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TERRA NOVA TRADING KEY WEST 2003
Sat: Jan 18 - Unseasonably chilly weather sent crews scrambling for warm clothing and foul-weather gear in their tune-ups to Terra Nova Trading Key West 2003---especially the teams from California. Here, Vince Brun, tactician for Crocodile Rock from Santa Barbara, tries on some heavy wear alongside Austin Herlihy. Helmsman Scott Harris (bottom) still wears shorts but is wearing a wool cap. (Photo Rich Roberts) |
(click for the full view) |
Race Week News - Lead Story - Web Edition
International Treasure Hunt
By Rich Roberts
This really isn't the Race Week News for Terra Nova Trading Key West 2003 you're reading.
It's a crystal ball in disguise, and it says:
You are a sailor.
You are in Key West.
You are wearing short pants.
(How're we doing?)
Oh, and one more thing: unless your name is Mark Milnes, you don't live here. He is the only Key West resident entered. The other 285 are from out
of town, and that doesn't just mean Seattle, San Diego or Maine. Waaay out of town, like Australia, Japan and all over Europe. So much for local
knowledge.
The word has spread around the globe---warm water, balmy breezes, keen competition, delightful night life---and in 16 years the event has expanded
into a truly international extravaganza. This year boats have come from a record 20 countries, including from Russia with luff.
That's a tribute to solid race management, shoreside extras, as well as the atmosphere, but that's still not enough. If Ponce de Leon had had a stronger
sponsor when he visited the Sunshine State 500 years ago, he might not have found the Fountain of Youth but he could have organized the world's leading
midwinter regatta.
Key West sponsors, including title Terra Nova Trading L.L.C, will be at the Official Site under the big reception tent in
the Historic Seaport, where all official onshore business and entertainment is based. Feel free to stop by to thank them for making all of this possible. Nine of the event's 24
Performance Sailing Industry Partners will also be on hand in the village setting immediately adjacent to the Big Top.
An Event Access Card gets you into the tent and partner hospitality area for all six evenings of activities, which include post-race debriefings by
competitors, videos of the day's racing on five large screens and seminars featuring world-class racers---a few of them refugees from the America's Cup
competition at Auckland, where the field has dwindled to a precious two.
On the water, you'll find the four race courses conveniently located in a 10-mile stretch off the south side of the islands between the beach and a
reef five miles offshore.
But if you have a chart from 2002 directing you to your proper course, ditch it. Divisions 1 through 4 now form an orderly procession from west to east,
in that order. If you're on Div. 1, turn right (west) exiting the Main Ship Channel. If you're on Div. 2, veer just slightly to your right. For Div. 3
and 4, take a left (east).
Another significant change: event director Peter Craig has boosted the schedule from 8 to 9 races and given the principal race officers the option
of running three races on a single day just in case we experience a light air day or two where multiple races are not practical.
With top boats from all major racing regions of the country and now overseas, it's tough to win and even tougher to defend the next year. At
least nine boats will try to repeat their 2002 successes, led by Greek banker George Andreadis' Farr 40,
Atalanti XII. Andreadis, with Robbie Haines calling tactics, will be trying for three consecutive class wins and a repeat of the Boat of the Week trophy.
Andreadis is a good fit for the dynamic Farr 40 class, which requires the owners to drive. A sailor for 50 years, he met Haines when both were
campaigning for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Andreadis sailed a Flying Dutchman in the 1968 and '76 Olympics and owns several boats which have won five
world titles.
Haines said, "George is an excellent helmsman. I just tell him when we need to [bear away to] go fast or [head up to] go slower. He communicates very
well with the crew. If we don't have any other boats around us I don't say a thing."
PHRF Boat of the Week was Othmar von Blumencron's Beneteau 1st 40.7, Dame
Blanche, from Annapolis. He is back with the same group of friends.
The global flavor enhances the traditional scramble for the Key West Trophy, now symbolic of the
International Team Championship. The overseas armada is
returning with a vengeance to recover the treasure that slipped through its grasp last year. Italy had won three consecutive years until the USA Great
Lakes team prevailed in 2002.
Teams are composed of a Farr 40, Mumm 30 and Melges 24. Their combined placings in their fleets determine the winner.
About two-thirds of the boats will race in nine one-design classes.
Finally, the Key West crystal ball has one more prediction: you may find sunken treasure beneath your keels this week. In 2002 a local diver working
the site of a Spanish galleon that wrecked during a hurricane in 1622 discovered a 40.2-carat emerald embedded in a conch shell.
Keep your eyes open.
What's New?
Check out the Transpac 52s. What, you thought they were West Coast boats that just sailed to Hawaii?
They have done that very well, but they're also tough around the buoys. That was the thinking behind the "box rule" class created by a group of designers
led by Bill Lee, the "Wizard" of Santa Cruz: a boat that could fly far offshore but was agile enough for inshore racing.
