Kirkland Brothers To Sail Around Bermuda
Jesse and Zander Kirkland, in a bid to raise public awareness of their Olympic dreams and help fundraise their sailing campaign, are set to sail around Bermuda this week.
They envisage it being a two-fold challenge, one for themselves to sail the “bronco” around the 36-mile circumference of the island in good time and lastly, for the public to try and estimate their circumnavigation time.
The brothers said its a $10 buy-in to get your estimate on the books, and the winner will be receiving gift vouchers for $100 from our event sponsors AS Coopers and Butterfield and Vallis. The cash pool raised goes to support their run-up to next summer’s Olympics in London.
Call 236-0383 to log your guess on the time or drop it by Mailboxes in town. You can do it electronically by emailing zankirkland@hotmail.com and then paying by bank transfer, with the time in the memo.
The brothers provided hints for everyone to base their estimate around: Their clockwise circumnavigation attempt will start and finish at Hogfish Beacon off Spanish Point. The highest speeds (in excess of 20 kts) of the trip, should be on the North Shore, where they will have their giant spinnaker up and minimal big waves to slow them down.
Their speed will drop when they attack the wind on the South Shore and also have to manage the swell outside the reefs. Total distance around is estimated to be just over 36 nautical miles.
Tenative start-time is 11am this coming Thursday, starting time from Hogfish. They will have a GPS onboard to record the actual distance sailed and the top speed of the sail.
With the wind out of the South-West, the South Shore will be a great place to view the boat jumping in the waves. They are planning on coming inside the reef near Elbow Beach for a fly-by.
Other good places to view the Brothers in action would be: Crawl Hill, Ferry Reach, Fort St. Catherines, St. David’s Head, Spittal Pond, Horshoe Bay, Church Bay, Whale Bay, Somerset Long Bay, and Commissioner’s House as they head for the finish.
They welcome any other challengers with a sail to take them on and are interested to hear about any past performances. Windsurfers currently hold the outright speed record for the circumnavigation by a wind powered craft, but they want to have the fastest sailboat time on the books
