Silver Anniversary Key West- A Memorable Classic!

J/122 TEAMWORK Wins PHRF A/ J-Class & LE TIGRE Wins J/80 Midwinters
(Key West, FL)- It was a frantic finish for the 119 entrants at Quantum Key West 2012 as several boats snatched victory with strong performances on the final day.  It was a fitting end to the 25th Silver Anniversary Edition of Key West.  As usual, Key West delivered on an almost picture-perfect "postcard" week of sailing.  The weather conditions provided a challenge for all over the course of the five days and the creme d'la creme rose to the top in every class.

The weekend before Race Week started was fabulous, great N/NW winds blowing 10-20 knots, sunny, flags snapping away, with gorgeous aquamarine waters sparkling in the fresh breezes.  Happy dolphins were frolicking and jumping everywhere and curious sea turtles kept poking their heads out to see strange contraptions approaching them looking for all the world like an upside-down shark.  Pelicans walked around the docks and massive 8-10 ft long tarpon swimming beneath hung around like stray dogs waiting for any scrap of food the sailors might toss them.  It was even more amazing to watch giant, sleek black cormorants dive beneath the surface to seemingly always come up with a fish stuck in their gullet-- amazing fishermen!  While the "wildlife" on the waters were appreciated by all, perhaps the most ambivalent opinions were directed at all the wild hens and roosters (not talking about sailors here!) that were scampering around the streets-- if you were unlucky, you'd have a rooster crowing really loudly near your bedroom window at around 5-6 am every morning!  Certainly not a good thing for those sailors who themselves were enjoying Key West's notorious nightlife into the wee hours of the morning!

The sailing was simply incredible.  Each day presented a new challenge and each day ultimately presented a unique set of sailing conditions-- they may have appeared to be the same, but they never are exactly the same.  Monday was the windiest day, with 18-24 knots of wind from the NNE, starting out grey but clearing as the day went on for two excellent races.  While it was forecast to be an oscillating-persistent shift veering further East, one could often play the wind shifts and make gains on the left side of the course upwind.  By Tuesday, as the fronts kept moving and the High went offshore, the wind moved into the Easterly quadrant and diminished to 8-14 knots-- again it was sunny with deliciously clear, azure-colored waters reflecting the white sands beneath the boats and the fleet was treated to three races.  Much like Monday's racing, you could not hit a corner upwind or downwind, lest you get killed by those playing the wind shifts.  As predicted, Wednesday's sailing was washed out, no wind, not even a breath of air.  Thursday and Friday's sailing were simply classic Key West "shorts & shades" sailing days- ESE winds 8-14 kts, sunny, with temps in the balmy 70s all day.  With three races on Thursday and two on Friday, it was a fitting, memorable finale for this Silver Anniversary event.

Making the most of the conditions was Glenn Darden's J/80 LE TIGRE team from Fort Worth Boat Club, Fort Worth, Texas.  Glenn and his affable team comprised of co-owner Reese Hillard, Johnnie Gluek (Newport, RI) and Karl Anderson (Cape Cod, MA) never looked back after the first day; it was clear their experience as past J/80 World and North American Champions was keeping them out of trouble and sailing fast.  Leading the regatta from wire-to-wire, LE TIGRE walked off with the J/80 Class and were declared J/80 Midwinter Champions.  Giving them a run-for-the-money at times was Swedish J/80 Champion Mikael Lindqvist on ROCAD RACING.  Mikael's team ended the regatta on a high-note, winning the last race and tied LE TIGRE for top J/80 of the day on Friday, securing 2nd place for the regatta.  Third was Ron Buzil's VAYU 2, fourth was past J/80 North American Champion John Storck, Jr on RUMOR and fifth was Chris and Liz Chadwick's CHURCH KEY- one of their best J/80 Championship performances to-date.

Of special note, the SAIL Magazine's Best Around the Buoys competition winner, Ryan Glaze from Dallas, Texas, sailed remarkably well to finish 6th on their boat SAIL BAB-Team Gringo.  In fact, after the first two days of sailing on Monday/Tuesday, Ryan and crew were lying in a solid second place overall!  However, perhaps the lay-day Wednesday and the classic Key West "daze" (e.g. late evenings) got to them as they faded from their podium position and fell out of the top five in the last two days, posting a 10-12-6-3.

Competition was fierce all week in PHRF 1 class with four different boats winning races. TEAMWORK, a J/122 owned by Robin Team of Lexington, NC, fought its way through the fray to edge the J/111 MENTAL (Paul Stahlberg, Barrington, IL) by four points. It came down to the final day and TEAMWORK was up to the challenge, winning Race 9 and placing second in Race 10.  "We come down here to Key West to get the best competition we can find and boy did we this year," Team said. "We could not believe how close the racing was in this class. TRES HOMBRES, MENTAL and RUSH were all very well-sailed and pushed us from start to finish."

