The Hinckley Company

After 122 hours of racing on their Hinckley Bermuda 40 yawl, "Actaea," Michael and Connie Cone arrived at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, in Bermuda. The Cones and their crew of six started the Newport Bermuda Race with fellow Class 1 competitors on Friday, June 20th at 1:00PM EDT. Although they did not take line honors in the race, they inched out each of their 96 competitors in the St. David’s Lighthouse Division on corrected time, and ended up beating the second place finisher, "Flyer," by 40 minutes.

“We just cruised at first,” Mrs. Cone said. “Then we sailed a distance race and wanted to play with the big boys in Bermuda.” Mr. Cone reflected, “it took us about 15 years to learn how to sail her;” “people think yawls are easy to sail, but they’re not easy to race.”
After a disappointing last place finish in the 1996 Newport Bermuda Race, Mr. Cone recalls, “I swore I’d never ever do this race again.” But listening to a speech from the ’96 race winner, George Coumantaros, changed his mind; “I was really upset, and he addressed that feeling in his wonderful speech.” So Cone decided to give the 635-mile race another go. Ten successive Newport Bermuda Races later, and "Actaea" came out on top. The "Actaea" crew has placed in sixteen of the seventeen distance races they have competed in since 2010.

"Actaea’s" big win in Bermuda coincides with a big win for The Hinckley Company in Trenton, Maine, as they set out to begin to fiberglass the new Bermuda 50 on Monday, June 30. As Bermuda 40 and Bermuda 50 designer Bill Tripp exclaimed, “Flash Back! Bermuda 40 wins the Bermuda Race. Flash Forward! Hinckley builds Bermuda 50.” With a sleek design the sailboat is sure to be a serious contender in Newport Bermuda Races to come.