The very first Bermuda Race was an act of rebellion. In 1906, the Establishment believed that it would be impossible for amateur sailors to race offshore in boats under 80 feet.
Thomas Fleming Day, editor of
The Rudder magazine, disagreed, insisting, "The danger of the sea for generations has been preached by the ignorant." Certain that an ocean race would be enjoyable and safe – and also develop better sailors and better boats – Day founded one on his own. The
Brooklyn Yacht Club started the race in New York Bay, in Bermuda, the RBYC finished it off at
St. David’s Head. The smallest entry then (and in Bermuda Race history) was the 28-foot sloop
Gauntlet. She was notorious for her size, and also for her crew because it included a woman, 20-year-old
Thora Lund Robinson. Having outpaced
Gauntlet and another boat which dropped out, and the winner was the 38-foot yawl
Tamerlane, with Thomas Fleming Day himself as sailing master. The yacht club provided a special anchorage off
White’s Island for the race boats, set aside rooms for the skippers and navigators in the clubhouse, and laid on many parties culminating with a traditional turtle dinner at the prize banquet. There were four more races before the sailors decided it was too much to ask that the race be held annually. After World War I, RBYC Vice-Commodore
Eldon Trimingham went up to New York to stir up a revival of the race, to much agreement. After 22 boats started in 1923 at
New London, Connecticut, and every boat finished. Three years later, the RBYC and the
Cruising Club of America teamed up to host the race. Since 1923 to this day, the task of inspecting boats, arranging for trophies, the starting and finishing lines, and maintaining the race’s emphasis on safe seamanship falls on volunteer members of both clubs. In 45 races over a century, only two boats have been lost, one on Bermuda’s reef, and the other in a deadly fire in 1932 that also claimed the Bermuda Race’s first loss of life. ==Recent history==