This was the second Key West victory for Robin's TEAMWORK crew, who won in 2003 with a J/120. North Sails professional Jonathan Bartlett called tactics while fellow Annapolis residents Jeff Riedel and Kevin Ryman trimmed the jib and spinnaker. It was a particularly special win for Team since he had brother Adam and sons Alston and Coleman aboard.   "We were as well prepared as we ever have been for this regatta and it's a good thing because our competitors were really, really good," said Team, who also took top honors in the J/Class.

Rounding out the top five in PHRF A behind TEAMWORK in 1st and MENTAL in 2nd was Bill Sweetser's Annapolis, MD based team on the J/109 RUSH in fourth and Doug Curtiss's New England/ Buzzards Bay team on the J/111 WICKED 2.0 in fifth.

In the J-Class ToT (time-on-time) Division, behind TEAMWORK was Bill's J/109 RUSH taking second overall, interestingly enough, over a tie-breaker with Paul's J/111 MENTAL.  Fourth was Doug's J/111 WICKED 2.0 and fifth was Gary Weisberg's J/109 HEATWAVE from Boston/ Marblehead, MA.  A notable accomplishment was that Sweetser's RUSH team (see right) were the Boat of the Day after Tuesday's racing with a 1-1-2!

In the final analysis, perhaps what was most interesting about this year's 25th Silver Edition of Key West was to see the dominance of J sailors past and present who've risen to the top in other racing classes at Key West Race Week.  As the primary winter sailing event worldwide for many leaders in the sailing industry, for sailing professionals and for top amateur teams, its quite remarkable to see how many of them are alumni of the larger J/One-Design classes; proving yet again that many of the world's best sailors (legendary, famous sailors at that) have "gone to school" learning the ropes of sailboat racing on a "J".  Examples abound across the spectrum of the fleets.

In the Farr 40s, Jim Richardson (Newport, RI) raced J/24s for years, proving that he's still got it to race at the top of the game, winning the Farr 40 class in BARKING MAD.  "I wasn't too optimistic that we could win the regatta after what happened in that second race, but we just had to keep sailing with the understanding that every point was crucial," Richardson said. "We got better as the week went along and everything just sort of fell into place at the end." In other words, exactly what any good J/24 sailor would do to win.

It was a similar story in Farr 30s as skipper Deneen Demourkas (Santa Barbara, CA) and the GROOVERDERCI crew compiled an entire line of bullets. Deneen has raced J/105s with her husband "Johnnie D" for years in Santa Barbara, California on-board their J/105 ROCKIN & GROOVIN and learned the nuances of what it takes to get around the race track while minimizing mistakes and going fast, not the least of which why it's so important to have a good crew!

The TP/IRC 52-foot class was a bare knuckle brawl with all eight entries filled with fully professional world-class crews, the best that money can buy for these multi-million dollar campagins. Virtually every single boat had a J/Class veteran aboard steering or calling tactics to keep them going in the right direction.  Tough company for sure!  Regatta winner was former J/24 and J/44 owner Doug Devos sailing QUANTUM RACING, with J/24 World Champion Terry Hutchinson (Annapolis, MD) calling tactics.  Second was J/22 Cayman Islands owner (and former J/29 owner) Peter Cunningham racing POWERPLAY with J/24 class champion Tony Rey (Newport, RI) calling tactics (seen left here).  Third was Hap Fauth on Team BELLA MENTE with a crew loaded with J/Class sailors from Newport, RI.  Fifth was Ashley Wolfe sailing MAYHEM with Seattle J/24 champion sailor Charlie McKee calling tactics.  Seventh was Austin and Gwen Fragomen's INTERLODGE with J/24 World Champion Brad Read (Newport, RI) calling tactics and eighth was past J/24 sailor Irvine Laidlaw sailing his brand new HIGHLAND FLING XII with Caribbean J/24 Champion Peter Holmberg (St Thomas, USVI) calling the shots.  Needless to say, for a class filled with "superstar" sailors, it was the top J/Class sailors that guided all the winners home!

In the Farr 400s, the top boat RED sailed by Joe Woods and Paul Goodison are all former J/24 UK sailors.  And the rest of the fleet was dominated by top J/24 and J/105 sailors across the board, Eric Arndt from California was tactician on BLADE, Nick Turney from Ohio was tactician on SPACEMAN SPIFF, Mark Foster from Texas was calling the shots on MERIDIAN X and Kevin Miller from California was directing traffic on TEAM PREMIERE NORCAL!

In the High Performance Class, past J/24 Champion Larry Leonard (Annapolis, MD) was tactician on second place STRAY DOG.  And, former J/105 owner Patrick Eudy replaced one infamous BIG BOOTY with another "bigger BOOTY", sailing well enough to capture third.

