A newcomer to this year’s Marblehead to Halifax race is Overdraft X, a Farr 40 turbo owned by Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron member James Gogan. Overdraft X will probably have one of the younger crews in the race as seven of the eight crew members are under 25. They include James’s brother Jack Gogan, who has been a member of the Nova Scotia Sailing team and Canada’s Youth Sailing team.
James and Jack grew up sailing together in Nova Scotia 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 6’2” carbon fibre bow sprit as added to accommodate the new asymmetric sail set up and the electronics were updated to prepare for offshore racing.
Last summer they competed in the RNSYS Wednesday night race series and they also came in second to RNSYS member Graham Roy’s Rampage in the 2024 Chester Race Week in August. Rampage, a Farr 395, is also competing in this year’s Marblehead to Halifax race.