Not a whole lot to report today. JeffJ and I inspected some boats at the Historic Seaport and the Bight in the morning. A bunch of boats went out to practice in the afternoon, including PAPERMOON, TERN 7, WHITE KNIGHT, WET PAINT, and TASTES LIKE CHICKEN et. al. The breeze was a steady 6 kts out of the southeast. There is not too much wind predicted for the week, but we need to get more than we had today! There was one disaster story to report (but with a happy ending). FORRO damaged her forestay in a travelling accident, but Harken shipped down the parts to replace it and she will be back in action in plenty of time for the Regatta. I guess the highlight of some people's day was hearing that there was a half foot of snow in the northeast. Fleets #2 and #14 beat Fleet #1 in the AFC semi as the Pats won in overtime over the Raiders in the driving snow and with a generous call on a replay. Fleet #10 downed Fleet #5 in the NFC semi as the Eagles soared over the Bears. Down here it is in the mid to high seventies. People picked up their bow numbers (a new feature) and sailing instructions and look forward to some serious practice on Sunday.
Searing hot sun. Temps in the 80s. Southeast breeze in the 8-9 knot range. Can I say any more? Yes, I suppose a little more breeze would be nice. But most of the fleet was out on the racecourse practicing. We got to see the starting line and most of the boats tuned up in twos and threes upwind and downwind. After the practice, the crews got to see the new JBoats hospitality tent. As usual the skippers meeting was content free. Support our sponsors and everybody have a good time! Robert Baker, the new Fleet Captain in Fleet #4 and owner of PLANET B mentioned that he's sending dispatches and photos back to his webmaster in Canada, so check those on the Fleet #4 site.
There were no protests. There were no close calls. There were no bad tacks. There were no bad jibes. There were no missed shifts. There were no mistakes of any kind. There was no racing. It was another day in paradise, but without the wind. Sunny again and in the eighties. The forecasts called for 10+ knots, but about all that materialized was 6 knots out of the southeast. The RC kept us under postponement until 1:15 and then sent us in. Some J/105ers were longing to race in the light stuff (they do in LIS!), but there was speculation that because the Melgi 24 were having their World Championship, they did not want to start us in the light stuff. Tomorrow is another day.
Finally! Full hiking in 10-12 knots of breeze. The 105 fleet got off two good races. The first race was four legs with a 1.5 mile weather mark set to the ENE (80 degrees). The second was five legs. Both races were clean starts under the "I" flag, ten minutes after the Melges 24 starts. Lewis Gunn's DEAD ON ARRIVAL took the right side on both upwind legs in the first race and led at every mark. In the second race, David Wagner's GIGI took a bullet for the race and a second for the regatta. Larry Harvey's ANGRY BEAVER was the most consistent with two seconds and took the early lead in the regatta. Robert Johnstone continued his non-winning, hanging around, ways with a 6-3 for third. The ten minute separation from the Melges fleet helped clear out the middle, but the picket line of chutes coming down on the left was still to be avoided. The shifts were in the 10 degree range, but the wind was steady. Racers looked for more of the same on Wednesday.
We started with small craft advisories and 20+ knots going through the Bight and out to the race course. We pounded through 4-6 foot seas to get to our starting area. But by the time the race started promptly at 10:20 a.m. it had calmed a bit to about 16 knots where it remained for much of the day. There was a little in the way of surfing conditions in the first race and less in the second. The wind was steady out of the SE (130 degrees). As we did yesterday, we had a four legger followed by a five legger. The results are not posted yet and I was not close enough to the leaders to pick out the top boats, but I hear tell that Bob Johnstone in TERN 7 got another bullet in the first race and the California Coalition aboard ZUNI BEAR won the second. Jimmy Doane on FLAME had two seconds to move up the ladder. ANGRY BEAVER dropped back a little so there should very few points separating the top five. For those of you are fifty-something owners, take heart. I learned this morning that yesterday's first race winner, Lewis Gunn on DEAD ON ARRIVAL (ha, ha), is eighty three and sails with his buddies of 20+ years on a new 105 after having moved up from a 29. Not bad!