Three of them, all from California, will compete in PHRF-1 in their first appearance this side of the Pacific: David Janes'
J-Bird III, Newport Beach; Mike Campbell's Victoria 5, Long Beach, and Roger Sturgeon's
Rosebud, San Francisco.
How did they get here? Campbell had no problem. He owns a trucking company. Since their debut in 2001, when J-Bird III outran conventional ULDB 70
"sleds" in the Transpacific Yacht Race, Janes has been the most intense and successful campaigner in the class.
He said, "The boat is very stable, fast, well-balanced and takes off like a jackrabbit in a spurt. They can sail up there with the big guys and you don't need 5 million bucks."
Also taking a Key West bow is the new Farr 36 - Markus Fiala's Tazo from Britain. The VPPs suggest that this design will be faster around the track
than the Farr 40.
IMS
This competitive little corner of the regatta brings back some sailors that know each other only too well. All hail from the upper East Coast, and while
they sail with International Measurement System handicaps their boats are near enough to equal to inspire some close encounters.
George David's Nelson/Marek 50, Idler, is usually in the Key West hunt, but victory has been elusive. Last year he won two of seven races with no finish
worse than third but wound up three points behind Isam Kabbani's C/M 60, Rima.
This time Rima isn't entered, but David will take on a pair of Farr 49s---Doug Croker's
Canvasback and the Mike Winston/Larry Bulman Javelin---along with Dan Meyers' Taylor 49,
Numbers 97.
PHRF
It's great to get the gun, but the racers behind you may have even wider smiles on their faces. Check your watch before you start to celebrate.
Competing in the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet is all about saving time. The quirks of Key West may alter a boat's relative performance from its home
waters for better or for worse, so a distinguished group of PHRF experts from various regions takes a hard look at each entry to assign a handicap
for Key West conditions and course configurations, giving everyone a fair chance of success. Having 6 of 9 classes decided by 2 points or less last
year speaks volumes about the process.
It's not exact science, given sailing's many variables, and it may just be coincidence, but it seems that the crews that sail the best are always
happiest with their handicaps.
Big Rigs
Larger rivals who haven't raced against the Transpac 52s mentioned above may be in for a surprise. Bill Alcott and Steve Gagne, bringing their turbo
sleds Equation and Renegade in from Detroit and Palm Beach, respectively, have heard the rumbles from out West about the 52s beating up sleds just
like theirs.
It's a new Equation for Key West regular Alcott. In its former life as Magnitude, the Andrews 70 led a record run in the 125nm
Newport-to-Ensenada Race last April and was less than two hours behind Pyewacket's record run in the '99 Transpac. Alcott has
Stars & Stripes trimmer Mike Toppa onboard in
his 2003 attempt to top PHRF 1.
There will be a shared starting line for the second start on Division 2 (Class B). The four IMS 50s will join 6 PHRF 2 entries. For the first time,
all Class B boats will have the option of racing for both IMS and PHRF trophies --- providing they fulfill entry requirements for those rules. Dual
scoring is commonplace in Europe, particularly in the big boat classes.
A pair of Farr 65s---John Boyle's chartered Spirit of Minerva and her sister
Spirit of Juno with a UK crew organized by Formula 1 Sailing---will have
their own personal match race within the class competition. Andrew Fisher's Swan 56,
Vanish 2, from Newport, R.I., the Corel 45 Strabo/Grins and a pair
of 1D48s round out the PHRF component of Class B at press time.
Charles Burnett has trucked his 1D48 Bandolier cross-country from Seattle. The boat is for sale and what better place to display it? Want a demo ride?
Not Too Big, Not Too Small . . .
There are all the makings of some very competitive racing in the 12-boat PHRF 3 class which includes 3 Farr 395s. All eyes will be on the new Farr 36
Tazo making her long anticipated debut on the Key West stage.
In PHRF 4, Wairere, the Thompson 30 that won PHRF 3 last year, is back to defend its 30-foot sportboat title, but without Chris Bouzaid at the helm.
The new owner, longtime Key West competitor Pete Hunter, will take on the challenging task of holding off the seven Henderson designs that make up the
bulk of this competitive light-displacement class.
Von Blumencron's consistency in PHRF-5 won him PHRF Boat of the Week honors in '02. He owed time to everyone but won three of the first six races before
cruising home carefully ninth in the last race to beat Rod Johnstone's new J/109,
Mariah, by two points.
"That was the first regatta I was totally responsible for the crew and the whole team," von Blumencron said, "and Key West is probably the biggest
[PHRF] event you can do."
Bigger Isn't Always Better
These are the lower-profile but highly competitive smaller PHRF boats named Mustang
Sally, Rumblefisch and Blah Blah Blah, some of whom tow their prides
and joys from as far away as Canada and California.