In the highly professional, talent-laden class of Melges 32s, most of the top boats were all either past J/Class owners or had J/Class Champions calling tactics on-board.  Former J/80 sailor Ben Schwatrz (New York) sailed PISCES with J/24 World Champion and America's Cup Champion Ed Baird (St Petersburg, FL) as tactician, adding in top J/24 sailor Scott Nixon as trimmer; they led the fleet at one point and finished a solid second place.  Capturing third was past J/24 and J/39 owner Vincenzo Onorato sailing MASCALZONE LATINO (his family owns the Italian ferry-boat/shipping group called MOBY Lines).  Fourth was past J/105 North American Champion Alec Cutler (Annapolis/ Bermuda) sailing HEDGEHOG.  Sixth was past J/35 Great Lakes/ North American Champion Bob Hughes (Ada, MI) sailing HEARTBREAKER.  Eighth was CATAPULT with J/24 World Champion Chris Larson (Annapolis, MD) calling tactics along with another J/24 and Intercollegiate Champion (and 2011 Rolex Sailor of the Year) on-board- Bill Hardesty (Chicago, IL).

All in all, Key West was a fun event (a "bucket list" event for sure!) and to see the dozens of J sailing "alumni" makes for an entertaining regatta.  And, especially in Key West where sailing friends from around America, Europe, the Antipodes and points further beyond congregate for what may be one of the few events worldwide (like a Cowes, Spi Ouest, Block Island, Big Boat Series and others) that attracts a broad spectrum of sailors- industry, professional and amateur alike!  Next time, we all hope to see more J/Teams and J/Sailors participating in 2013!   Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes    For more QUANTUM SAILS Key West Race Week Sailing information

J/111, J/80 & J/92 Frostbiting In England

Sailing Southampton Winter Series
(Southampton, England)- The Royal Southampton YC started its Doyle Sails Frostbite Series on the 8th January.  The first racing in the Solent of 2012 started early this year but with the warm dry weather continuing it felt more like a spring day . The wind was a gentle 5 knots from the west which caused consternation for the race management team just before the start by dying away to  a little over 3 knots. Postpone or not to postpone that was the question. It did appear that the start line was in the light spot and the rest of the race area seemed solid so start they did.

There were 30 boats on the water out of an entry of 33 which was an excellent start to the series and perhaps an indication of how good the weather was. The class 1 IRC were 1st away and as always the start was competitive and there was an OCS who quickly restarted before the beat from Hover 1 across to the Hythe ship buoys, the course then running back to Hover 1 before a return to Hythe and then a short reach to the finish at Bird Pile.  Class 2 IRC were up next and had a clean start before their beat to the same mark although the run was shorter to a laid mark to the west of Hover 1. Finally the J class for J92’s and J80 were away but they too were over enthusiastic and there was an OCS.

In Class 1, J-DREAM, David & Kirsty Apthorp’s new J/111 finished 2nd, just 27 sec behind the leader.  Stuart Hawthorn's J/80 J'AI DEUX AMOURS won by 9 sec over JAMIN, John Cooper and Ian Townsend’s J/92. So it is close racing indeed.

With the wind slowly building to the low teens but steady in the West race 2 was quickly under way on the same course . This time they were all well behaved and clean starts were had by all. This time it was the J/111 J-DREAM who won Class 1 taking "all the chocolates". Currently, J-DREAM's 3-1-1 is leading the class for the series.  Class 4 was won by BOJANGLES, Richard Sainsbury’s J/92s.  However, Stuart Hawthorn's J/80 J'AI DEUX AMOURS is leading the series with a 1-2-1.  For more Royal Southampton Frostbite Series sailing information

J/111 First Sailboat To Start New Year!

Mind-blowing Australia New Year's Experience  on-board JAKE
(Sydney, Australia)- New Year's Day. Australia.  One of first nations on Earth to celebrate the New Year.  It is a fact.  Peter Gustafsson flew down to Sydney, Australia to not only "test sail" the J/111 Down Under, but joined Ray and Sandra Entwistle and family on the J/111 JAKE for New Year's festivities.

Ray, Peter and the "JAKE family" were the first J sailors to experience the dawning of the end of civilization as we know it in the Chinese Year of the Dragon 2012.  After all, only one hour past the dateline, they celebrated New Year's Day in Sydney at 12 AM when it was 5 AM the day before in Southern California 19 hours later!  So, the Sydney J sailors can easily lay claim to be the first sailors in the world to start the New Year! OMG, looks like they had one helluva lot of fun!  Read more about it here on Peter Gustafsson's BLUR.se sailing website.

Key West- Day Five- Classic Key West, Spectacular Finale!

LE TIGRE Three-Peats J/80s, J/122 TEAMWORK Wins PHRF/ J-Class
(Key West, FL)- Today is what everyone dreams about when sailing Key West.   Gorgeous light bouncing off the pearl white sands creating a neon blue water color.  Steady, oscillating ESE gradient breeze with near trade-wind like consistency flowing along at 10-15 knots.  Solid race committee and PRO management making for fun, fair racing on mostly windward-leeward courses.  One cannot imagine that anyone would be disappointed by such spectacular weather conditions.

While Thursday's sailing saw breezes in the NE quadrant, Friday's final day of sailing saw mostly ENE breezes that hardly fluctuated more than 15 degrees in direction.  The key was staying in wind pressure and ensuring you sailed the lifted tack as long as possible.  Some boats hit the corners and when they did it usually turned into a disaster-- corner shots sometimes pay in Key West, but not this week.  For the most part, so long as you played the wind shifts and the wind pressure you could always stay in the hunt with the race leaders.

