Marblehead – Halifax: Overdraft Wins Canadian Line Honours; Two Canadians win Divisions
July 24, 2025
The team aboard Overdraft X, a Farr 40 Turbo skippered by Halifax sailor James Grogan excelled in this year’s Marblehead Race as the first Canadian boat across the finish line and as possibly the youngest crew in the race.
The youngest member of the 11-person crew is 19; the oldest 24. James and Jack Gogan grew up sailing together in Cape Breton and by age nine, Jack had already competed in his first national regatta as part of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron Race Team, and by 10, he was representing Canada in the Opti world championships, the 420 world championships and the 49er world championships.
The brothers sailed a Henderson 30 for four seasons but wanted something that would enable them to get into longer offshore races and acquired Overdraft X last spring. They spent time last year making some changes to the boat including “turboing” by going from a symmetric to an asymmetric rig. A carbon fibre bow sprit as added to accommodate the new asymmetric sail set up.
The World Sailing Category 2 and 361 nautical mile race started at the Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on July 6, and finished at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Canadian winners
Two Canadian boats finished first in their respective divisions at the 40th biennial Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race.
In the in ORR Overall and ORR-3, Team Jane (Andrew Childs/RNSYS) took the first position in both divisions based on corrected time, as did Team Airborne IV (William Greenwood III/CCA) in the PHRF Division.
Temptation from the United States was first boat to across the line by breaking the previous course record by 45 minutes and 94 seconds. A total of 45 boats took part in the event.
THE MINOT-MacASKILL CUP (1905) is awarded to the team of 3 yachts chosen by the Commodore of the Boston Yacht Club to represent USA and the Commodore of RNSYS to represent CAN, was won by team CAN consisting of:
| JANE | Skipper: | ANDREW CHILDS |
| AIRBORNE IV | Skipper: | WILLIAM GREENWOOD III |
| RAMPAGE | Skipper: | GRAHAM ROY |
History
The Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race is rooted in the prosperous trade that existed between Nova Scotia and the ‘Boston States’ during the 18th and 19th centuries. This north-south trade route existed before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock and started soon after John Cabot landed in Newfoundland in 1497 (or Nova Scotia or Maine, depending on whose history you read). The movement of people, money and goods between what would become New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces was the economic engine of British North America.
The race has been running, with a hiatus or two, for 120 years. It predates the first running of the Newport-Bermuda and the Transpacific yacht races by a year (both began in 1906) and is believed to be the longest running offshore ocean race in the world. (The America’s Cup (1851) is not an offshore race and the Chicago-Mackinac race (1898) is not an ocean race.)
Trophies and Results here