Division 4's PHRF 6 has a decidedly "sporty boat" look to it with displacement/length ratios on the lighter end. As usual, Key West veteran
Bruce Gardner and his L'Outrage team are a favorite his week.
The 10 boats in PHRF 7 include many designs that actively campaign under the MORC rule. Bert Carp's Donavan 27
Remedy, three points out of third place last year, is looking to improve on that result. Mike Bird's
Circus from Chicago and Ed Austin's Chinook from New York, second- and third-place boats
in PHRF 9 last year, are two of three J/30s competing in this class.
The mix of entries this year enabled Premiere Racing to create a "heavy displacement" class and break out the T-10s for their own one-design class. Dan Myers, whose Moorings 38 won the small-boat PHRF class last year in a walk, will
have similar sized boats to compete against this time around.
Three Tripp 26 designs are in the mix in PHRF 9---a group of 25-28-foot light displacement boats with a narrow rating band of 24 secs/mile that will
undoubtedly produce some exceptional racing.
The 10th and highest rating PHRF class includes our lone Key West entry, Mark Milnes on his J/24
Blah Blah Blah. The LOA range and rating band for this 12-boat class is tighter than it has been in recent years, which may be a precursor to some close racing.
One-Design
No handicaps, no number-crunching, no counting the seconds. First boat across the line wins, barring protests. The trick is getting enough
identical boats together to make a class that gets its own start.
Noooo problem. There will be nine classes, ranging from the Farr 40s down to Melges 24s, with a bunch of J/Boats in between.
Farr 40
This would be a world-class regatta all by itself. The fleet includes the new world champion, Steve Phillips of Annapolis, sailing
Le Renard; the runner-up, Deneen Demourkas of Santa Barbara, on Groovederci; the Sardinia Cup winner, John G. Coumantaros'
Bambakou, from Newport, R.I, and the double defending champion and 2002 Boat of the Week, Andreadis'
Atalanti XII, whom you have already met.
If you aren't real familiar with some of the owners, who must drive their own boats, you'll recognize their tacticians. Paul Cayard will be bending
John Kilroy's ear on Samba Pa Ti, and Iain Percy, the new Star class world champion and a 2002 Olympic Finn gold medallist, will back up Germany's Dr.
Wolfgang Schaefer on Struntje light, which was third last year.
Demourkas, the only woman driver in the class, has signed on Denmark's Jesper Bank, and Vince Brun will impart his wisdom to Scott Harris on
Crocodile Rock from Santa Barbara. Brun became available when he was no longer needed to trim the mainsail for Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes after
it was eliminated from the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger trials for the America's Cup. Chris Larson, of recent Volvo Race fame, is on
Bambakou. And with Gavin Brady on Jim Richardson's Barking Mad and Terry Hutchinson on Owen Kratz's
Joss, the crystal ball is seeing stars.
Another man long familiar to world sailing will make his debut in the class. Peter De Ridder, a Dutch venture capitalist living in Monaco, bought a Farr
40---another in a long line of boats all named Mean Machine---and is giving up part of his ski season to sail. What a sacrifice!
"This will be the first time I go to Key West," De Ridder said. "It always was conflicting with my skiing season. I like to ski very much, but this
time the boys convinced me that I had to do Key West. OK, I go skiing at Christmas and then I go to Florida."
The Farr 40 bug bit De Ridder at last year's Sardinia Cup.
"We were teaming up with a Farr 40, because we had two-boat teams, so there were 10 or 12 Farr 40s racing and I thought, 'Well, that's the way to
go---one-design, first boat over the line. It looks to be a very tough class."
But in the Farr 40s, he said, "I have to train to do some helming myself again. I'm 56 and it's the last time I can drive myself."
Told he wouldn't be the oldest driver in the class---Andreadis is well into his 60s---De Ridder said, "But I'll be one of the granddaddies there. I
suggested that they have a special prize for older drivers."
The competition won't intimidate him. He has done six Admiral's Cups and more world championships than he can recall---all with Mean Machines. His
tactician will be Stu Bannatyne, who sailed on the victorious illbruck in the Volvo Ocean Race.
The fleet represents nine countries and four continents, including returning entries : Takashi Okura's
SLED from Tokyo and Lang Walker's Kokomo from---no, not Indiana, but Sydney, Australia.
1D35
One thing is certain: There will be a new champion, perhaps to the relief of the rest of the competition. Chris and Kara Busch's
Wild Thing, which blitzed the fleet in winning six of seven races last year, remains in San Diego and Chris and Kara remain in Auckland. Like Brun, Chris also sailed
with Stars & Stripes but stayed on to follow the action.
In fact, there are no 1D35s from the West Coast this year, leaving the title open to the likes of Buddy Cribbs'
Victory from Chicago and Doug DeVos' Windquest, Holland, Mich., which were fourth and sixth in 2002.
