Boudicca: Keeping the band together

A newcomer to the 2025 Marblehead to Halifax Race is the current Marion Bermuda Race record holder, Rich Moody’s Reichel-Pugh 66 Boudicca. Built in 2006, and previously known as Blue Yankee and Aurora, Moody had been sailing with Aurora’s owner, Gus Carlson, and bought it just after the 2022 Newport to Bermuda race.

“We took the boat apart and rebuilt it,” said Moody. “Luckily we had a great core crew who had been together for years. We just split them into teams and assigned each team a job.” Following the rebuild, the boat was rebranded Boudicca which is translated from the Celtic and means Queen of Victory or Victorious Woman, which the boat has been living up to.

In the 2023 Marion Bermuda Race, Boudicca won overall handicap honors while setting a new elapsed time record for the 705 nm course.

One of the reasons Moody bought the boat was to keep the amateur crew together. “About eight of us have been sailing together for almost 20 years,” he said, parlaying that experience in the 2024 Newport Bermuda Race to win their Division and finish sixth overall.

Beginning in 1905, the 40th biennial edition of the 361nm Marblehead to Halifax Ocean race starts July 6, 2025. Details: https://www.marbleheadtohalifax.com/