It was a runaway in the 18-boat J/80 class as Glenn Darden steered LE TIGRE to a steady stream of first, second and third place results. John Gluek was serving as tactician on LE TIGRE, winning with an 18-point lead over second place ROCAD RACING skippered by Mikael Lindqvist from Stockholm, Sweden.

LE TIGRE was named Mount Gay Rum Boat of the Day for winning the class which had the closest, most competitive racing for the day on Thursday. The boat is co-owned by Reese Hillard, who works the bow while Karl Anderson trims the jib aboard the Forth Worth, Texas entry. They captured the J/80 World Championship in 2006 and got the three-peat for Key West!

“Our team really meshed well. We’ve had a lot of time in the boat and that makes a big difference,” Darden said. “John has done a great job of keeping us in phase and everyone else is just doing their job at a high level.”

The next three places in the J/80s were a horse-race to the very end of the regatta.  Snagging third place by virtue of a 5-5 on the last day was Ron Buzil on VAYU 2 for a total of 48 pts.  Fourth place went to the fast-climbing veteran J/80 campaigners, John Storck Jr and family on RUMOR finishing with a 3-8 to get fourth overall with 50 pts.  Behind them in fifth place was Chris & Liz Chadwick on CHURCH KEY with a 9-9 for a total of 53 pts.  The SAIL Best Around Buoys Team, Ryan Glaze and the Scott brothers hung tough against some top J/80 teams and managed to finish off with a 6-3 for 54 points, good enough for sixth place.

SAILING WORLD'S Mike Lovett had a quick interview with this fast team: "What was the most fun is that the conditions were up and down, shifting around," says tactician John Gluek, who is president of Dimension-Polyant. "It was all about staying calm and not panicking, deciding a side that's favorable and digging through the fleet to get there, and shifting gears. From five to ten to fifteen knots, there's a range of adjustments [we] make that is really the speed, that's the gas pedal."

Trimmer Karl Anderson is the team's gear-changer. "We try to keep the boat rolling, fully powered up," he says. "There's a lot of small adjustments you can make that are minor adjustments, but they all add up. The trick is to have it all in sync with the trim of the boat and the pressure on the sails. In that way, it's a little back to dinghy sailing. When the wind drops, we try to focus on making the boat go faster forward. We'll heel the boat to make it easier for the helmsman, and we try to keep everybody from freaking out! When everybody's working together, we're able to work through those lights spots."

Of course, skipper Glenn Darden prefers to avoid the light spots altogether. "What John [Gluek] did was keep us in the breeze," says Darden. "There were big breeze lanes—more than shifts, there were breeze lanes—and John kept us in these lanes. A couple of races, we didn't get off the line as well as we wanted, we were a little bit behind, and up the first beat we weren't looking great. John had the patience to work us into better lanes."

Gluek explains his wind-hunting method: "Today was what I call lake sailing, where you had to be patient. You couldn't hit a corner; you couldn't say it's right or left. You had to go with the velocity and move up the water, a little like skiing down a slalom course."

In the PHRF One Division, the sailing could not have been more interesting and more fun competitively amongst the ten boats sailing in the division.  Many incredibly well-sailed boats, all with great teamwork, good tacticians, great boat speed.  There was nowhere to hide amongst the top six boats, it was a tough battle every single race to scrap for every place you could get as each and every team sought to make incremental gains against one another-- perhaps some of the best "almost one-design" racing one could find sailing handicap racing.  On this last day, the moderate conditions seemed to be working well for Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK (pictured at right)  and Paul Stahlberg's J/111 MENTAL, each compiling a 1-2 record to be the "J-Boat of the Day".  At the end of the day, the late charge by MENTAL was not enough to overcome the strong showing of TEAMWORK on the first two days/ five races of the series.  Robin's team on TEAMWORK sailed a fantastic series to win with a total of 22 pts.  Second by virtue of their three 1sts and two 2nds on the last two days was Paul's MENTAL team from Chicago, IL, good enough for 26 pts.  Finishing fourth overall was Bill Sweetser's veteran J/109 RUSH with a 4-3 for the day and Doug Curtiss' J/111 WICKED 2.0 sailed to a 5-5 for a total of 43 pts to snag fifth place in class.  Gary Weissberg's J/109 HEATWAVE sailed a strong last day to get a 6-7 and finish sixth in class.

Within the J/Division (PHRF Time-on-Time), Robin's J/122 TEAMWORK won the class with a 1-3 on the last day for 20 pts.  Second was determined on a tie-breaker, with Bill's J/109 RUSH with a 3-2 on the final day to snag 2nd place.  Losing the tie-breaker was Paul's J/111 MENTAL with a 2-1 for 23 pts to secure third place.  Sailing their J/111 WICKED 2.0 well was Doug Curtiss' team that included skipper Ted Scott and tactician Neal Fowler (both Tufts Sailing Team classmates of the Editor), securing a 4-4 on the last day to finish fourth in class.  Debuting for his first time in Key West was Gary Weisberg's team on the J/109 HEATWAVE, sailing to a 5-6 to get fifth overall in the J/Class.

