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Tough Enough

The untimely arrival of a cold front on day 3 of Acura Key West 2006 brought a strong northerly, causing a brief race delay. Owners and crews had more time for dockside strategy before facing a windy start. The northerlies brought flatter water and gusty conditions setting a no-nonsense tone for class leaders looking to hook in, hang on and increase their lead. Split-second precision was required to stay on top. For sailors who shine in heavy air, the spotlight was on boat handling, preparation and performance. Wednesday was an opportunity to show that boats of all sizes were more than tough enough for the conditions.

Racing began under partly cloudy skies and a steady 20-knot wind increasing to a solid 25 with gusts to 30. Divisions 1, 2 and 3 held one race. Division 4, located farther in the lee, completed two races. "It's more important to have quality over quantity," said David Brennan, PRO for Division 3. A steady 20 is one thing, but 30 and over becomes a boat handling issue for many.

"That was a good decision by the Race Committee," said Software Mistress owner Ian Maclean (Hamble, UK). "We survived."

Jim Bishop and his untouchable J/44, Gold Digger, seemed unfazed by the conditions and has earned five bullets in a row, dominating the IRC-2 class. Nelson Stephenson's TeamBOLD rules the Mumm 30 class with five bullets. "They have every card in the deck to play, including a couple of jokers," Stephenson said, thrilled about the performance of his team.

Division 1
Vincenzo Onorato sported a very satisfied look as he stood on the dock at Historic Seaport Wednesday afternoon.
Onorato, skipper of the Italian Farr 40 Mascalzone Latino, had many reasons to be happy. He was sailing off Key West in heavy air with three-time America's Cup champion Russell Coutts and was tied for the lead in an incredibly tough class.

"I am always happy to be racing in Key West, and days like this are the reason why. Warm weather and lots of wind... I love the place," Onorato said.

Northerly winds that steadily increased to 25 knots made for another thrilling afternoon at Acura Key West 2006, presented by Nautica.

Competition can get intense and a bit hairy in the professionally-crewed Farr 40 class when it blows because the boats tend to be so tightly congested.

With Coutts calling tactics, Onorato has done well in the difficult conditions of the past two days and soared to the top of the 25-boat fleet. He steered Mascalzone Latino to fourth in Wednesday's race and is now tied with Warpath at 30 points apiece.
This regatta marks the first time Onorato and Coutts have teamed together. Their goal is to capture the 2006 Farr 40 World Championship.

"It is the most exciting thing in the sailing world to sail with the king," Onorato said of Coutts. "Russell brings a unique champions' attitude to the boat."

Warpath, owned by the father-son team of Fred and Steve Howe, also made a major move up the leader board since the heavy air arrived on Tuesday. Past Volvo Ocean Race winner John Kostecki is calling tactics on Warpath, which placed second in Wednesday's start and is winning the regatta by tiebreaker over Mascalzone.

Fiamma, an Italian entry skippered by Alessandro Barnaba, won Wednesday's Farr 40 race. Tommaso Chieffi is calling tactics for Fiamma, which is making its Key West debut.

"It is very exciting sailing in these conditions. Today was a very tough race because the top five boats were really close," Barnaba said. "We had a nice duel upwind. It was important to keep the boat speed going, which was not easy in that much wind."

Goombay Smash continued to extend its lead in the Swan 45 World Championship. Skipper William Douglass and crew posted a third on Wednesday and is now eight points ahead of DSK-Comifin (Danilo Salsi, Italy).
British match racing veteran Chris Law is calling tactics for Douglass, who has led the series since Day 1 by relying on a conservative gameplan.

"Doug is sailing the boat very well and we are going really fast both upwind and downwind," Law said. "I give a lot of credit to Don Kelly, the boat captain. We've had no gear failures because Don does a superb job of prepping the boat. He makes my job a lot easier."

Jeroboam Canova, skippered by Vittorio Codecasa of Porto Cervo, Italy, was the winner of Race 5 on Wednesday. "Today was very good. Fantastic! Everything was perfect... the teamwork was very good and it was easy to steer," Codesda said. "We were not particularly influenced by the tough conditions, because after many times sailing in Sardinia, we are used to weather like this."

Tactician Gabriele Benussi said Jeroboam got a good start and made the correct decision by heading to the right side of the course en route to earning Mount Gay Rum Boat of the Day. "Vittorio helmed very well and we were first at the first windward mark. Downwind, we increased our advantage over the rest of the fleet with good speed, and on the second leg we built a really good distance between us and the next boat," Benussi said.

Division 2

Sjambok, owned by Michael Brennan (Annapolis, MD), returned to the dock in good spirits despite the crab pot line that had snagged on the Transpac 52's underwater appendages. "Today was awesome!" said Mike Beasley, pit. "Everyone put out a good effort in handling the conditions." In the groove on Wednesday, the great speed machine thrived in the strong wind. Leading the fleet so far is Stay Calm II, owned by Stuart Robinson (London, UK). Thomas Stark's Rush (Newport, RI) is in close second with Eamon Conneely's Patches (Newport, RI) in third.

The PHRF-3 fleet sailed all over the map on Wednesday. Rick Wesslund's J/120, El Ocaso (Triburon, CA), enjoyed two bullets on Tuesday and remains in the lead. It wasn't easy. "We weren't on our game and we struggled a lot today," Rick said about Wednesday's less than ideal conditions. Anticipating the strong gusts was a challenge and the El Ocaso team was appreciative of the Race Committee's decision to hold only one race.