Mumm 30
Richard Perini, the defending champion from Australia, is in for a dogfight. His rivals, including four other boats from overseas, figure he had it way
too easy last year when his Foreign Affair won four of seven races for a 10-point victory.
Coming at him especially hard will be Germany's Bent Dietrich with Rainbow, third in 2002, and 2001 winner Bodo von der Wense with
Turbo Duck from Annapolis.
The class welcomes its first Irish entry, and that doesn't mean veteran David Irish, the former US Sailing president from Holland, Mich. who will be
sailing Surprise. Diarmuid Foley has brought Mammy! from Cork on the Emerald Isle to test the emerald waters of Key West.
J/105
With Robert Johnstone not returning to defend, last years' two and three finishers have their eyes on each other and the J/105 Mid-Winter
Championship. James E. Doane Jr. of Naples, Fla., sailing Flame, and David Wagner, Chicago, on
Gigi, finished only three and four points behind overall.
This is the largest fleet ever of J/105s (29 boats), topped only by the Melges 24s this year.
J/29
The magic "C" word is consistency. There is a tried and true philosophy for racing long series in strong fleets: you don't need to win every race, or
any race, to win the regatta.
Last year Bruce Lockwood of Ludlow, Vermont, sailing Tomahawk, won the last two races and three of six overall. But that wasn't quite enough to overtake
John and Tony Esposito of City Island, N.Y., sailing Hustler. They flat-lined it with only one win but no finish worse than third, while Lockwood suffered a sixth and seventh.
Lockwood, who won the class in 2000, has been runner-up the last two years. They'll go head-to-head again this week on Division 2.
J/80
Talk about a change in lifestyle. Kerry Klingler, the Larchmont, N.Y. sailmaker who won this sportboat class the last two years, will be sailing
on Andrew Fisher's Vanish 2, a Swan 56.
His former rivals wish him all the best. Those would include Texans Steve Hammerman of Houston and David Balfour, Austin, who were about to call out a
posse on Klingler when they ran third and fourth a year ago.
It would have been pretty easy to round one up. Ten of the 22 entries this year hail from the Lone Star state. The J/80's make their Division 3 debut
this week, joining their J/105 and Melges 24 friends.
Corsair 28Rs
Who's superstitious? Not these multihull sailors who once again are in a class of their own, in more ways than one, with 13 boats. Their Key West
debut in 2002 was a success with some spirited competition to see who would finish second behind America's multihull master, Randy Smyth. He won four of
seven races by three seconds.
The winning boat, Dealer's Choice, is back, but owner Steve Marsh of Stuart, Fla. will drive it himself and try to remember how Smyth did it.
Top contenders include Don Wigston of Atlanta, Ga., the current national champion who sailed to third-place with class fixture Doug Harkrider of
Belvedere, S.C. last year. Harkrider is back, as is runner-up Tim McKegney of El Paso, Tex.
T-10
Most of the scrappy T-10 fleet, which seems destined to grow into a start of its own, hail from Chicago and the Great Lakes area. As mentioned earlier,
this eight-boat class will share a start with the eight-boat PHRF class on Division 4.
Liquor Box, the top performing T-10 from 2002, will be the boat to beat.
Melges 24
Last year Key West served as the delayed 2001 world championship for these guys and gals, but who could tell the difference? The same world-class cast
is back, including defending champion Flavio Favini of Italy, current world champion and '01 winner Harry Melges and '99-00 winner Brian Porter.
They were all in the top five last year, along with Vince Brun and Britain's Jamie Lea, the class's world ranking leader for 2002. Brun, a two-time M/24
world champion, will be calling tactics in the Farr 40 fleet this year.
Favini, sailing Franco Rossini's Blu Moon from Switzerland, will be hard-pressed to repeat last year's success when he shot out of the pack on
Day 2 to start a five-race win streak and win going away.
Melges and partner Jeff Ecklund will sail on a boat called Team Baghdad with Norwegian brothers Kristian and Peder Nergaard, whose boat they borrowed to
win the Worlds last summer at Travemuende, Germany.
And the class also brings Key West its first Russian entry: Vladimir Butenko's Mellow Yellow from Moscow.
Terra Nova Trading L.L.C, a Chicago-based leader in electronic direct access trading, has played a crucial role in this Key West extravaganza in the last
two years. Other sponsors include Mount Gay Rum, RealTick, Lewmar Marine, Nautica Watches, Nautica Eyewear, Pearson Yachts, Samson Rope Technologies,
Saucony and the Florida Keys & Key West Tourist Development Council.
Another major boost comes from the Performance Sailing Industry Partner Program, which is in its second year with 24 members at press time.
Participating companies and details about the program are on the event Web site.
It's Sunday and you're ready. The crystal ball says you'll have a great week.