In the PHRF Two Division, Gerrit Schulze sailed strongly on the J/105 MAX POWER to finish fourth overall in class with a 4-5 on the last day.  Ed and Justin Palm's J/95 STILL CRAZY sailed to a 6-7 to get sixth place and Dave Whealon's J/80 BOND---JAMES BOND sailed to 9th overall.

In the IRC Three Division, Jim Bishop on the IRC Modified J/44 WHITE GOLD had a serious battle on their hands going into the last day for second place on the podium.  However, despite their valiant efforts to overcome stiff competition, the 2-4 was just not enough to win this cliff-hanger to get onto the podium.  The WHITE GOLD crew missed 2nd place by one point and their two competitors in themselves had to settle the score on a tie-breaker at 33 pts each! 
Photo credits- Tim Wilkes- http://www.timwilkes.com
For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing results:
http://www.premiere-racing.com

Key West- Day Four- Tricky Sailing Day

Good Day For MENTAL Crew!
(Key West, FL)- After Wednesday's sailing was thankfully canceled due to lack of wind, everyone was looking forward to another nice day of sailing Thursday.  The forecasts all showed a front passing over the Keys in the early morning hours followed by NNE wind blowing 7-13 knots with clearing skies during the day.  Remarkably, the forecasters got it right!

Thursday's sailing was an enormous challenge, a lot like the first two days of sailing when the wind is filling behind a large frontal system headed out to sea over the Bahamas.  No telling whether the wind will back or veer and whether or not the forecasts are remotely accurate.  Why?  The combination of the fast-moving, 85 degree river known as the Gulf Stream and exceedingly warm waters over the Bahamas Banks are renown for killing many a front, much to the chagrin of even the most experienced weather forecasters.  The day's racing started off with about an hour postponement-- wise move.  The wind was shifting a good 20-30 degrees with enormous fluctuations in velocity.  Once the wind settled down, it certainly oscillated like crazy with large wind streaks filling in from both sides of the course.  There was no "magic bullet", just keep your head out of the boat and stay on top of developing breezes (or massive, glassy holes in the wind) and keep the boat moving towards the mark uphill or downhill.  Starboard tack saw headings vary from 345 to 005 degrees and on port from 45 to 80 degrees.  No question the tacticians anywhere on all three courses were suffering moments of stark terror and extreme anxiety as boats from BOTH corners of the course were making gains!

For the J/80s, the Glenn Darden/ Reese Hillard team on LE TIGRE continued to knock out strong, consistent scores, avoiding corners and sailing super fast.  Their 2-3-1 tally enabled them to extend their lead to a solid 18 points over the closest rivals for a total of 14 pts in 8 races-- not bad, just below a 2nd average!  Making a comeback after a slow day Tuesday was Mikael Lindqvist on ROCAD RACING with a  4-1-4 for a total of 32 points.  The next three places in the J/80s are in a horse-race for the silver and bronze on the podium.  Just 3 points back from ROCAD RACING is that fast rising CHURCH KEY team led by Chris and Liz Chadwick with a 1-5-3 for 35 pts total.  Three points back are Ron Buzil on VAYU 2 sailing to a 5-2-5 and just one point back are another fast-climbing team, the past North American Champion team, the Storck family sailing their RUMOR to a 6-4-2 for 39 pts.  The high-flying SAIL Best Around Buoys Team, Ryan Glaze and the Scott's from the famous lake yacht club, Rush Crush YC, in Dallas, Texas had a rough day, accumulating a 3-10-12 to drop into 6th with 45 pts.  Check out the latest video by Adam Cort on the SAIL BAB blog with a debrief of Tuesday’s racing with skipper Ryan Glaze.
http://www.sailmagazine.com/key-west-race-week/best-around-buoys-quantum-kwrw-2012

In the PHRF One Division, the lighter conditions started to create a changeover in the standings as some boats excelled and others took a nose-dive.  Savoring the conditions was Paul Stahlberg's J/111 MENTAL, compiling a 2-1-1 record to be the "J-Boat of the Day", for a total of 23 pts, good enough for third place.  Still leading the division is Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK with yet another consistent performance, scoring a 4-3-2 to be leading PHRF One by one point for 19 pts.  Dropping into fourth place is Bill Sweetser's J/109 RUSH with a 3-4-6 for a total of 28 pts.  Laying in fifth is Doug Curtiss' J/111 WICKED 2.0 with a 5-2-3 for 33 pts.

Within the J/Division (PHRF Time-on-Time), Robin's J/122 TEAMWORK continues to lead the pack with a 3-4-2 for 16 pts.  Second is Mr. Bill's J/109 RUSH with a 1-1-4 for 18 pts.  Third is Paul's J/111 MENTAL with a 2-2-1 for 20 pts.

