Acura Key West 2006 - Race Week News

Saturday - Issue 6 - January 21, 2006

The Crowning Moment

Acura Key West 2006 Race Week's grand finale of a Friday went out with a bang. Sunshine and warm southeasterly breezes near 12-knots concluded the last chapter in this prestigious offshore racing event for 2006. It has been a long week of salt soaked duels, bow to bow battles and suspenseful squeeze plays. While a few skippers have already bagged the game by Thursday, other teams put on their best performance challenging
the overall positions.

Fueled by sunshine and one last shot at stardom, sailors hit the docks early. During Friday's action, the breeze picked up and a few clouds rolled in while Divisions 1, 2 and 3 completed two races and Division 4 held one race. By the end of the day, Key West once again delivered world class action for all 19 classes.

Division 1

Italy is a small country that produces a remarkable number of world-class sailors.

A pair of Italian skippers captured the two most prestigious classes in the five-day regatta. Massimo Ferragamo, an Italian native who now lives in New York, captured the Swan 45 World Championship in dramatic fashion. Vincenzo Onorato, who hails from Napoli, took top honors in the talent-laden Farr 40 class.

Ferragamo and his team aboard Bellicosa jumped from third to first in the 16-boat Swan 45 field on Thursday then held the top spot with a 6-8 line on Friday. Not surprisingly, winning a world championship also earned Ferragamo the regatta's most prestigious award - the Acura Trophy as Boat of the Week.

"This is absolutely fantastic!" Ferragamo said. "We have always been second or third in the major regattas so this is the crowning moment. We have been working really hard to get better and this week the whole team was in sync."

"It was a great week of sailing. We couldn't have raced in stronger winds...there were a couple days that really pushed the limits," Ferragamo said. "This is a great win for me, but most of all for the crew. They are the ones who did the work."

Schiebler, a San Francisco resident who has sailed on and off with Ferragamo, was impressed by the owner's steering this week. "Massimo has not sailed much in heavy air. He embraced the challenge and really did a great job," Schiebler said. "We had no fouls, no breakages and stayed out of bad situations because Massimo trusted the guys around him and focused on driving the boat."

A few docks down, Onorato and tactician Russell Coutts clanked beers and exclaimed "Salute!" This was their first regatta together and resulted in a rousing victory in tough 25-boat fleet. "Racing with Russell Coutts has been the greatest sailing experience of my life," Onorato said of the three-time America's Cup champion. "He is so cool and relaxed. Everything was quiet and smooth aboard the boat and we really enjoyed our time on the water."

Mascalzone Latino seized control of the regatta midweek by placing fourth or better in four straight races. The Italian entry began the day with a healthy lead over Fiamma and Warpath so focused on covering the rivals in Friday's two races.

Mascalzone recovered from a terrible start to finish 12th in Race 8, four spots ahead of Fiamma. Coutts then set his sights on Warpath in Race 9 and placed 11th to the California entry's 12th. "We were sailing the boat faster and faster as the week went along. Boat speed is always the key and we were able to come back in a bunch of races. We were real deep today and worked our way through the fleet."

TeamBOLD, skippered by Nelson Stephenson, completed an impressive performance in the Mumm 30 National Championship. Tactician Brian Bissell (Georgetown) and a crew of college All-Americans helped Stephenson, who won seven of nine starts with a pair of thirds squeezed in. "We were building a picket fence and we decided to put a gate in," said Stephenson, who earned his first class victory in eight trips to Key West. Aaron Serinis, who works at the North Sails loft in Annapolis along with Bissell, trimmed the jib while Matt Schubert (Merchant Marine Academy) trimmed the main.

"Our team chemistry was tremendous. Everyone checked their egos at the door, and that's probably why this boat sailed better than ever before," said Stephenson, a resident of Southport, CT. While others in the class made mistakes or suffered breakdowns, TeamBOLD enjoyed a flawless week in beating Nick and Bodo von der Wense's Turbo Duck by 13 points. "I've never had the type of boat speed I had this week. The boat was set up really well," said Stephenson, United States class manager for Mumm 30. "We just had that little notch of speed, that tiny fraction of height that enabled us to get out of tough spots."

