CALIFORNIA CREWS
"Don't try to jibe when you're not going full speed!" A revitalized Quantum Key West Race Week put 133 boats on the line January 18-22 with talent and hardware from around the globe. The regatta attracted Bay Area crews Skeleton Key, Courageous, Andiamo and Double Trouble. Entries from SoCal included Nigel Brownett's Down the Line, competing in the largest fleet, the 47-boat J/70 class; the C&C 30s Loco and Barking Mad VIII; and Bennet Greenwald's San Diego-based J/111 Perseverance. The weather gods tested the various
SKELETON KEY
West Coast heroes in Key West, the 'Skeleton Key' crew — John Collins, John Pernick, João Miranda Reis, David Lyons, Peter Wagner, Panda Love, Seadon Wijsen, Fabrizio Natale, Jay Vige and Peter Clark — pose by the pool with some of their winnings.
fleets with nuking breeze and challenging wind-against-current conditions that kept competitors ashore one day and provided no shortage of drama, carnage and thrilling competition on the rest. The first day of racing, Monday, January 18, featured northeast winds that exceeded 20 knots and bumpy water with 4-ft waves rolling through the course areas. Accustomed to powering through strong San Francisco Bay winds, most Bay Area crews were disappointed to sit ashore on Tuesday the 19th. The day was distinctly untropical, as the howling wind (up to 30 knots) was cold enough to prompt locals and tourists alike to put on hats and coats. The sailors fared better on Wednesday, in a perfect 15- to 18-knot northeasterly. Organizers were able to fire off three more races on all courses Thursday in solid 10- to 14-knot breeze. The final day, Friday, blew in with lightning, thunder and torrential rain. Organizers debated if the conditions were safe to proceed with two races to finish the J/70s, Melges 24s and C&C 30s, and one race for all other classes. With several titles at stake but bad weather threatening, this was not an easy call. Forecaster George Carras from Commander's Weather described the moist tropical conditions in the atmosphere as "juicy and unstable," with a chance for more cells. But, with nothing actually on the radar, the fleets headed out for one more day of battle. Outside the harbor in the southerly, the forecast 8-15 knots turned out to be 20+ and building, with monstrous seas enhanced by the south-flowing ebb, especially in the Division 1 and Division 4 course areas. These seas hampered the race committees in their efforts to set marks and establish their courses, so officials pulled the plug on those classes for the day. But racing proceeded in the Division 2 and 3 areas, where the ebb was not as strong and produced nothing
MARTHA BLANCHFIELD / RENEGADE SAILING
W
hile San Francisco Bay isn't exactly the worst place in the United States to be a racing sailor during winter, it's also not the best. Renowned for its beautiful azure water, generally good breeze, and tropical climate, Key West has long established itself as one of America's prime midwinter sailing venues. With the famed Key West Race Week regatta coming under new management by the Storm Trysail Club, and easing US/Cuba restrictions, the idea of packing up and heading east for a bit of yachting in the new year never sounded better. A batch of West Coast programs did just that and became part of history.
The 41-ft Richmond-based J/125 'Double Trouble' was trucked east in order to race in both Quantum Key West Race Week and the Conch Republic Cup to Cuba.
more serious than a few OCS calls. The most dominant team of the entire regatta was Peter Wagner of Atherton and crew on Skeleton Key, which had the nine-boat J/111 fleet's number all week to record an incredible seven bullets out of nine races with a pair of seconds as the only blemishes on their otherwise perfect picket fence of a scorecard. Wagner took delivery of his J/111 less than a year ago, and this was only the fifth regatta for his team. Sailing in his first Key West Race Week, he was over the moon and full of praise for both the race organizers and his talented crew. "I really enjoyed my first Key West. We had great conditions and it was a very wellrun event. We're just really fortunate that we managed to sail consistently, and we had a lot of fun doing it." Wagner praised his tactician, North Sails San Francisco's Seadon Wijsen. "We got off the line well and Seadon did a great job of managing things tactically on the course." On the first day of racing, January 18, 'City of Key West Day', Skeleton Key won Boat of the Day. By week's end, the J/111 crew had earned a total score of 11.0 — handily surpassing the nearest competition, the Cleveland-based Space-
