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RESULTS:   DIVISION 1   |   DIVISION 2   |    DIVISION 3   |    DIVISION 4

Worth the Wait

by Bill Wagner

Key West 2005 came roaring in like a lion. When dawn broke over the Conch Republic it revealed howling northerly winds that were consistent at 25 knots and gusted to 37. Dark and rainy conditions that prevailed for three days prior to the regatta had given way to sunny skies while temperatures warmed from 60 to 70 degrees.

It was a glorious day for sailing and organizers with Premiere Racing worked hard to utilize it. After postponing the regatta’s initial start twice in the morning for safety reasons, the principal race officers on all four courses got off a race that produced some spectacular action and surprisingly little carnage.

“It was really exciting racing. I’m glad the race committee was able to get us in a race today,” said Craig Speck, owner of the Swan 45 Vim, which finished third in class.

Most felt the decision by event director Peter Craig to delay until the afternoon was wise as the wind dropped to a more manageable 16-18 knots later in the afternoon.

“I think Peter’s reasoning was spot on. It probably would have been a lot rougher in the morning. As it turned out, the breeze moderated and we were able to enjoy some great racing,” said Terry Hutchinson, tactician aboard the Farr 40 Barking Mad, which placed second.

Sailing in the afternoon likely saved many teams from equipment damage as the riggers down on front street did not report much business.

“It’s been pretty quiet. There’s been a few people come in looking for sheets or blocks, but it doesn’t sound like too many boats blew things up,” said John Deger of Florida Rigging.

By far the most serious damage reported came on Division 2 where the J/109 evonne.com/2 lost its rig. Principal race officer Bruce Golison said skipper John Yanover’s mast broke about 15 minutes prior to the start. Golison delayed the start briefly while the J/109 was assisted.

There was certainly plenty of excitement with boats rounding up and shrimping spinnakers amid confused and choppy seas. Chris and Kara Busch’s Wild Thing was leading the 1D35 fleet on the first run when it crash-jibed and was passed by five boats.

“I turned too hard and couldn’t recover. It’s funny because we had no problems practicing in stronger wins (Sunday),” Chris Busch said. “I guess I got a little complacent.”

It was hairy at times on the Melges 24 course as the tiny rocket ships were flying downwind under oversized asymmetrical spinnakers. There was one unfortunate incident as Team Gill got a bit out of control on the first downwind leg and collided with Pegasus, which was way out in front and heading upwind through the fleet at the time.

Team Gill skipper Simon Strauss immediately retired while Pegasus skipper Bill Hardesty sailed on to victory. Hardesty, who had former Olympic medallists Kevin Burnham and Freddy Loof aboard, was not shaken by being T-boned.

“I thought they were trying to cross us, but they tried to jibe and go behind us at the last moment and had a boat-handling problem,” Hardesty said. “It got ugly after that. Their pole hit us and then their bow hit us at the rail.”

Only three of 21 classes did not go out yesterday _ Mumm 30, Corsair 28 and PHRF 3. Those were the smallest boats on Divisions 1 and 2 where the sea state was roughest with four foot waves, explained Craig.

There was mixed reaction among the 14 Mumm owners about not getting to race.

“It made sense to me. Why trash the whole class on the first day of the regatta?” said Rob Moore, crew member aboard Q, owned by Jim Swartz of Park City, Utah. “I think most people were relieved. All the bowmen were walking around real worried this morning. These boats are really slippery downwind and easy to tip over.”

Some Mumm 30 crew members went looking for a mini golf course while Nick von der Wense, tactician aboard defending  champion Turbo Duck, went roller-blading around town for a couple hours.

“I’m a little disappointed. You come all this way, you don’t want to sit at the dock,” von der Wense said.

DIVISION I

As usual, the Farr 40 class is loaded with big-name professionals and competition was tight at the front of the fleet yesterday with Newport, R.I., residents John Coumantaros and Jim Richardson duking it out.

Coumantaros got a good start aboard Bambakou and grabbed an early lead. Barking Mad passed on the first run, pushed out to a seven-length advantage and rounded the final leeward mark still in first.

“I chose the left side and I chose wrong. The shift went their way,” Hutchinson said. “I give all the credit to the crew on Bambakou. She was very well-sailed today.”

Coumantaros, who has British Olympian Ian Walker calling his tactics, held the lead with a bold move toward the end of the race.

“We were on starboard at the last cross but we lee-bowed him because we wanted to guard the right side,” Coumantaros said. “It was very close, but Terry was gracious. Another competitor might have thrown a (protest) flag.”

Vim finished second among the Swan 45s at Key West 2004 and Speck guessed his team was considered the pre-regatta favorite since Tom Stark did not return to defend his title aboard Rush.

Speck got off to a tough start as he was over the line early at the start. He recovered well enough finish third behind fellow  Newport, R.I. residents Andrzej Rojek (Better Than) and Dick Weisman (Vixen).

“Jibing was an adventure. We had one slight problem that was due to driver error, but for the most part it was a smooth ride,” Speck said. “We used the symmetrical spinnaker instead of the asymmetrical, which was probably pretty smart.”

Speck said the Swan 45s perform well in heavy air and reveled in the opportunity to fine-tune his helming skills in such conditions.

“I don’t get to sail in this kind of breeze often enough. Today was a great learning experience for me,” he said.