“We’re having a great time because the conditions have been terrific and the competition has been spectacular,” said Team, who has his brother and two sons in the crew. “We’ve been mixing it up with Tres Hombres and finished overlapped with them in the first two races today. RUSH is also tough so I think it will be a dogfight the whole way.”

RUSH, a J/109 skippered by Bill Sweetser and team of Annapolis (pictured right), was named LEWMAR/ NAVTEC BOAT OF THE DAY on Tuesday after posting a superb score line of 3-2-1.  Quantum pro Tad Hutchins is calling tactics on RUSH.  “The conditions were very good for us today. When the wind is 14 knots or less we can fly our big jib, which is kind of like our secret weapon,” Sweetser said. “We pay for that jib in our rating so it’s good whenever we can use it.”  It’s been close but no cigar for Rush at Key West as Sweetser’s boat has finished first or second in class several times, but never come away as overall winner at week’s end. “One of these years we’re going to finally break through and it’s going to be wonderful,” he said.  Here's a YouTube Interview with the RUSH crew:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jK1rtZXkyo

In the PHRF Two Division, Gerrit Schulze sailed strongly on the J/105 MAX POWER to stay in 4th place with a 7-5-4.  Ed and Justin Palm's J/95 STILL CRAZY is hanging in for sixth place and Dave Whealon's J/80 BOND---JAMES BOND are enjoying themselves and hanging in 9th overall.

In the IRC Three Division, Jim Bishop on the IRC Modified J/44 WHITE GOLD got a 3-5-2 for a total of 28 pts, exactly 2 pts out of second place overall!  We wish him well on Friday.

Amongst the J sailors, champions and alumni in other racing divisions, it's pretty clear they're having a dominating impact on both IRC Divisions and other one-design divisions.  Top amongst them is long-time J/80 sailor Ben Schwartz, now leading the notoriously pro-heavy M32 Class with his boat PISCES over such notables as John Kilroy on SAMBA PA TI.  Sailing with him is America’s Cup veteran and J/24 World Champion Ed Baird calling tactics and Quantum professional and J/24 Champion Scott Nixon trimming the jib and spinnaker. “You have to give Ed and Scott a lot of credit for getting our boat up to speed,” said Ben. “I’m fortunate to have a great crew, the guys never stopped working and we were able to change gears pretty well.”

POWERPLAY lived up to its name by making a strong move in IRC 2/ TP52 class with a strong line of 1-3-4 on Tuesday and a 2-6.5-3 today. Owner Peter Cunningham, a resident of Georgetown in the Cayman Islands and a champion J/22 sailor locally, has a nice mix of amateur and professional crew with tactician Tony Rey from Newport (yet another top J/24 sailor).  “We’ve only had the boat for six months and we’ve made a lot of modifications during that time,” Cunningham said. “We’re pretty happy with our performance so far. We’re sailing fairly well and having a lot of fun.”

QUANTUM RACING, skippered by former J/24 and J/44 owner Doug DeVos, continues to set the pace in the 52-foot class and leads PowerPlay by 14 points. Terry Hutchinson, helmsman for the Swedish syndicate Artemis Racing that is Challenge of Record for the America’s Cup and a J/24 World Champion, has made strong tactical calls in leading Quantum to the top of the leader board.  “Tuesday was far from straightforward. The wind was very shifty and there are some tricky current patches to deal with,” Hutchinson said.

Photo credits- Tim Wilkes- http://www.timwilkes.com

For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing results:
http://www.premiere-racing.com 

Key West- Day Two

Gorgeous Bombay Sapphire Water Colors 
(Key West, FL)- It's not often that you sail in Key West Race Week and experience an equally spectacular second day in a row.  The forecasters for the first time in years seemed to have gotten the first two days of wind/weather conditions right.  Today's sailing was again postcard conditions- sunny, puffy white clouds scudding across the sky, simply spectacular "bombay sapphire blue waters", ESE winds blowing just 10 to 14 knots steady, with mildly oscillating-persistent shifts moving further SE all day long.

In a replay of the first day of racing, there were enough holes in the wind and shifts to both the right and left that no one single "formula" carried the day tactically.  In fact,  depending on the upwind and downwind legs, you could go left or right and make significant gains.  What was prevalent were enormous wind streaks, if you could hook into them downwind, the gains were significant.  Upwind it was a bit of a casino, or perhaps "Russian Roulette" for some boats.

Perhaps the best thing that took place for the fleet was that the two-race per day program starting an hour later than in the past was tossed out the window.  After giving up a chance to have three races in superb conditions on Monday, the decision was made to start the fleet an hour earlier (the old time) and get in three races.  Good call!  All three courses got in three very good races and the fleet was still in by 1630 hours.

