Dogged determination brings Hound to Transatlantic Race 2025 New York to Cowes

Dan Litchfield's Hound - RORC Caribbean 600 © Tim Wright / www.photoaction.com

Some boats wear ocean racing miles in the same visible manner as salty sailors. Other yachts, however, seem immune to the wear and tear of pushing hard for hundreds if not thousands of miles at a time.

Dan Litchfield's Hound is the latter. More than 50 years since the Aage Nielsen-designed 59-foot sloop was launched, she is still going strong. A second place in the St. David's Lighthouse division of the 2024 Newport Bermuda Race and a first and a third in the 2023 and 2024 editions, respectively, of the RORC Caribbean 600 speak to the boat's current potential, even when matched against much younger and more advanced competitors.

In 2025, Hound will look to conquer the queen of ocean races, the Transatlantic Race 2025, 3,000 miles of North Atlantic sailing from Newport, R.I., to Cowes, England. It's an adventure that should take Hound 10 days to two weeks to complete. Entries are accumulating, and a fleet of two dozen or more boats is expected to take part in this bucket-list race.

View current entry list

"Ocean racing is really special to me, because it's an opportunity to get offshore," says Litchfield, who hails from New York City. "You sail all the time, you're totally dialed in. There are no distractions, you're with your friends. And you get to go somewhere, you have to get from point A to point B. It's a huge challenge."

The Transatlantic Race 2025 will depart Newport, RI on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, headed for the southern coast of England. A virtual gate off Lizard Point will enable teams to challenge the course record for this historic passage, but the official finish will take place off the Royal Yacht Squadron's waterfront castle in Cowes, England. The race will be scored under the IRC rating rule with Racing, Racer/Cruiser and Non-Spinnaker classes. There will also be a Superyacht, Multihull, Classics and Open divisions.

The Transatlantic Race 2025 is a direct descendant of the first great transatlantic ocean race, which started from New York Harbor on December 11, 1866. In the years since, this course has been plied with less frequency than other, shorter offshore racetracks; the 2025 edition will be just the 32nd transatlantic race organized by the New York Yacht Club. The Organizing Authority of the TR2025 is comprised of the New York Yacht Club Regatta Association and the Royal Ocean Racing Club. The Royal Yacht Squadron and Storm Trysail Club are partner clubs.

This won't be first Litchfield's first race across the pond, but a lot has changed for him since he last plied the course.

Dan Litchfield at the helm of Hound - photo © Paul Todd / Outside Images

"The last west-to-east transatlantic race I did was in 2003 racing Larry Huntington's Snow Lion," says Litchfield. "It was a sort of a formative experience going into adulthood. It was right after college, right before work. And I sort of cherish that memory. And I'm looking to do that again. It's time for another run at this."

The navigator onboard Snow Lion for that race was Ed Cesare, who will be filling that pivotal role on Hound next summer.

"Going across an ocean, there's nothing quite like it in any boat," says Cesare, an experienced racing navigator. "And west to east transatlantic, in particular, is a storied race.

"The Hound is a fantastic yacht. She is in one word, elegant. Every day aboard is a little different, but every day is smooth as silk. She is a good all-arounder. The boat is quick in a big breeze and despite her displacement, or maybe because of it, steady in medium to light winds. We'll see all of these conditions in a 3,000-mile race."