Extreme, skippered by Mike Goldfarb of Seattle, Wash., jumped out to the early lead in the 10-boat 1D35 class. That class has returned to Key West after a one-year layoff.

“It was an interesting race. There were a lot of place changes,” said David Kirk, who skippered third-place finisher Détente.

DIVISION 2

PHRF 1 figures to be one of the more exciting classes at Key West 2005 with the speedy Transpac 52s doing battle with the regatta’s largest entries, such as the Reichel-Pugh 75 Titan 12.

Skipper Tom Hill steered Titan across the line first with an elapsed time of 1 hour, 13 minutes for the five-leg, 11.1-mile course. He felt carrying a reef for three legs probably prevented the 75-footer from saving its time on the Transpac 52s.

“We probably should have shaken it out sooner,” Hill said. “This boat likes these types of conditions. It has a lot of stability for an ultra-light. It’s designed to go upwind.”

Hill has brought a variety of boats named Titan to Key West, including a Tripp 47, Nelson-Marek 46 and Farr 40. This is the second trip south for the RP 75, which finished a disappointing sixth a year ago.

“I think this year we have a rating we can work with. We’re sailing with a smaller pole and a smaller chute,” said Hill, who has  Benny Mitchell of San Diego aboard as tactician. “We have a lot of new people onboard and they learned a lot today. I think we’ll do a lot better tomorrow.”

Esmeralda nipped Sjambok by about three boat lengths in a fierce fight between a pair of Transpac 52s that both came off the boards of Farr Yacht Design.

“We were a bit slow on one spinnaker hoist and that probably cost us beating Esmeralda,” said Sjambok skipper Michael Brennan, who has BMW/Oracle Racing pros John Kostecki and Gavin Brady aboard.

Ken Read, another America’s Cup veteran, called tactics for Esmeralda owner Makoto Uematsu, whom Brennan figures to be battling all week.

“I think the two boats have similar speed. It’s going to come down to crew work,” Brennan said. “We’d love to get this kind of breeze again tomorrow. These boats sail very, very well in 20-25 knots.”

DIVISION 3

Thomas Coates and his crew aboard Masquerade hail from San Francisco and thus are used to sailing in big breeze. That showed yesterday as the West Coasters captured the 40-boat J/105 class in convincing fashion.

Coates chose a mid-line start position and came off with good speed. He caught a favorable shift about five minutes into the initial windward leg and extended the lead from there.

“This crew sails together in a lot of major regattas. I’m never worried about crew work… things go up and down the way they are supposed to,” Coates said.

Masquerade finished well ahead of runner-up Rum’N’ Java and earned Nautica Boat of the Day honors for its performance. Coates is making his seventh appearance in Key West, having finished third in 2003 and tied for second last year.

“I’m hoping we continue that upward progression,” he said. “I’ve got to keep coming down here until we finally win.”

Pegasus 575, which is actually owned by Phillipe Kahn, was one of the pre-regatta favorites due to the talented trio of Hardesty, Burnham and Loof. Burnham was recently named Rolex Yachtsman of the Year for winning the gold medal in 470 class at the Athens Olympics along with helmsman Paul Foerster. Loof captured a medal in Finn class at the Sydney Olympics.

Veteran West Coast sailmaker Dave Ullman (Newport Beach) stands second while Franco Rossini is third. Rossini placed fourth aboard Blu Moon at last year’s regatta.

Rick Schaffer sailed a flawless race aboard C’est Nasty to win going away in J/80 class.

DIVISION 4

Annapolis resident Bruce Gardner is a Key West regular, having captured PHRF Boat of the Week honors in 2000 aboard his Beneteau 1st 10-meter L’Outrage. Gardner has sailed in heavy air here in years past and took a safe approach yesterday en
route to winning PHRF 5.

“Our gameplan was to be very conservative. We did not try to win the start and instead focused on getting around the course in an uneventful manner,” Gardner said. “We used the oldest sheet on the boat because we didn’t want to break any of the new
ones.”

Gardner was happy to be out to an early lead, but knows it won’t be easy to maintain against tough competitors such as Remedy (Evelyn 32) and Invincible (Nelson-Marek 30).

“We tend to do well in heavy air so we need to take advantage of it while it lasts,” he said. “It will be a much different story when the wind lightens up.”

Amethyst , a J/27 owned by Doug Davies of Glen Cove, N.Y., was in familiar position atop the PHRF 7 standings after Day 1. “This is the third year we’ve been winning after the first day. We have a regular crew so we tend to get up to speed quickly,” said Davies, who has owned the boat for 19 years. “Unfortunately, it’s often been downhill after that.”

Amethyst has shown steady improvement, placing fifth in 2002, fourth in 2003 and third in 2004. Davies figures a similar one place improvement will result in a second this time around.

“That’s our minimum goal,” he said.

No skipper was happier than Denny Manrique, who steered the S2 7.9 Island Flyer to victory in PHRF 8. Manrique, from Minnitonka Bay, Minn., is making his Key West debut.

“My first race in Key West and I go out and get a bullet… you can’t beat that,” he said. “We put together a crackerjack crew so I thought we would be competitive.”

Liquor Box, a Key West-based boat co-owned by Chuck Simon and Bill Buckles, excelled in the big breeze and assumed its usual position atop Tartan 10 class.

“Our crew performs very well in these conditions so we hope it blows like this again tomorrow,” said Simon, who took the lead 30 seconds into the race and never looked back.
 

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