Clay Burkhalter, of Stonington CT recently wrapped up a winter sail training schedule in Flordia aboard his state-of-the-art 6.5m carbon fibre Acadia and is now busy packing the boat for shipping to Europe to compete in the 2007 Mini Transat Race. Clay’s uncle Rod Johnstone, a familiar name to J/Boat sailors, designed the mini for the “proto class” and Clay has spent the last three years building, sailing and optimizing the boat in order to qualify and compete in this challenging event.Clay will sail Acadia in a series of warm-up races this spring and summer in Europe leading up to the main event which starts in La Rochelle, France on Sept. 16. The Mini Transat is a 4240 mile solo offshore trans-Atlantic race from France to Brazil in open 21’ keelboats and this year will celebrate it’s 30th anniversary. Acadia is one of two boats representing the USA in a fleet of 84 that have successfully qualified.
Please support Clay’s effort and follow his progress at www.teamacadia.org. All donations to Team Acadia are tax deductible.