Making History with Tabor Boy

At around 11:00 on Friday, June 14, Tabor Boy let go of her mooring and proceeded out of Sippican Harbor toward the Marion Bermuda Race starting line off Centerboard Shoal. We passed close astern of the Race Committee boat as directed in the sailing instructions. Our tactician, Gregg Nourjian ’84, called out, “Tabor Boy, Sail Number Two, checking in!” The crew responded, wishing us a successful race.

Chip Connard XO ’19 and his crew of 11 Tabor Boy student officers and deckhands then hauled on halyards and got the schooner under full sail, assisted by Tabor alumni Jason Bland XO ’90, Pat Collins XO ’03, Noah Urell XO ’18, and Leland Frantz ’18 XO Summer ’19. We took a tack upwind to get everything tensioned and sails drawing well, then fell off toward the starting line. The Classic Yacht Division, including just Tabor Boy and Spirit of Bermuda, would be first to start. Timing our maneuvers to cross the starting line at exactly 1210, we took a tack off toward Converse Point and then went about to approach the line from the north. Spirit of Bermuda had worked well to windward but soon came running off, sailing very fast toward the starting area. Gregg was carefully timing our progress, and Spirit was now vying with us for position. In increasingly-close quarters and a 20- to 25-knot SW breeze, the two vessels sought any advantage over the other. Tabor Boy avoided a move that would have put her to windward of Spirit and losing right-of-way. Spirit then had no choice but to keep clear and, in so doing, was carrying too much speed along the starting line and facing a premature crossing. Both vessels spilled wind from their sails to bleed off some speed. Finally, Gregg yelled “GO FOR IT!!” The enthusiastic crew hauled on sheets, and Tabor Boy surged across the line, sailing hard to windward on the starboard tack. Spirit was only a short distance to leeward, the two large vessels providing a spectacular sight for spectators and press boats!

Tabor Boy was carrying good speed, but the 100-year-old, gaff-rigged working schooner couldn’t point as high as the modern boats. Spirit was doing perhaps a bit better and was maintaining about a knot of speed over that of Tabor Boy. It took ten tacks for us to make it past Cuttyhunk, and by then we had lost sight of Spirit. Easing the sheets a bit, we set our course for the point at which we hoped to enter the Gulf Stream. Tabor Boy was on her way to Bermuda!

We had an easy four-day passage with settled weather and fairly steady breezes. Tabor Boy had been entered in the Celestial Navigation Class, so the GPS displays were masked off and unavailable. Out came the sextants, and the students (all of whom had learned celestial navigation at Tabor) tackled the job of fixing the vessel’s position by the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Although permitted to reactivate GPS when within 50 miles of Bermuda, the students’ navigating was so good that we never did so until after crossing the finish line!

Later, we were surprised and elated to learn that Tabor Boy had actually beaten Spirit of Bermuda on corrected time. Spirit’s crew met us when we docked at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club to welcome us and warmly congratulated us on our win. During the awards dinner a few days later, Chip Connard ’19 reissued the challenge to Spirit for the 2021 Marion Bermuda Race!