For the J/80s, it was incredibly tight racing with numerous position changes as they sought to divine the what the wind Gods were throwing at them during the course of the day.  Rising to the challenge was the Glenn Darden/ Reese Hillard team on LE TIGRE, knocking out a strong 1-3-1 to be leading the fleet with only eight points!  Sailing strongly are the SAIL Best Around Buoys Team, Ryan Glaze and the Scott's from the famous lake yacht club, Rush Crush YC, in Dallas, Texas.  Their 6-7-2 has kept them in contention for 20 points overall, but they have five teams breathing down their backs only three points behind them, collectively.  Lying third is Mikael Lindqvist on ROCAD RACING from Sweden, his steady 4-4-6 kept them in contention for a total of 23 points.  Fourth and fifth are tied with Chris and Liz Chadwick on CHURCH KEY leading the tie-break with a 2-2-5 record today for 26 pts and Ron Buzil on VAYU 2 with a 5-5-7 for 26 pts.  Lurking just behind them are two very strong teams, including John Storck Jr on RUMOR in 6th with 27 pts and Brian Keane on SAVASANA with 30 pts.

In the PHRF One Division, the competition continues to heat up amongst the leaders.  Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK continues to lead the fleet with a 3-3-1 for ten points.  However, the winner of the day was Bill Sweetser's J/109 RUSH with an excellent showing of 2-1-2 for a total of fifteen points to climb into third position.  Just behind in fourth with a 6-4-4 is Paul Stahlberg's J/111 MENTAL for a total of nineteen points.  Fifth is Doug Curtiss' J/111 WICKED 2.0 with a steady 5-5-5 for twenty-three points total.

Within the J/Division, TEAMWORK is leading with seven points.  Sweetser's RUSH leapt into second place after today's excellent showing for a total of twelve points. Stahlberg's MENTAL is third with fifteen points, Curtiss' WICKED 2.0 is fourth and Gary Weisberg's J/109 HEAT WAVE is fifth with twenty-six points.

In the PHRF Two Division, Gerrit Schulze sailed strongly on the J/105 MAX POWER to stay in the top five, a 5-4-4 fourth place.  Ed Palm's J/95 STILL CRAZY is hanging in for sixth place and Dave Whealon's J/80 BOND---JAMES BOND are enjoying themselves and hanging in the top ten.

Making up for some of their magic they've showed in past Key West weeks, Jim Bishop and crew on the IRC Modified J/44 WHITE GOLD got a second in the second race of the day and are in a horse race for second place, just four points out.

Photo credits- Tim Wilkes- http://www.timwilkes.com

For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing results:
http://www.premiere-racing.com

Key West- Day One

Classic, Chamber of Commerce Conditions 
(Key West, FL)- The 25th Edition of Key West Race Week started off with yet another fabulous day of sailing for the 100+ competitors on the three race-courses.  The weekend of practicing before-hand were simply, perfect sailing days, with northerly winds filling in behind a fast disappearing cold front going out over the Bahamas.  The forecast for Monday to Wednesday has been for the northerly winds clocking into the easterly quadrants, ending up SE over 72 hours with winds blowing from 15-22 knots, sunshine and "torn-cotton" puffy white clouds whisking across the horizon.

For Monday's racing across the board, all boats saw wind directions in the 35-40 degree range and slowing moving in an oscillating-persistent shift further east so that most courses saw winds in the 70 degree plus range at the end of the day.

On the Division 1 course, IRC 3 Class has Jim Bishop's modified IRC J/44 WHITE GOLD dueling for class leadership against a very strong boat fleet.  Currently, WHITE GOLD lies in fourth with a 4-3.

The J/80 one-design class has a very competitive nineteen boat class, with a group of Texans leading the pack.  Like last year, the star for the day was past World/ North American / Key West Champion Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard sailing EL TIGRE to a 1-2.  Lying second is the SAIL BAB/ TEAM GRINGO gang from Dallas, Texas, skippered by Ryan Glaze and crew with a 2-3, obviously relishing the 16-22 knot breezes.  Third to sixth are all tied with nine points!  Third is the Swedish Champion team ROCAD RACING with Mikael Lindqvist sailing to an 8-1.  However, it was only a mistake finishing the first race while leading at the time that cost ROCAD RACING double-bullets!  Fourth lies Mike Sudofsky on BOB DYLAN with a 3-6, fifth is Rob Buzil VAYU 2 with a 5-4 and sixth is Brian Keane on SAVASANA with a 4-5.

In the new PHRF/ J-Class Division,  there are many well-sailed boats in the fleet.  On the PHRF Time-on-Distance side of the equation the J's are all at the top of the leader board.  Robin Team's Key West Champion crew on the J/122 TEAMWORK sailed two solid races to earn a well-deserved 2-1 for 3 pts.  Just behind in third  is Paul Stahlberg's J/111 MENTAL with a 3-2, fourth is Doug Curtiss' J/111 WICKED 2.0 with a 4-4 and fifth is past Key West Champion Bill Sweetser on the J/109 RUSH with a 5-5.

In the J-Class Time-on-Time scoring, TEAMWORK is winning with a 1-1, with MENTAL in second with a 2-2, WICKED 2.0 in third with a 3-3, RUSH in fourth with a 4-4 and Mike Kirkman's team from Detroit on their J/120 HOT TICKET in fifth with a 5-5.

