Miami-Nassau Yacht Race Taken By Stormy Weather for 5th Time

From the Montreal Gazette, using an Associated Press release, dated Friday, 14 February 1941.

Nassau, Bahamas, February 13. — (AP) — The veteran yacht Stormy Weather, queen of the Miami-to-Nassau racing fleet, today extended her reign to five years by winning the eighth annual 184-rmile dash across the gulf stream.

Puffed along by a breeze, Stormy Weather sailed into the harbor at 1.23 a.m, with 13 minutes to spare in corrected times. She was third across the finish line.

The result must have been a disappointment to Robert W. Johnson of New York, whose Good News took third a behind the scratch boat, the 72-foot Escapade, owned by Henry Fownes of Stamford,

Johnson won the Miami-Nassau race three times with Stormy Weather, then sold her to William H. Labrot of Annapolis, Md. Johnson then built the Good News, incorporating into her design every modern development to make her the speediest thing in sails.

Good News was disqualified last year for cutting a course marker, but the old reliable Stormy Weather still would have won by a scant margin,

Johnson’s new craft, a 64 foot jib-headed yaw], manoeuvred to the finish ahead of Stormy Weather again this time, but the smaller 54-foot yawl rival made good use of her time allowance to win. Escapade was the first to finish, but because of her greater length and sail area had to give away two hours, 11 minutes, 28 seconds to Stormy Weather. The fleet bucked choppy seas and rain squalls for two-thirds of the route. Escapade required 35 hours, 25 minutes eight seconds for the voyage.

Stormy Weather finished in 37 hours, 23 minutes, 36 seconds. Her corrected time was 35:12:08, putting her comfortably inside of both Escapade and Good News

Good News elapsed time was 36:20:58, her corrected time 35:32:49.

The fleet's smallest entrant, the 35-foot sloop Quartermore, owned by Gordon Mendelssohn of Detroit, earned fourth place with a corrected time of 35:46:33.

Belisarius. a 54-foot yawl owned by E. S. Bradford, jr., of Springfield, Mass., captured fifth honors with a corrected time of 36:22:07, She covered the course in 39 04 32.