Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Hell’s Kitchen Sailor to Compete in Race From South Carolina to Maine

By Maya Rajamani | May 6, 2016 7:08pm | Updated on May 9, 2016 8:53am
 Mike Hennessy, 49, on his sailboat
Mike Hennessy, 49, on his sailboat "Dragon."
View Full Caption
Billy Black

HELL’S KITCHEN — It took Mike Hennessy 11 and one-half days to cross the Atlantic Ocean when he set sail last year. 

His next journey will be a shorter one, when the Hell's Kitchen resident and his sailing partner compete in this year's Atlantic Cup race, which starts in Charleston, S.C. on May 28, stops in Brooklyn at the beginning of June and ends in Portland, Maine.

It will be the fifth time racing in the longest offshore race in the Western Atlantic region for the competitive sailor, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly three decades.

Hennessy, 49, grew up sailing in Connecticut, and he has kept up with the sport ever since.

“I like the challenge,” he said. “It forces you to concentrate and focus, so it cleans everything out of your mind and helps you, in a strange way, relax, because you really don’t have the energy or time to think about anything other than what you’re doing.”

“You’re trying to make the boat go as fast as possible,” he added.

His sailing partner Merf Owen designed the boat they will sail, known as the “Dragon.”

“In Asian mythology, dragons are the beasts that control the seas and the winds and the waves," he explained of the name.

His passion for sailing has taken him to sites around the world, including Bermuda, Cuba and the U.K.

Most recently, he came in first place in a race from Miami to Havana, Cuba — a 250-mile race that took a little over a day, he said.

He has raced across the Atlantic Ocean twice — once last year and once in 2011.

“It was a very quick trip,” he said of his most recent cross-ocean journey. “It’s really not as quick as flying, but for sailing, it’s quick.”

Although Hennessy’s sport often takes him to other places, he was quick to point out that New York City has ample opportunities for sailing.

“I think the city’s done a great job in recent years of trying to open up the coastline, and I hope that New York City residents try and take advantage of all the great stuff they can do on the waterfront, he said. “It is a maritime city, and I think a lot of people forget about it.”

Sleep is scarce during races, which often involve two-hour naps taken in blocks throughout the trip, but the schedule doesn’t bother Hennessy.

“I feel pretty lucky. I’ve had an opportunity to sail in a lot of really great places,” he said.

“It’s been a fantastic way to see the world.”