Inside Black Jack 100: 2026 Newport Bermuda Race

Cotton candy skies surround us as we speed south at twenty knots. Warm waves splash over the bow as dolphins jump alongside us. We’re over one hundred miles in as the sun sets over the horizon behind us. Everything (cameras included) is covered in salt. There’s no other yacht or land in sight. It’s a picture-perfect end to Day 1 of the 2026 Newport Bermuda Race.

The Newport Bermuda Race is one of a handful of storied 600-plus nautical mile races around the world, sharing the same pedigree as the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Fastnet and Middle Sea Race. Their lure is universal: a combination of tactical uncertainty and marathon endurance, played out across hundreds of miles of open ocean.

For the team behind Black Jack 100, the goal is even bigger. They have set out to tackle every major 600-plus nautical mile ocean race around the world, one by one.

“Newport Bermuda was a new race for us and for Black Jack 100. We had never done it before,” says skipper Tristan Le Brun. “It is always good to discover a new place, meet new people and experience a new weather system. You always learn something from a new race, and we certainly did.”

“We have an extremely enthusiastic owner who enjoys sailing, racing and challenges. He wants to push the boundaries, and we have embarked on this dynamic of ticking off all the major offshore races around the globe, one by one.”

Into the Onion Patch

Leaving Newport, everyone buckles in for the long adventure. The forecast is unsettled, with the potential for strong breeze and a tropical system developing further offshore.

The team suited up from the outset: layers, foulies, PFDs and safety gear.

The biennial Thrash to the Onion Patch kicked off on the afternoon of Friday 19 June in front of Fort Adams, Rhode Island. The 148 competitors were split across divisions for a rolling start. The only hundred footer in the fleet, Black Jack 100 flew off the start line at 1320 hours alongside eighteen other yachts ranging from 41 to 82 feet long.

Exiting Newport Harbor, Black Jack faced some of the windiest and wettest conditions she would encounter all race. The hundred footer wove her way through the wind farm, dodging a mine field of lobster traps, as she settled into the conditions and aimed for Bermuda.

Reflecting on the forecast in the days leading up and at the start, Tristan says, “we were running just behind a potential tropical storm, and the day before the race we were still unsure about the conditions we would encounter halfway through, with the potential for really high winds.”

The uncertainty influenced the boat’s preparation, leading the team to carry a fuller sail wardrobe than she ultimately needed, adding weight in anticipation of conditions that never fully arrived.

“In the end, we didn’t catch up with it, which probably means we had a few too many sails onboard and therefore a little more weight than we would have ideally wanted.”

The Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream made it’s presence known within the first six or so hours as the air and water temperatures slowly warmed. By morning, the North Atlantic felt almost tropical.

“The most rewarding part was definitely the long downwind section halfway through the race,” Tristan says. “We were surfing these large, beautiful ocean waves under the morning sun, averaging more than 25 knots, with top speeds getting close to 30 knots.

“That is why we do this. You’re on a 100-foot boat, surfing huge waves at those speeds, and everything is working. It’s an incredible feeling.”

But the high-speed conditions also expose an issue. The new rudder proves heavy at speed, forcing the helmsmen to use enormous physical strength to keep the yacht on course.

“We were blistering our hands and had to rotate the helmsmen more than usual because of the physical load,” Tristan says.

“It was painful, but we were also making memories. That is offshore racing.”

Translating the experience to a non-sailor, the sheer power of a hundred foot yacht might be the most difficult thing to comprehend.

“You put the sails up and, from the moment you watch these massive sails being sheeted in, you hear the noise of the loads coming on, the engine and hydraulic systems screaming and the big winches spinning at maximum speed,” Tristan says.

“You think, ‘These guys are crazy!’ And then you realise they are going to sail the boat like that at night as well.”

The Lead Up

For all the spectacle of a 100-foot maxi charging south at 25 knots, the real work begins long before the starting gun.

Behind Black Jack 100 is a year-round operation involving not only the professional sailors but also boatbuilders, shipwrights and shore crew, with the team constantly moving between races, countries and continents.

The crew itself is deliberately international. Sailors from different countries and backgrounds come together aboard Black Jack, bringing experience from across the professional sailing world.

“We don’t necessarily look at whether someone has raced a 100-footer or a maxi before,” Tristan explains. “We look at whether they are capable of doing it. Can they keep it together, focus, learn, grow and perform?”

The international nature of the team is less a challenge than an advantage. Both Tristan and owner Remon Vos have spent much of their professional lives working across different countries and cultures, and neither sees nationality as a defining factor when selecting crew.

“We never really think about where people come from,” Tristan says. “We are more interested in where they are going.”

Once assembled, the crew has to learn how to operate as one unit. On a 100-foot maxi, there is little room for individual error, and the complexity of manoeuvres means everyone needs to understand their role before the boat leaves the dock.

Paradise

Arriving in Bermuda is crossing the threshold into paradise. Sailors are greeted in Bermuda with blue skies, white-sand beaches, turquoise waters and the unmistakable reward of a Dark ’n’ Stormy waiting on the dock.

Thirty-five hours after the start, Black Jack crossed the finish line with a time of 1 day, 11 hours, 26 minutes and 46 seconds, just 48 minute short of Comanche’s decade-old record.

“We couldn’t get the Comanche record, so we’ll have to try another time,” Tristan says. “But we did get the overall win, which was a great result for the team.”

Next Up

As for the next race on the Black Jack 100 calendar, the hundred footer will start the 432 nautical mile Palermo-Montecarlo race Tuesday 18 August. Follow along at instagram.com/@blackjackyachting and blackjack100.org

Photos: Ashley Dart