(Key West, FL)- This year’s Quantum Key West Race Week is gearing up for
its trademark week of racing on the aquamarine waters off the coast of
the Conch Republic. As the sailors make their way down the Florida Keys
by air, water and land over the weekend, it looks like they will be
greeted by either the tail feathers of another “polar vortex” spinning
madly across America or they’ll be hammered by a “clipper system”
ripping SSE across the continent spinning up all kinds of winds. By
Monday, the “good word” from the colorful Key West Chamber of Commerce
is that sunny, benign weather will caress the fleet with near-perfect
Caribbean-like conditions all week— some forecast! Realistically,
various weather forecast models (GFS, NAM, ECUWF) show 8-12 kts from NW
to NE quadrants for Monday, Tuesday followed by increasing winds from
the NW to NE in the 10 to 20 kts plus range from Wednesday to Friday’s
closing day.There will be nearly 130 boats sailing, but what’s different, like a lot different, about this year’s Key West is that J/Teams comprise two-thirds (66.0%) of the fleet with 85 J’s sailing. In other words, Key West is now the de-facto “Winter J/Fest”! That’s a good thing since the new regatta HQ at Kelly’s Caribbean Bar & Grill, situated on Caroline St between Whitehead St and the infamous Duval St will be over-run by members of the J/Tribe sailing J/70s, J/80s, J/88, J/109s, J/111s, J/122s, and J/125!
The PHRF fleets 1 & 2 will be sailing with a variation of Rod Johnstone’s J/PHRF ratings, meaning all J’s will be rated quite fairly against one another. Robin Team (Lexington, N.C.) and the boys aboard the J/122 TEAMWORK will look to repeat in PHRF 1 while going against another J/122 and four J/111 designs in this incredibly competitive eight boat class. In fact, the TEAMWORK gang may be in for the fight of their lives against the “rogue’s gallery” of J teams in the class, many whom have won Key West Divisions in the past. For starters, Jim Madden’s J/125 STARK RAVING MAD will have an all-star team from San Diego, CA ensuring he’s going fast in the right direction. Challenging them will be Rick Wesslund’s “new” EL OCASO, a J/122 that’s quite fast and no question will include many of his past Key West winning teams.
Joining the PHRF 1 class will be four J/111s, any one of which are capable of winning. Consequently, they’re also the hardest to handicap as everyone continues to improve significantly. FIREBALL’s crew will be led by tactician Kristen Robinson from Annapolis. Rob & Ryan Ruhlman from Cleveland, OH are back in Key West with their new SPACEMAN SPIFF (watch out, they improved dramatically at the J/111 NA’s in Chicago after taking delivery of the boat just 3 days beforehand!). Brad Farber’s UTAH from Macatawa Bay YC has several Chicago-Mac winning crew aboard. And, three-time Key West participant and multiple podium finisher, Doug Curtiss, has the colorful WICKED 2.0 sailing with his champion Buzzards Bay crew aboard.
Rick Wesslund was a regular at Key West from 2004 to 2010 with his J/120 EL OCASO program and returns after a three-year hiatus with his newly-purchased J/122. "This is our debut regatta and we are really eager to put our best foot forward. We are cautiously optimistic, but know this will be a real good performance test for the boat. Robin has a terrific team and that is always a well-sailed boat so we will have to be on top of our game in order to win," said Wesslund, who earned the PHRF Boat of the Week honor in 2006. Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal Photos and Tim Wilkes.com Photos.
For Key West sailing video entertainment, look at this beautifully produced summary from Chris Odom @ Chris Odom Photos- nice sequences of J/70s, J/80s, J/109, J/111, J/44, J/122 in the 3-minute clip. For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information
