 2016 race.
Further, it’s more than six and a half hours faster than Rambler 90’s mark of 39 hours and 39 minutes, which earned owner George David the Schooner Mistress Trophy in 2012 for fastest elapsed time by a monohull in the race’s four major divisions.
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Argo is the first-ever Saturday night finisher in the history of the storied Newport Bermuda Race, co-organised by the Cruising Club of America and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.
Jason Carroll’s (USA) international crew aboard Argo included Chad Corning (USA), Pete Cumming (England), Thierry Fouchier (France), boat captain Chris Maxted (Australia), Charlie Ogletree (USA), Alister Richardson (England) and navigator/sailing master Brian Thompson (England).
“This crew has been on the boat a lot, we’ve all worked together for a lot of years,” said Corning.
“For the shorter 600-mile races we like to sail with eight. It just makes sail handling that much easier.”
Argo averaged 19.24 knots in setting the multihull course record and sailed approximately 486 nautical miles in the 24 hours after the start.
The crew sailed mainly to the west of rhumbline and took advantage of a meander in the Gulf Stream that gave it a favourable boost towards Bermuda.
Argo started the Bermuda Race on Friday at 2:20pm ADT. The mast was canted heavily to starboard, indicating the crew knew it would be a starboard tack slog until they got within sight of Bermuda.
The only two manoeuvres were a tack to port and one back to starboard to the finish line off St. David’s Lighthouse in the final ten miles of the course.
In April, Argo set a record from Antigua to Newport of three days and 15 minutes, shaving five and a half hours off the previous mark set by sistership Phaedo.
The Bermuda Race record is the sixth course record to go with two world records that Argo has set since Carroll purchased the foil-assisted trimaran in 2018.
Argo’s preparations for the Bermuda Race included fitting a new rudder to replace the one broken in April during training in Antigua, prior to the record run to Newport.
“We toasted the V2 rudder and replaced it with one of our first version rudders for the record run,” said Corning.
“We’ve got two generations of foils and rudders, and the new rudder is a direct replacement of the first V2 rudder. Argo is as good as a MOD70 can be. The only development we’re considering is a switch to flip-up rudders instead of being destroyed.
“Things break when we hit things and that’s a problem. In terms of how the foils and rudders work together, it’s as good as can get across the range. The underpinnings of the V2 foils and rudders are from our capsize in 2019.
“We wanted a safer boat. The boat’s a bit faster in some conditions, but better overall because it’s safer and more under control.”
More under control likely means many more records for Carroll and the Argo crew in the future.
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