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Sunday/Monday - Issue 1

- January 15 - 16, 2006 

Tuesday - Issue 2 - January 17, 2006

Wednesday - Issue 3 - January 18, 2006

Thursday - Issue 4 - January 19, 2006

Friday - Issue 5 - January 20, 2006

Saturday - Issue 6 - January 21, 2006

 
     

Subtropical Sizzle

Gale force gusts during Saturday's cold front kept all boats tethered to shore. After a good day's practice on Sunday, the fickle subtropical weather gradually warmed up while the wind fell flat on its face. The first day of this much anticipated week started out with calm seas, hot sun and slow, shifting breezes. Drifting offshore near the race course, nearly three hundred racing vessels waited, slack sails eager for some kind of wind. The races were briefly postponed. Finally, the wind returned. Crews jumped into action and slick racing hulls assembled for the first chance to face off for the highest honors. The heat was on.

The first and second race for the day went off without a hitch. The lighter vessels felt the choppy conditions while the larger boats plowed over the blue for some extremely close sailing. Everyone felt the wind shifts. "All three classes drifted into one big mass," said Greg Kiely on division 3's light-wind start. Greg is a member of the Gumption 3 team, a J/105 owned by Kevin Grainger. The winds continued to rise, shift and even change pressure as sailors found their groove. All teams worked hard to establish a high-ranking position for the all important first sizzling day of Acura Race Week 2006.

Division 1

Day 1 of Acura Key West 2006 brought an international smorgasbord within the grand prix classes.

A Norwegian entry is atop the Farr 40 standings while a Swiss boat took the lead in Melges 24. A pair of American skippers sit in first in the Transpac 52 and Swan 45 classes. Swan 45 is contesting its inaugural world championship and Goombay Smash, owned by William Douglass of Newport, R.I., is the early front runner.

"We're happy about the day, obviously. The team's fitting in really well together and we didn't want to push too hard on the first day," Douglass said.  "The weather was good, and that shift we'd been hoping for appeared about halfway through the second race." British match racing veteran Chris Law is calling tactics aboard Goombay Smash, which posted a fourth and a third Monday and leads DSK-Comifin (Danilo Salsi, Italy) by two points.

"We went out saying we would like to get two top five finishes," Law said. "We got off the line in decent shape and stayed out of the corners. We wanted to play it conservative."

There will be no throwouts in the series, scheduled for nine races. Law said several boats were forced to perform penalty turns and absorbed high scores as a result.

"The boats that beat us today banged the corners. We're not willing to do that because you can't take risks in a no-throwout series," Law said. "We just played the middle and focused on boat speed. We were real fast downwind. We gained a couple boats on those legs," Law said.

Norwegian Steam, owned by Eivind Astrup, is the pacesetter in Farr 40 class after Day 1. Morten Henriksen is calling tactics for Astrup, who notched a second and fourth and is one point ahead of the Italian entry Calvi-Gameon (Carlo Alberini).

"We started out roll tacking and then ended the day by hiking our butts off." Kristen Robinson, Angry Chameleon racing on Division 1, which includes the Swan 45s and Farr 40s, was delayed about two hours to allow the breeze to build. At around noon, the wind filled from the southeast at 11-12 knots and enabled organizers with Premiere Racing to get off two good races.

"The race committee did an awesome job of dealing with the conditions. Everyone knew the forecast and the wind filled in nicely," said Scott Nixon, tactician aboard Ramrod, the top United States boat. "We wound up getting a steady breeze and had good racing today."

Ramrod is owned by Rod Jabin of Annapolis, Md., a relative newcomer to the class. He posted a 7-5 line for the day and stands in fourth overall after losing a tiebreaker to Mascalzone Latino (Vincenzo Onorato, Italy).

Three-time America's Cup champion Russell Coutts is calling tactics for Onorato, who steered Mascalzone to a fourth and an eighth. "In this class, every boat is good and can win a race," Jabin said. "We just wanted to start safe and clean and avoid the big mistakes."

Division 2

Tight racing and frequent traffic jams set the tone in PHRF-3. Frank Kern's J/120 Carinthia from Detroit, MI., finished first. Lloyd Griffin of Elizabeth City, NC., owner of Cash Flow, sailed hard to earn a close second. "It was very close sailing," said Lloyd. "We got lucky." Rick Wesslund's California entry, El Ocaso, raced just as hard and tied for second in class today. Stuart Hebb, owner of the Aerodyne 38 Thin Ice, is racing his vessel in Key West for the first time. The team had a fine day on the course. "It was great sailing," Stuart said. He didn't even mind the unusual conditions. "We did pretty good."