Going out to the course was the same as yesterday. High winds and high seas. Some people even pulled out their foul weather gear as the waves crashed over the bows. But by the time the race started, the wind had again calmed some and we again started right on time at 10:20 a.m. The RC ran an L course 1.5 miles at 135 degrees in about 16+ knots of breeze. Before the second race the wind died down considerably, so that the average wind speed was more like 10-12, but still in the same direction. As they did Tuesday and Wednesday, the RC gave us five legs for the second race. The boats that went left (toward Key West) seemed to benefit on both races from a little more pressure and a little less chop. This was to your advantage despite the line of Melges 24s coming down under spinnaker. The big story yesterday was that on the big boat circle, one of the big maxi sleds t-boned another amidships on a port-starboard at the weather mark. The 105's have had some gentle touching, but nothing serious. The majority of the protests have been resolved on the water by boats taking their 720s.
Bummer! No racing today because of no wind. The forecast called for little wind in the morning, building to low single digits in the early afternoon. But after two hours of waiting, the RC concluded that their weather models were not encouraging and send the fleet in for the day and ended the week. None of the other circles saw any racing either. ZUNI BEAR sailed around under spinnaker in 4 knots (maximum) of breeze, trying to pursuade the RC that there was enough to sail in. They had the most to lose since they were tied for first with their DSQ thrown out, but sixth overall with no throwout. We spent the time trying to validate our speculation that the current always flows from east to west (a Gulf Stream back eddy?). But at max ebb, we did see a mild west to east that was not visible on the pots, but showed up on the GPS. So the max flood gives the most current and the max ebb gives a very minimal current was our conclusion (at least until next year).
On Friday night a good number of owners and crew gathered at the JBoats hospitality tent for the Fun Awards and a replay of the video that JeffJ had taken on Thursday. The winners of the Fun Awards (crystal engraved picture frames) were: Pounderosa: Brian Tedeschi/Mike D'Amelio/Mike Richardson, IT WASN'T ME; Latitude 40: George Mezo, FORRO; Family: Ken Colburn, WITCH; Greybeard: Dorin Candea/George Petkovic, MESSY JESSY; Unqualified: Barry Brown, BLUE MAX; Mixed Gender: Jon Weglarz, CARESS. The final award for most improvement from Monday to Friday (actually Tuesday to Thursday), after all the people above had been eliminated, went to another Canadian, Robert Baker on Planet B. And yes, the $100 gift certificate to West Marine is in American dollars. For the complete standings and the meaning of each award, see the Fun Award Standings. In the course of the week, there were six boats that won daily and regatta awards, and seven who won "fun awards", so half the fleet went home with something.
While there was some disappointment that we only had three days of racing, the six races we did get in were good ones and people seemed to have a good time. JeffJ will be preparing a compendium of stills and video on a CD that will be made available to owners. Watch the web site for an announcement in the future.
A look back at top five places shows they came from Fleets 11, 19, 5, 14, and 8 respectively. No dominance there. The top five sported sails by Ullman, Ullman, UK, UK, and Ullman. A clean sweep for the U's, with North, Quantum, and Doyle being shut out of the top positions.
On the plane ride back from Key West to Miami, I got a seat alongside Robert Johnstone. He repeated this year with an entirely different crew from last year. He said he learned to set the rig a touch lighter than last year (under 30 on the caps in light air and under 40 in the moderate stuff). He said he was doing 6.8 knots upwind with calibrated instruments, which was a good half knot faster than we were doing upwind at any point. He sands his bottom to 800 grit and knows that the boat should do 7 knots under power at 3000 rpm in flat water. He also told me the story of the genesis of Key West Race Week. Back in 1977, JBoats was trying to get the best sailmakers to buy the new J/24. Back then the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West race was a big deal being sponsored by the Storm Trysail Club. So BobJ asked them to use their tent for a week after their race and they staged the first J24 Mid Winter regatta. In January 1978 twenty boats showed up and the names of the skippers reads like a Who's Who of yachting. RodJ sailed with his gangly 19 year old son JeffJ while BobJ shot still photography from a chase boat. The J/24s continued there alone for a couple of more years before the concept caught on and it became Key West Race Week. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Hope you've enjoyed reading. Next year ... come on down!
-- Nelson