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

Setting a Strong Pace

By Bill Wagner

No Key West regatta has ever been won by Tuesday. However, many skippers have set themselves up for ultimate victory with strong performances the first couple days.

With most classes having completed three of nine scheduled races at Key West 2005, several solid pacesetters have emerged.

One-design entries that have posted straight bullets include the Avra (J/120), C’est Nasty (J/80), Hustler (J/29), Extreme (1D35) and Liquor Box (Tartan 10). Among the handicap classes, Esmeralda (PHRF 1), Pretty Woman (PHRF 2) and Pamlico (PHRF 4) are all flawless so far.

“Obviously, we’re very encouraged at this point, but it’s a marathon not a sprint,” Extreme owner Mike Goldfarb said.

“It’s nice to be leading, but you can never get too comfortable. If we still have all bullets going into Friday I’ll feel a lot better,” Hustler owner John Esposito added.

All the leaders are no doubt pleased to have gotten out front while heavy air prevailed. Tuesday was very much like Monday with a 21-knot northerly blowing strong for both races. However, forecasts call for winds to lighten later in the week and it’s always a wild card as to whether all nine races will be held.

“It definitely helps to have some good finishes in the bag while the wind is up because you never know what will happen on Thursday or Friday,” Avra owner George Petrides said. “We’re off to a good start, but it would be arrogant to think we’ve got it locked when there are still six more races to be sailed.”

Things could change in some of the PHRF classes if indeed the air drops out later in the week. Pamlico owner Kurt Muller knew coming into the regatta that strong winds would favor his Andrews 38.

“If it goes light we’re going to be eating a lot of dirty air,” Muller said.

California sailmaker and Melges 24 skipper Dave Ullman said Wednesday is most important in a week-long regatta such as this. “That’s when things are often won or lost,” he said.

However, Ullman agreed the first few days tend to separate the pretenders from the contenders, especially if there is a big breeze. Bill Hardesty and Pegasus hold a one-point lead over Maspero Giovanni and Joe Fly in the 58-boat Melges 24 class, but several other owners have shown they could be a factor before all is said and done.

“The fleet is sorting itself out and we’re starting to see some trends,” said Ullman, who stands in third place. “There’s four or five guys who have been consistently at the front.”

DIVISION 1

Chicago resident Alice Martin fell in love with a Swan 45 while attending the Annapolis Boat show this past fall. Unfortunately, the classy racer was a bit out of her price range.

So Martin did the next best thing by chartering a Swan 45 for Key West 2005. Despite having only two practice days to get used to handling the boat, Martin and her crew aboard Painkiller 3 have done quite well _ posting a first and a second on the water yesterday.

Painkiller initially grabbed a share of the lead in the six-boat class along with Better Than (Andrzej Rojek), but dropped in the standings after having its bullet in Race 3 changed to a seventh after losing a protest.

“For having never steered a Swan before, Alice is holding her own,” said professional match racer Chris Law, who is calling tactics for Martin.

Martin also has pro Dobbs Davis aboard as trimmer, but the rest of the crew is comprised of amateurs drawn from far and wide _ Canada, Illinois, Connecticut and Maryland.

“It’s taken time for the crew to get comfortable with the boat and one another, but today we looked like a real team,” Martin said. “Coming in, I would have been happy just to win a couple daily trophies. Now, it wouldn’t say it’s out of the question that we could win the whole thing.”

Mean Machine, owned by Dutchman Peter De Ridder, took over the lead in the highly-competitive Farr 40 class with a 2-1 finish yesterday, earning Premiere Racing Boat of the Day honors in the process. New Zealander Tom Dotson is calling tactics for De Ridder, who is sailing with somewhat of a pickup crew.

“A lot of the amateur crew members are in school now and the bowman’s wife just had a baby,” Mean Machine trimmer Jon Gunderson said.

De Ridder’s new bowman for this event is Jeff Reynolds, brother of main trimmer Matt Reynolds.

“We’ve had good speed and good crew work, but there are some tough boats out here. Any one of several boats could still win,” Jeff Reynolds said.


After sitting out yesterday’s action, the Mumm 30s joined the fray and defending champion Turbo Duck posted a pair of bullets to take the early lead.

“When the wind is heavy like this it’s all about boat handling and we‘ve got a good crew,” said Nick von der Wense, who calls tactics for his father Bodo. “We got two clean starts and were able to hold our lanes.”

Deneen Demourakas steered Groovederci to a pair of seconds and she concerns von der Wense, who is also worried about Nelson Stephenson and Team Bold.

“There’s some awfully good boats in this fleet and I’m sure some of them might come after us a bit,” von der Wense said. “Deneen has a great crew. They ripped a kite today and had another one set within two minutes. It was very impressive.”

Goldfarb said his string of bullets in the 1D35 class have not come easy as boats have been overlapped on approach to the finish line in a couple races.

“It’s been tight racing, very close and exciting,” he said. “Our crew work has come together. We are working hard and getting into a groove.”

DIVISION 2

This is Avra’s first appearance at Key West and owner Petrides pulled out all the stops, bring America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veteran Chris Larson aboard as tactician.