Division 2

Moneypenny, a Swan 601 owned by Jim Swartz of Newport, RI, won the inaugural US-IRC Championship by the slimmest of margins over Aera. Moneypenny's final calculation was 5.768 as compared to 5.765 for the Kerr 55, owned by Nick Lykiardopulo of Cowes, United Kingdom. This was the third major regatta for Swartz, who took delivery of the custom-built Swan six months ago. America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veteran Dee Smith called tactics for Swartz, who did not fare well in a tough IRC class at the San Francisco Big Boat Series. "It's been a fantastic week of sailing. Conditions have been excellent, race committee work has been stellar and I've been blessed with a great crew.

Rick Wesslund's El Ocaso (Tiburon, CA) wrapped up the week with style. The J/120 is at the top of the Key West winner's circle for PHRF-3. After trying hard for four years in Key West, owner Rick Wesslund and his team are excited to bag their first win in this tough race. With their windy California background, the team thrives in heavy air; a key factor in El Ocaso's top notch performance mid-week. El Ocaso scored four firsts then gave way to Sarah in Friday's lighter winds.

The group also has a great deal of respect for the competition. "We party with them and then we compete against them," Caldwell said. In the pit and floater position, Heather Noel has been with the team for two years. The crew nicknamed her "Tinkerbell" since the lithe young sailor is all over the boat during a race. "This was my first (Key West) and I had a fantastic time," Noel said with a radiant smile. Energized by their win, Wesslund's team will be heading off to Miami.

"The thing that makes it a sweet victory is that we won at the Key West regatta," said Sister Golden Hair's trimmer, Colby Germond. Winning the top prize in the PHRF-2 fleet, Sister Golden Hair (Charleston, SC) began the week behind Boys Are Back In Town and was nipped by Brendan Brownyard's Hell Hound mid-week. By Friday Golden Hair had earned three firsts and that sent them over the edge by one point. "It was a see-saw race," Germond said about the fleet's persistance. "They really put the pressure on."

Securing second for the week is Peter Rogers' Ker 11.3, High Life (Hamble, UK). "We have an exceptional tactician," offered co-owner Roger Duckworth. "Everybody is familiar with each other." Duckworth was impressed by the competition. "They (Gold Digger) sailed their boat absolutely magnificent."

The High Life team sails together in English regattas. It's the boat's first time in America and she was specially shipped overseas to participate in Key West. They've been having quite a time. On Wednesday, High Life was flying downwind at a whopping 19.1 knots. She broached and lost points to Andrew Hall's Jack Knife (Pwllheli, UK) and Ian Maclean's Software Mistress (Hamble, UK). During the first race on Friday, the boat suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. The startled crew tacked and, luckily, the crab pot line fell away. The team recovered and has enjoyed the strong competition in the fleet. "They just didn't make a mistake," said navigator Mike Odwyer. "We always seemed to loose by about a minute."

The team hopes to return to Key West next year. "The organization is brilliant," Odwyer said. Tapio Saavalainen's Kalevala II (Annapolis, MD) secured third in class, six points behind.

This is the first time that the Melges 32 fleet has competed against each other as a class. The skippers were thrilled by the chance to race against each other at Key West. The Melges 32s made such a scene that the guys in the Transpacs were giving the smaller vessels the thumbs up on the field. Michael Carroll's New Wave (Melges 32) remained on the fast track to fame during the regatta and claims the fleet's Key West prize by a five point lead over Star.

"We were always keeping a check on them," says Star owner Jeff Ecklund (Ft. Lauderdale, FL). "We were able to chip away at them, but it wasn't enough." Judd Hirschberg, pit, nodded. "New Wave had a little speed on us during the first few races," Hirschberg said. The fleet had a good showing of talent and the Melges 24 World Champion, Harry Melges, was sailing with Ecklund. The legendary Buddy Melges sailed with Beck Swanson's XSNRG (Milford, CT).

"They pretty much dominated," said Grins crewmember Shawn Burke about New Wave. Rick Orchard's Grins was struggling with the chute on the windier days and had slipped behind Tim Kimpton's Crash Test Dummies by four points. Crash Test took third for the week, just four points behind Star.

Division 3

Once again the J/80 Midwinter Championship was held during Key West Race Week. This year Jay Lutz's Synergy (Houston, TX) claims the fame in the J/80 class.

"Hey," Lutz said. "I work for these guys, we had a good meet, great competition and we were fortunate with our fourth on Thursday that locked us in." Joe (JT) Taylor, mid-deck, said of Key West Race Week, "This really is the Premier-no pun intended-event for sailors, if you want to square off against the best of the best, then this is the place you gotta be." John Storck, Jr. and Rumor (Huntington, NY) bagged second overall. Last year's Midwinter J/80 Champ, Rick Schaffer's C'est Nasty, settled in third, only 3 points behind Rumor.

