GMC Yukon Yachting Key West
Race Week 2000
January 17 - 21, 2000
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GMC Yukon Yachting Key West |
For Immediate Release
January 20, 2000
CLASSIC KEY WEST CONDITIONS RETURN TO RACE WEEK
--Yachting Magazine Trophy winner to be crowned Friday night
Key West (Fla.) January 20, 2000 - After two days of light-air racing, winter winds of 14 to 18 knots descended on the 261-boat fleet competing at GMC Yukon Yachting Key West Race Week (January 17-21), bringing the kind of classic Key West conditions that this regatta is famous for.
"It was the best day the fleet has seen down here in a few years," said Mumm 30 skipper Nelson Stephenson (Stamford, Conn.) - with enough wind to wind up the level of intensity as this series nears its conclusion.
Some crews who proved strong in the light winds that blew earlier this week took dives today in the heavier conditions; but two boats have sailed well enough in a wide range of conditions that they have mathematically clinched their class wins before Friday's final race. Irvine Laidlaw's Highland Fling (Isle of Man, U.K.) and Jeff Sampson's Rugger (Detroit, Mich.) both know they will be packing trophies when they depart home this weekend.
Ennio Staffini's Farr 40 custom, Uarshek, racing in PHRF-1, was only one of many boats who reveled in today's solid breeze. "We like to sail in the stronger breezes. The crew has a lot more fun, and the boat needs it to get rolling," explains tactician Drew Donald. "Monday was breezy and it went well," he continues, referring to a day that saw the team post a 2-2. "In the light stuff Tuesday and Wednesday, it wasn't so nice and we felt lucky to escape from those days with a 3-7-5. Today, it was back in the breeze and we're feeling pretty good going into Friday."
Up until today, the CM 60s in IMS have been hoarding the bullets, with Irvine Laidlaw's Highland Fling taking three first-place finishes and Isam Kabbani's Rima taking two. For Geoff Ewenson, in the afterguard of Farr 43 PAX NZL (Stamford, Conn.), these big boats get quickly in front and take command of the tactical situation up the first half of the opening windward leg. But today, wins in IMS were more evenly distributed. George David's crew on Idler (Hartford, Conn.) and Bache Renshaw's Virago (S. Dartmouth, Mass.) each won a race.
More than class wins ride on tomorrow's final race: the winner of the Yachting Magazine Trophy will go to the boat of the most competitive class, a determination based on a formula that factors points and time differentials for the week. The trophy will be presented Friday, at the conclusion of racing.
Today, the crew that captured Boat of the Day on Yachting Magazine Day was Robert Hughes' Great Lakes One Design 35 Heartbreaker (Holland, Mich.). This class has been in close contention all week, with six different boats winning the seven races held to date. Hughes took a 1-2 today to overturn the lead of John Wylie's Tabasco (San Francisco, Calif.), who now stands in second place, five points behind Hughes.
Twenty-six Mumm 30s are also doing a good job of mixing it up on the racecourse. Not one boat has been able to stay in the top 10 in every race: even class leader Jean Pierre Dick and the crew on Ville de Saint Raphael (Nice, France) carry a 14th in their score to lead with 32 points after seven races. Turbo Duck (Annapolis, Md.), owned by Bodo von der Wense, added to the suspense today, falling from their class lead with finishes of 11 and 15 today.
With frequent changes among their frontrunners, the Mumm 30 point scores do not create a neat and predictable storyline as this class enters its final day of racing. But on the water today, this class' ranks looked neat and uniform - and Division III PRO Ken Legler was there to witness a memorable sight: Mumm 30s at the start of Race 7 were a live ballet, with bows lined up in perfect succession at the gun. "It was a mental photograph I will not soon forget," said Legler.
Title sponsor GMC Yukon and event founder Yachting Magazine are joined this year by event sponsors and suppliers Boatscape.com, The Florida Keys & Key West, Mount Gay Rum, Lewmar Marine, Champagne Mumm, Grand Banks Yachts, The Historic Seaport, Samuel Adams, Fiji Natural Artesian Water, Saucony, Kenwood Cup, Historic Seaport, and the Ocean Key.
Race Week is produced by Premiere Racing of Marblehead (Mass.). Competition concludes Friday, January 21. Top-3 standings in each class follow. Fleet results and feature reports will be posted on www.Premiere-Racing.com.