“It’s a huge educational benefit to have quality coaching, a great return for the dollars spent,” Petrides said. “My first priority is that every member of the crew learns something and goes away with a higher level of skill.”

Petrides already has a strong crew, having been able to hand-pick among acquaintances from the Long Island Sound region after 30 sailors applied for eight spots.

“Everyone is good at their respective position and our teamwork has been spectacular,” said Petrides, adding that none of the crew had ever sailed on the same boat together before.

Pamlico is one of only two Andrews 38s ever built. Alan Andrews designed the original for his in-laws and the Annapolis-based Muller brothers _ Bobby and Kurt _ picked up the second edition from a South Carolina owner who had sunk considerable money into her.

PHRF 4 includes five Beneteau 40.7s, owners of which were not thrilled with the rating assigned Pamlico. Othmar von Blumencron, owner of second-place Dame Blanche, races against Pamlico back in Annapolis and owes the Andrews 38 three seconds more per mile down in Key West.

“Pamlico has beaten us in individual races, but never in an entire series,” von Blumencron said. “Hopefully, we’ll save our time on her once the air drops out a bit.”

Esmeralda and fellow Transpac 52 Sjambok continue to dominate the other big boats in PHRF 1. Owner Makoto Uematsu, a Japanese industrialist, has a strong afterguard that includes tactician Ken Read and alternate helmsman Tom Lihan.

“I think we have the boat dialed in. We’ve had pretty much the same crew going on two years now, which makes it good from a tactical standpoint,” said Read, who runs a North Sails loft in Portsmouth, R.I. “It doesn’t hurt being fast.”

Brad Butterworth, tactician aboard the Farr 60 Numbers, said the rest of the fleet has been watching the sterns of Esmeralda and Sjambok. “We do pretty well with the 52s upwind, but when they turn downwind they are gone.”

DIVISION 3

This is the third trip to Key West for C’est Nasty, owned by Rick Schaffer of Forth Worth, Texas. She finished fourth in 2003 and fifth in 2004, but has taken things to another level this season.

“Speed-wise, we are really going well. This crew has been sailing together four years and we just have not made any mistakes,” tactician David Hiebert said. “We have always sailed well in big breeze. We’re getting off the line in good shape and extending from there.”

California skipper Thomas Carruthers took over first place in the 40-boat J/105 class after notching a bullet and a third yesterday. Carruthers, who runs the J/World franchise in San Diego, has Invisible ahead of Monday Boat of the Day recipient Masquerade by a mere point.

Zuni Bear skipper Richard Bergmann, who has routinely been in the hunt at Key West, said the caliber of competition is outstanding once again.

“There are a lot of great teams out here. We have a lot of respect for all of them,” he said. “This is best J/105 regatta in the world in my book because all the best boats from every region come here. Flame, Tiburon, Rum ‘N’ Java are all sailing well. I’m sure we’ll see the standings continue to change.”

Bill Hardest held onto the lead in the 58-boat Melges 24 fleet, which had several entries lose rigs yesterday. Giovanni, who moved into second with a 1-3 afternoon, was laid out on the dock with an apparent injured leg after dodging a potential disaster in Race 3.

“We thought we might be over early at the start, but when they spoke our number on the radio we heard (bow number) 32 not 42,” Giovanni said. “So we kept going until we were about 100 meters upwind and they called it again. Then we went back and passed the first windward mark in 35th. We were very happy to finish third.”

DIVISION 4

Hustler has been trekking from City Island, N.Y. to Key West for 12 years now, winning J/29 class in 1994, 1998, 2000 and 2002. Esposito said the team has only finished out of the money on two occasions.

“We’re just trying to keep the boat upright. We made one mistake that resulted in a wipeout, but other than that we’ve been pretty clean,” was Esposito’s explanation for the three bullets. “I’d rather be ahead than behind at this point, but Rhumb Punch (John Edwards) is real tough and will be there at the end.”

There’s been good action in C&C 99 class with Wally Hogan steering Tam to the top of the standings after two days. Hogan captured class honors at Key West 2004 aboard Trumpeter, which is being sailed by Bob Wilson this season.

“I think the regatta is wide-open at this point. It’s going to be a good fight all the way to Friday,” Wilson said. “Graffiti (Pat Huntley) is going real well and Breakaway (Tom Sawchuk) is much-improved after really struggling here last year.”

Owner Bryan Sims was quite pleased when his C&C 43 Usual Suspect was placed in PHRF 6 along with such designs as a Swan 48, Farr 37, Tripp 37 and Moorings 38. Usual Suspect owns a three-point lead over E-Ticket after getting the win in Race 3 yesterday.

“Last year we were grouped with some smaller, lighter boats and could not compete. Now we’re in with much more comparable boats,” said Sims, whose 1975 build weighs 24,500 pounds.

This is the first foray into big-boat sailing for Sims and his Canadian crew, most of which met sailing dinghies on Lake Ontario. Tactician Dave Belford and main trimmer Murray Dinning are two of regulars aboard Usual Suspect.

“Some of us have sailed together for 20 years now. We have a great familiarity with one another, which is really important,” Sims said.
 

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