(Key West, FL)- There was plenty of final day drama at Quantum Key West
2014 as the winners of several classes were determined during the last
race. And, conditions could not have been better for those
winner-take-all scenarios with the southernmost point of the United
States delivering the strongest winds of the regatta. NNE breezes in the
18-25 knot range made for some spectacular racing on all courses and
enabled all classes to complete 10 races for the five-day event.PHRF 1 Class was up for grabs going into the last race and SPACEMAN SPIFF, the J/111 owned by Rob Ruhlman of Cleveland, Ohio, seized the moment by winning. This was the 13th trip to Key West and the first class victory for the SPACEMAN SPIFF program. “We’ve been trying to win this regatta for a while and it feels good to finally break through. It feels even better because of the quality of competition we faced. This is some of the closest PHRF racing in which I’ve ever participated,” said Ruhlman, who had his wife and son aboard. “We really had a blast this week. It was great sailing and all the people in the class are so friendly. We passed TEAMWORK on the way into the harbor and their entire crew applauded us.”
TEAMWORK,
a J/122 skippered by Robin Team of Lexington, N.C., came up short in
its bid to three-peat in Key West – finishing 4.5 points behind SPACEMAN
SPIFF. In fact, Robin’s team had to win a tie-breaker over Eddie
Fredericks’ crew on the brilliant orange J/111 FIREBALL to capture
second overall. Mid-week, the TEAMWORK crew were on a roll, rattling
off four straight bullets to jump up the ladder into contention, however
a seventh race 7th position hurt their chances at grabbing the
brass-ring. Sailing very strongly all week was “Fast Eddie’s” FIREBALL
team, trading the lead with the SPIFFER’s until the last two races when a
5-4 tally dropped them into the tie-breaker with TEAMWORK. Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal.Sailing video interviews:
| Rob Ruhlman- J/111 Spaceman Spiff owner and winner of PHRF 1 |  |
| Robin Team- J/122 TEAMWORK owner, 2nd in PHRF 1 and past Key West champion. |  |
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