The PHRF Two class has a J/105, J/95 and J/80 racing standard Time-on-Distance handicap.  Gerrit Schulze on the J/105 MAX POWER currently lie third in class with a 4-3.  Ed and Justin Palm sailing the J/95 STILL CRAZY are in seventh with a 7-7.

Photo credits- Tim Wilkes- http://www.timwilkes.com

For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing results:
http://www.premiere-racing.com

25th Key West Race Week

Big J/80 Class, Cool New PHRF J/Class
(Key West, FL)- While the world has not seen the best of times, nor the worst of times in the past few years, what has remained a constant, nearly magnetic attraction to the sailing world has ben the annual midwinter pilgrimage to Key West to sail Race Week.  Many top teams from the Americas as well as from Asia and Europe attend the event for a bacchanalian sailing feast for a week in January that most describe as "tropical sailing conditions" in spectacular azure-blue sailing waters around the reefs of the Gulf Stream and the Florida Keys.  Sunsets and the "green flash" are signature events that put an exclamation mark not only on the day's sailing, but usher in evening festivities that perhaps only can be best described as "epic" and "off-the-wall"!  After all, that's what Key West is renowned for down at the bottom (or beginning) of the famous Route 1 roadway that goes from Key West to Easport, Maine.

One of the features of this year's 25th Key West is the very welcomed sponsorship and support from Quantum Sails, whose headquarters in the Great American Midwest belies the subtle, laid back, but competitive approach they have to supporting their sailors, their teams and their customers.  "We recognize that Key West Race Week is the flagship regatta in this country and has been for well over two decades," Quantum President Ed Reynolds said. "This has been reinforced by many people we've spoken with both here and abroad. Even with the smaller fleet sizes of recent years, this midwinter, big-boat regatta is very important to North American and international sailboat racing. We would like to see it continue and are committed to supporting the regatta during this transition period."

SAIL Magazine's Best Around the Buoys competition is another regatta highlight-- a remarkable "award" for the team that qualifies to sail in a supplied boat with sponsors J/BOATS, NORTH SAILS, HARKEN and others.  The aim is to grow sailing at a grass-roots level with both one-design and PHRF competition- growing awareness that sailing can be fun with family and friends.  This year, the SAIL BAB sailors from Dallas, Texas will be racing a J/80 one-design against some of the top teams in the country.

Yet another special feature of this year's 25th Anniversary is the creation of a J/Class.  It's quite a turn-out of some of the top J/Teams that have raced Key West over the past few years.  At the top of the food chain in PHRF 1/ J-Class is the J/122 TEAMWORK- Robin Team from Lexington, NC- these guys have done it all, won Lauderdale-Key West and Key West IRC Class and will always be a team in contention at the end of a week long series like Key West.  A new team from Detroit is the J/120 HOT TICKET sailed by Bob Kirkman from Bayview YC in Detroit, Michigan-- no shrinking violets this crowd is, having beaten all other multiple Chicago/Bayview Mac Champions to the finish line in the 2011 version of the races.  More new faces to the Key West crowd include the J/111 trio, including the J/111 WICKED 2.0 sailed by Doug Curtiss from Buzzards Bay (he sailed his J/124 in Key West last year); the J/111 MENTAL sailed by Paul Stahlberg from Chicago YC (a very fun-loving crew); and the J/111 WARLOCK skippered by Tom Hickey from Newfoundland YC, St John's, NB, Canada (a fast-rising team from near the Arctic Circle and the cool Northwest Passage).  If this fleet wasn't' tough enough, you only need to toss in two well-sailed J/109s, like a past J/109 North American Champion and Key West Champion, Bill Sweetser's RUSH from Annapolis YC in Annapolis, MD; he's accompanied by Gary Weisberg from Gloucester, MA sailing his J/109 HEATWAVE in Key West for the first time.

The J/80s are sailing their J/80 Midwinter Championships, the 19 boat turnout makes them the biggest class for Key West-- quite a remarkable achievement over the course of time!  In addition to the SAIL BAB Team (which must feel like they're getting fed to the sharks), you will find the J/80s led by World Champions like LE TIGRE- Glenn Darden from Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX and Swedish Champion ROCAD RACING sailed by Mikael Lindqvist from KSSS (Royal Swedish YC).  Plus, you have multiple Key West J/105 Champion Brian Keane on SAVASANA from Buzzards Bay, MA and J/80 North American Champions John Storck and family on RUMOR from Storm Trysail Club in New York rounding out the leaders.  Finally, toss in Bruno Pasquinelli on TIAMO from Fort Worth Boat Club and he's sure to be a factor amongst the leaders so long as he doesn't argue with his boom!

The PHRF 2 Class have ten boats participating. It will be a competitive fleet with two J's flying the flag and leading the fleet home (we hope)- the J/105 MAX POWER sailed by Gerrit Schulze from Cape May, NY and the J/95 STILL CRAZY sailed by Ed Palm from Grosse Pointe, MI and Naples, FL.  For more QUANTUM SAILS Key West Race Week Sailing information