The J/105 teams vied for Key West trophies as well as top honors in the fleet's Midwinter Championships. Winning the class in Key West and taking the Midwinter prize in 2005, Masquerade was once again a dominant force in the fleet. Claiming victory at Race Week 2006 has to be a good feeling. Considering the world-class talent that competes in Key West every year, being at the top twice in a row is phenomenal. "This is a big win for us," says owner Thomas Coates (San Francisco, CA).

Zuni Bear (San Diego, CA) bagged a second overall and Bergmann was pleased to get one first over Coates on Friday. "They're great sailors, they've got a good boat. Zuni sailed much of the week neck on neck with James Doane's Flame (Naples, FL) and was frequently challenged by Gumption 3 (Kevin Grainger) and Convexity (Donald Wilson). "It's a lot of fun to see them in Key West," Bergmann said about his rivals, many of which race together in numerous venues and class regattas.

Racing in Melges 24 class, the regatta's largest with 60 boats, went down to the final day with California's Dave Ullman and Italy's Riccardo Simoneschi tied for first. Ullman pulled out the win with a 2-3 line on Friday while Simoneschi faded to fourth due to finishes of 5-10.

Blu Moon, a Swiss entry owned by Franco Rossini and steered by Chris Rast, posted a third and first on Friday to place second - four points behind Ullman's Pegasus 505.

"We were able to put some boats between us and the Italian in today's first race, which gave us a comfortable lead," Ullman said. "We then pushed the Italian back at the start of the last race then followed the Swiss boat around the course."

Reigning Etchells world champion Jeff Linton (St. Petersburg, FL) Called tactics for Ullman, who won two of nine races and finished second or third in four others. This marked the fourth time the Newport Beach-based sailmaker has won Melges 24 class at Key West.

"This is the second-windiest Key West in which I've competed and I've been coming here a long time," Ullman said. "It was a great regatta - beautiful weather and terrific wind."

Division 4

Randy Smyth, helmsman, Rocketeer II, (Ft. Walton Beach, FL) clinched the overall prize in the Corsair 28R class with six firsts and a second. Smyth believes Key West Race Week is the place to be. "Where else can you find Olympic competitors and top caliber competitors like this?" Asked about the plus-wind conditions this week, Smyth replied, "Speed makes you look good. Usually, I'm struggling in light air but not this time."

"I've been pushing Rocketeer II to new levels and we haven't been breaking equipment, we've been getting air and thinking about where we'll be landing; a little like a wind surfer," he admits.

"There's no ego on Rick Lyall's Storm, (Wilton, CT) according to James Gallacher, jib trimmer, and Paul Chapman, pit. Storm finished in third place in the J/109 class. "We're a pretty quiet boat when we're sailing; there are only two guys who need to be talking and that's the helmsman and tactician. The rest of us; we are like components of a machine working together and making sure that our ends are covered so the driver can do his job." Gallacher said; "We leave no stone unturned but the unexpected can and does happen. For example, on day three we blew out our jib - a couple of sailmakers said it was toast, a friend of the boat, Tyler Hadden worked round the clock until 4:00 AM to complete it. What that meant, if we couldn't get our sail we would have been out of the regatta, so that repair job was really responsible for our winning Boat of the Day."

PHRF 7's J/24 Class Act executed a textbook perfect man overboard rescue on Thursday in race 8. S2 7.9 Mistress broached and lost two crew members in the water. Skipper Bryan Cole was able to recover one and not the other. Karen Mitchell, the Shake-A-Leg skipper, ordered her crew to douse the spinnaker and tossed a life jacket to the sailor still in the water. She then went head to wind and drifted back toward the floating individual. Crew members John Trueman and John Muir pulled the man aboard Class Act, which then delivered him back to Mistress. "It was a classic rescue in every way. It was great seamanship, great sportsmanship on behalf of the entire crew," Muir said.

Tom Sawchuk and crew sail with a lot of heart in the C&C class entry Breakaway. Following last summer's devastating hurricane season when Allen Bourne's boat ended up on the bottom of Lake , Sawchuck rallied to support Bourne and his team racing onboard chartered TAM. Aid by Bob Wilson and Bernie Luttmer's efforts, they were able to enjoy a week of racing. Breakaway ended up second to Bob Wilson's Trumpeter with Tam taking third.

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