Jason Carroll’s MOD 70 trimaran Argo (Larchmont, NY) continued her winning ways in the 34th Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race, taking line honors on January 30 and setting new the multihull and outright course record at 2 days, 0 hours, 7 minutes and 44 seconds.
Sailing a distance of 869 nautical miles at an average speed 18.05 knots, Argo’s elapsed time slashed the previous outright course record, set by Tom Hill’s R/P 75 Titan 12 in 2005, by 10 hours, 16 minutes and 58 seconds. Their time also broke the multihull record, set by the late Steve Fossett’s Orma 60 Lakota in 1999, by 20 hours and 21 seconds. Led by owner/skipper Carroll, Team Argo comprises some of the world’s best sailors including Westy Barlow, Chad Corning, Thierry Fouchier, Anthony Kotoun, Chuck Norris, Anderson Reggio, Alister Richardson, and Brian Thompson.
Argo is breaking records wherever she goes. © Pineapple Cup/Edward Downer
“It was a really fun race,” said Carroll. “It had a lot of different things happening. The start was the best part – it was so exciting, and that first 60 miles across the Gulf Stream was just a handful. It was really fun, it was fast, and it was the biggest waves we’ve ever sailed in as a team. This is a new adventure for us sailing the MOD 70, so we’re all kinda working up through all of the different regattas we can do over the course of the year to practice and see what we ultimately want to do with it. I think that the Pineapple Cup and the Caribbean 600 are both great training regattas for the Transpac, which we want to do in July.”
On setting the new record, Carroll added, “Overall we are pretty thrilled. We kept setting challenges for ourselves along the way and we thought there was a chance we could go sub-2 days and we missed it by 7 minutes, so aside from that it was exhilarating to cross the line and head to the dock!”
“I think this is a combination of a lot of good things,” said trimmer Anthony Kotoun (Newport, RI). “This race is famous for being one of the best ocean races. Didn’t Ted Turner say it’s the best race ever? Then we have one of the coolest, fastest boats ever, and we got some really good weather, which wasn’t supposed to be there, so that was a bit of a surprise. In the end, all three things came together and here we are…drinking Red Stripe!”
Team Argo savors the taste of victory in Montego Bay. From left to right are Anthony Kotoun, Westy Barlow, Anderson Reggio, Chuck Norris, Brian Thompson, Jason Carroll, Thierry Fouchier, Chad Corning, and Alister Richardson. © Pineapple Cup/Edward Downer
Established in 1961, the Pineapple Cup is a classic “beat, reach and run” race that has been dubbed “the best ocean race in the world” by its devotees. The race is hosted at the start in Miami by Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and at the finish in Montego Bay by the Montego Bay Yacht Club. For more information, visit pineapplecup.com.
Julianna Barbieri at Manuka Sports Event Management contributed to this report.