For more information
Cynthia Goss, Press Center
Telephone: (305) 295-6373
Email: CynthiaGoss@compuserve.com
Website: www.Premiere-Racing.com
DIVISION I
CLASS A - IMS (9 Boats)
1. Highland Fling (Isle of Man, England) 2-1-1-1-2-2-6 -- 15
2. Rima (Newport, RI) 1-5-3-7-1-5-4 - 26
3. Scream (Annapolis, MD) 3-4-2-4-4-8-7 --32
CLASS B - PHRF 1 (10 Boats)
1. Chessie Racing (Gibson Island, MD) 4-1-1-1-1-3-3 - 14
2. Fatal Attraction (Norfolk, VA) 1-4-2-2-3-2-2 - 16
3. Uarshek (Annapolis, MD) 2-2-3-7-5-1-1 -- 21
CLASS C - Farr 40 (27 Boats)
1. Atalanti XI (Coconut Grove, FL) 3-9-1-1-2-5-2 -- 23
2. Mascalzone Latino (Italy) 4-1-8-12-8-3-3 - 39
3. Raging Bull (Bristol, RI) 5-5-7-5-1-8-9 -- 40
CLASS D - 1D35 (21 Boats)
1. Heartbreaker (Holland, MI) 10-7-3-4-5-2-1 - 32
2. Tabasco (San Diego, CA) 1-5-4-2-11-12-2 -- 37
3, Avalanche (Lake Wesley, VA) 2-3-12-1-14-3-3 - 38
CLASS E - PHRF 2 (14 Boats)
1. Speed Racer (Sarasota, FL) 3-7-1-2-1-2-1 -- 17
2. Ceres Group (Lake Geneva, WI) 2-2-2-1-11-1-8 - 27
3. New Wave (Clearwater, FL) 6-1-7-3-5-4-3 - 29
CLASS F - PHRF 3 (11 Boats)
1. White Trash (Mobile, AL) 1-3-1-3-2-3-1 - 14
2. Brainstorm (Stamford, CT) 2-1-5-2-5-2-2 - 19
3. The Wall (St. Petersburg, FL) 5-2-24-1-4-3 - 21
DIVISION 2
CLASS A - PHRF 4 (12 Boats)
1. Snake Eyes/T.L. Ballard (Annapolis, MD) 1-1-3-1-1-2-1--10
2. Frigate/H. Albert/R. Reedy (Mandeville, LA) 3-2-2-2-3-1-4--17
3. Ragamuffin/R. Harris (New Orleans, LA) 2-3-5-3-4-3-2--22
CLASS B - PHRF 5 (10 Boats)
1. Ultra Violet/D.&D. Prucnal (Pasadena, MD) 1-1-2-5-4-1-1--15
2. Nemesis/G. Longenecker (San Diego, CA) 2-2-5-6-5-2-2--24
3. Black Seal/K. Young (Cleveland, OH) 5-3-7-7-2-3-3--30
CLASS C - J/29 (13 Boats)
1. Tomahawk/B. Lockwood (Ludlow,VT) 1-4-4-1-3-2-1--16
2. Titillation/P. Anderson (Deltaville, VA) 4-1-3-5-1-1-2--17
3. Break Away/L. Bonsar (Solomon, MD) 3-8-1-6-5-9-5--37
CLASS D - J/80 (12 Boats)
1. Syzyey/J. Lutz (Houston, TX) 1-1-1-7-1-1-1--13
2. Monster Lady/M. Kald (Pt. Washington, NY) 2-2-3-1-3-2-2--15
3. Kicks/D. Balfour (Austin, TX) 3-3-2-4-4-4-3--23
CLASS E - PHRF 6 (11 Boats)
1. Hustler/J.&A. Esposito (City Island, NY) 1-1-1-1-1-1-1--7
2. Savage/A. Townsley (Palisades, NY) 2-2-2-3-2-5-2--18
3. Scrambled/G. Fisher (San Diego, CA) 5-4-4-2-4-3-3--25
CLASS F - PHRF 7 (13 Boats)
1. L'Outrage/B. Gardner (Annapolis, MD) 4-3-2-1-3-4-2--19
2. Liquor Box/C.Simon/B. Buckles (Key West, FL) 3-2-6-6-4-1-1--23
3. Think Blue/G. Disbrow (Sandusky, OH) 1-8-3-3-5-2-4--26
CLASS G - PHRF 8 (8 Boats)
1. Rugger/J. Sampson (Detroit, MI) 1-1-1-1-1-1-1--7
2. Challenge/D. Johnson/C. Nielson (Racine, WI) 2-4-3-3-3-2-2--19
3. Rhumblefish/P. Fischel (Miami, FL) 4-2-5-2-5-3-3--24
DIVISION 3
CLASS A - Mumm 30 (26 Boats)
1. Ville de Saint Raphael/Jean Pierre Dick (FRA) 14-1-1-3-6-3-4 -- 32
2. Trouble/Phil Garland (Barrington, RI) 3-5-12-9-1-2-5 -- 37
3. Turbo Duck/Bodo von der Wense (Annapolis, MD) 2-8-3-1-3-11-15 -- 43
CLASS B - Melges 24 (46 Boats)
1.Full Throttle/Brian Porter (Lake Geneva, WI) 8-1-1-2-8-2-1 --23
2. Zenda Express/Harry Melges (Lake Geneva, WI) 4-6-6-3-4--4--2 -- 29
3. RockN'Roll/Argyle Campbell (Newport Beach, CA) 2-7-11-5-2-1-8 - 36
CLASS C - J/105 (18 Boats)
1. Plum Crazy/Andrew Skibo (Ocean City, NJ) 1-2-2-3-3-5-2 -- 18
2. Wonder Wagon/Rick Wright (Marblehead, MA) 4-6-9-2-1-1-3 -- 26
3. Phantom/Geoffrey Pierini (Perth Amboy, NJ) 2-3-3-4-5-4-8 -- 29
For more information Cynthia Goss: (203) 453-2731, Fax (203) 453-3026,
Peter Craig: (781) 639-9545, Fax (781) 639-9171, PremiereRacing@compuserve.com
NOTE: To follow hometown sailors from your area, please contact Cynthia Goss at the numbers above until January 13. As of January 13, contact the Race Week Press Center at 305-295-6373 (telephone) or 305-295-9254 (fax).
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