Daniel Gourash's Blue Dog, a shiny new C&C 115, is being raced in Key West for the first time. The boat had already sailed through a howling cold front to arrive in Key West just before Race Week started. The crew was quite familiar with heavy air. "We didn't break that much," said trimmer Andy Drum after Wednesday's race.


Division 3
Thomas Coates and his Masquerade team breezed through the finish with flying colors and leads the fleet. Rival Zuni Bear maintained a solid second and the crew are looking forward to changing the status quo.

In third place, James Doane's Flame (Naples, FL) is ready to take advantage of the slightest slip by the top two contenders. Alice Leahey's Grace O'Malley (Los Angeles, CA) sailed right alongside Masquerade and Zuni Bear in a fast and furious upwind leg flight. Maintaining a position near the top leaders, Alice is delighted about Grace O'Malley team's progress. "It's a very competitive fleet," said Leahey. "In a large fleet, sometimes it's easy to get flustered. The key is keeping your head and not getting worked up when things go wrong."

"It was wild!" Steve Olinger enthused. Owner of J'Makin Waves, Steve (Treasure Island, FL) remains in the top half of the fleet. Onboard Chemically Adjusted, owners Mike Barber and Danny Bonner, (Atlanta, GA), are just as excited about the vigorous and challenging racing. The J/105 was literally flying. "The ride was intense," said crew member Ric Dexter.

"We have a captain with nerves of steel," said Mal Hill of the Forerunner team. Owners John and Scott Mathis (Pensacola Beach, FL) wanted to keep the slippery vessel in one piece on Wednesday. "We were very conservative," said John. "And we didn't break anything," added Margo Partain, foredeck. The large J/105 fleet was scattered all over the course and the Forerunner crew didn't have an easy time keeping track of opponents.

The top J/80, Synergy, earned two bullets on Tuesday and was working double time in Wednesday's wet and salty competition. "You've got to watch your opponents," said owner Jay Lutz (Houston, TX). This day was challenging for the Synergy team. "It's really tough to get an idea of what the other boats are doing when everyone is on the edge," said Lutz. The light and hyper-responsive J/80's were being bowled all over the course on Wednesday, happy for an early return to the dock. C'est Nasty, last year's J/80 fleet winner in Key West, is currently in second. Owned by Rick Schaffer (Ft. Worth, TX), the team was in its element on Wednesday and is just one point behind Synergy. John Storck Jr., owner of Rumor, (Huntington, NY), is in a close third so far.
Partners & Partners, a French entry skippered by Philippe Ligot, took over the lead in Melges 24 class with a second place on Wednesday. Blu Moon, a Swiss boat owned by Franco Rossini, fell to second after leading for two days.

"We were third at the leeward mark, but our kite wrapped on the run and we lost two places," said Chris Rast, helmsman aboard Blu Moon. "Today was all about boathandling."

Dave Ullman (Pegasus 505) was winning Race 5, but wiped out on the last downwind leg. Jeff Madrigali (Pegasus 492) had a clean gybe and wound up snatching victory from his teammate.

"I told the crew to hang in there and we'd see if we could win the final run sweepstakes," Madrigali said. "Dave was going to beat us until he broached. We didn't make any big errors, which wasn't easy in the big breeze."

Division 4

The crew on Temptress chalked up a 1-2 on Wednesday in the PHRF-4 fleet. The team raced right on the ragged edge of their SR33's max hull speed. "She loves to go fast, and I've exceeded it only once," said O'Reilly. Along with skill on the playing field, the factor that sends owner Robert 's crew into the winning zone are the nightly reviews of videotapes of the day's racing, provided by their chase boat. "When you see your mistakes that way, you have a leg up on correcting them. It also helps when we're breaking in new crewmembers," says McCray, former 470 coach for the US sailing team 2000-2003. "With us it's practice, practice and more practice"

Thinking outside the box is a way of life for Chuck Simon's Liquor Box crew, the Key West entry that is renowned for sailing and partying hard. In the PHRF-6 fleet, Box is the team to beat with three bullets in a row. Between races 1 and 2 on Wednesday, a broken boom threatened to upset their lead. In a gutsy move borne out of desperation and necessity, they decided to hang in and fly the jib for race 2. "The air was heavy enough and it was worth the try." Simon said. The strategy was sound and the Box remains ahead of Amethyst, a J/27 owned by Doug Davies and Aileen Eppig (Glen Cove, NY). Third in the fleet is Bert Carp's Remedy (Annapolis, MD).

Bryan Coon, owner of Mistress (Huntington, NY), wondered what his team was going to do when he saw the day's conditions. "We don't have a storm spinnaker, so I decided to sail without the kite," Coon said. "The S2 7.9 likes the heavy weather but on day two, on our first tack we had the gunnels buried, water up to the windows and almost lost two of our hikers."

Mistress was first in the PHRF-7 fleet on Wednesday. "I was a little surprised to learn we were in first place. I figured Circus had nosed us out," Coon said. The tough conditions tested the competitors and proved their worth. "The key-" says Coons, "is conservative, steady sailing." Tactician Roy Sherman believes in solid, no-nonsense sailing and it's paying off. "Key West Race Week is the best racing event in North America," says Sherman. "Since we're in the lead," said Coon, "we'll have to be sailing harder and smarter. This promises to be a tough week and we're going to get tough enough to keep it that way."


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

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