Moneypenny stole the show in IRC-1 and earned a first place with two bullets. "It was very close on the water," said Jim Swartz, owner of the eye-catching Swan 601 from Newport, RI. "Racing today was challenging with the wind shifts. It was fun." Crewmember Mark Strube agrees. "It was just a beautiful day out there." Moneypenny had almost bow to bow racing with Numbers, a Farr 60 owned by Daniel Meyers, and Hissar, a Farr 60 owned by Edgar Cato.

Nick Lykiardopulo, owner of the Ker 55 Aera, finished second in class. Jez Fanstone, Aera's skipper, enjoyed the first day and is looking forward to the week's action. "Coming to Key West is always a good thing. It was fun today to have such close racing," Jez said. Hailing from the UK, Aera has a relatively new team onboard and the boat's smooth sailing was impressive.

The Melges 32 class ended with tight finishes. Michael Carroll's New Wave, from Lake Geneva, WI., powered to the lead with two bullets and was several boat lengths ahead of the pack. Jeff Ecklund's Star and Rick Orchard's Grins finished side by side for a hot second in class. The crews handled the ever-shifting conditions with enviable ease and it looks like this speedy group will be tight all week. Only time will tell who will be the leader of the pack by the end of the series.

Division 3

After a brief postponement, the Melges 24 teams were intense and sixty swift vessels crammed for top honors. No other one design sportboat can deliver this kind of tight competition. Overall - it's a tie! Between Rast and Pollard, with Rast placing above simply due to his second place finish in the first race. For third and fourth - it's a tie! Francois Bernac at the helm for Philippe Ligot from La Rochelle, France is barely third overall, just ahead of Leonard. Only one point separates fifth place finisher Madrigali from sixth place held by Angelini who is tied with Dave Ullman in seventh - both possessing 17 points each! In eighth and nineth - it's a tie! Simoneschi and Strauss are dead even with 18 points a piece. Kristian Nergaard is in tenth.

Thomas Coates and his San Francisco, CA., entry, Masquerade, placed first out of a solid twenty nine competitors. Long-time rival, Rich Bergmann, owner of the J/105 Zuni Bear, finished fourth in class. Zuni Bear, from San Diego, CA., has a winning history with Key West, earning first in the class for two years in a row (2003 & 2004). "Yeah, nothing changes," said Rich when asked about the friendly but intense rivalry with Masquerade. Rich enjoyed a good race and the weather turned out to be workable. "The wind filled in nicely." Rich said. "It got lumpier out there as far as the sea state, but in general it was classic Key West."

J/80, Angry Chameleon, placed a respectable sixth in class. Owners Kristen and Brian Robinson, from Annapolis, MD., were thrilled despite weather conditions that were a bit challenging for this light and slippery vessel. "It was fluky," said Kristen. "A lot of chop. We started out roll tacking and then ended the day by hiking our butts off."

Division 4


Moored nose to tail at Safe Harbor Marina in Stock Island, the number 1 and 2-ranked C&C 99 teams onboard Trumpeter and Breakaway share an ongoing rivalry. Today, with two wins under his belt, Tom Sawchuck's Breakaway (Lake Lanier, GA.) threatens to unseat Bob Wilson's two-time undefeated Trumpeter (Toronto, ONT.).

Fred McConnel's Florida entry Kokopelli, locked in a solid number 1 showing in the PHRF 4 division starting off with a first race squeaker over Bottle Rocket from Mystic, CT., and a 47 second race victory over Temptress from Charleston, SC. Hunter Riddle, McConnel's helmsman said Temptress, who pulled off to a healthy lead rounding the first leg, was the vessel to catch, but the mathematics of handicaps added up to a winning day for McConnel's only second appearance at Key West Race Week.

Hal Denton of Annapolis, MD., on Schock Therapy, logged a first out of the box today in the PHRF 5 division, saying afterward: "This is what Key West Race Week is all about." The secret to winning, according to Hal is simple: equal parts lady luck and having a good time. The second race went to Bruce Gardner, also from Annapolis, MD., sailing L'Outrage in exceptionally close quarters. Gardner seconds the opinion, "This is the premier competition in the country pitting the best of the best in a perfect venue."

For Dan Romano on Jazzy Jr., a Mariah 27, competition is the juice. "Acura Race Week 2006 is probably the best and most competitive racing in North America, and being in Key West, it's the best. Our strategy this year is simple: we've got a good team that works well together and we'll get out there and race as hard as we can." That strategy showed well as they earned a 5th in the 1st race and a 2nd in the last to give Jazzy Jr. an overall first place in the cumulative PHRF-7 standings.

Steve Rhyne on Mojo, scored a 1,2 for an overall first place in the J/109 class. For Rhyne, today's racing scored a little payback from last summer beating class rivals Storm, Phoebe's Phling and Rush who all beat him last year at Block Island. Attributing his victory to two really good starts, a little luck and good teamwork, Steve refuses to count his chickens until the end of the week.

 

Writers Brooke Babineau, Rebecca Burg and Bill Wagner contributed to this feature.

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