(Ft Lauderdale, FL)- This year's Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race
certainly lived up to the pre-race caveat of "Be Prepared." The light
VMG running of the past couple of years was a distant memory, as a stout
northwesterly that built overnight and brought the fleet down and
around the curve in rapid fashion, but made them work hard for the quick
trip. When they reached the island, a slew of familiar names graced the
top of the leader board.
In PHRF A Class, the heralded duel between Robin Team’s J/122 TEAMWORK, a
past class and overall champion in the race, and Eddie Frederick’s
J/111 FIREBALL lived up to expectations. Their class encountered
fast-reaching conditions for the first half of the race and, after
turning past the “elbow” of the Keys, the sailing turned into somewhat
of a reach/ power-beat waterline adventure for the latter half.
Initially, the FIREBALL gang loved the fast reaching in the beginning,
however, as the race wore on the experienced TEAMWORK crew ground away
to finish just 13 minutes in front but not enough to beat their
stablemates on FIREBALL on handicap. Consequently, FIREBALL took
corrected honors with this match-up by just 2+ minutes and grabbing the
silverware for 3rd overall. TEAMWORK settled for fourth in class.
Sailing Photo credits- John Payne. For the SORC Ft Lauderdale Key West Facebook page For more SORC Ft Lauderdale Key West sailing information
