Strong International Impact at Key West Race Week

by Rich Roberts on 2 Feb 2002 Every year, just when sailors think life can't get any
better, Key West proves them wrong. Especially after Sept. 11, with entries
lagging and the new title sponsor as yet undeclared, snow in South Florida
seemed more likely than Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week 2002
reaching new horizons.

But there they were, 321 boats--only five fewer than the record a year
earlier-lined up for a week of unforgettable racing keynoted by the
mightiest international presence in the event's 15-year history.

Heavily weighted by 77 entries in the rescheduled 2001 Melges 24 Worlds,
there not only were boats from 33 of the United States but a record 54
entries from 14 countries, several of which took home the heftiest hardware
and left an indelible stamp on the Northern Hemisphere's premier winter
regatta as a world-class event.

George Andreadis' Atalanti XI from Greece, benefiting from consistency and
a new system allowing competitors to discard their worst races, won the
cosmopolitan Farr 40 class for the third consecutive year and the Yachting
Magazine Trophy as Boat of the Week for the second year running.

Othmar Mueller von Blumencron of Annapolis, a former German and Swiss
Olympic sailor with a name worthy of an international marquee, took the Key
West Trophy as PHRF Boat of the Week by winning PHRF-5 with his Beneteau
40.7, Dame Blanche.

Boats of the Day were Massimo Mezzaroma's Farr 40, Nerone, from Savona,
Italy; Richard Perini's Mumm 30, Foreign Affair, from Sydney, Australia;
Italy's Flavio Favini in Franco Rossini's Melges 24, Blu Moon, from
Switzerland, and Chris and Kara Busch's 1D35, Wild Thing, from San Diego,
Calif.

The latter three won their classes--for Favini and his all-Italian crew, a
world championship. Defending Key West champion Harry Melges, sailing Jeff
Ecklund's Lake Minnetonka, Minn. entry, was second, followed by two-time
world champion Vince Brun, San Diego.

Kara Busch owned the 1D35 when Chris gave her an engagement ring at Key
West a year earlier. This year, when Wild Thing snagged a lobster pot in
the first race, the groom dutifully dived overboard to free the line and
save first place.

The host country plucked one other important prize: the International Team
Trophy contested by 11 teams from eight countries, which combined the
scores of designated Farr 40s, Melges 24s and Mumm 30s. The USA Great Lakes
team of Ecklund's Melges 24, Star; the Wally Tsuha/Bob Hughes Farr 40,
Heartbreaker, and Fred Sheratt's Mumm 30, Steadfast, from Toronto with Andy
Roy driving, each finished second in class.

There were only four Boats of the Day because there was no fifth day of
racing. There was so little wind on opening day Monday, Jan. 21, that the
two eastern courses with eight classes were unable to sail at all, and on
the final day Friday nobody sailed.

'Normally, you don't lose two days,' said Larchmont, N.Y. sailmaker Kerry
Klingler, the J/80 world champion who successfully defended his Key West
title, coupled with the class's Midwinter crown. 'This is the first year I
can remember that happening. But on the [three] middle days we had some
great sailing.'

Following Monday's 3-6 knots, the south-southeasterlies hit 15, 18 and 15
the next three days before gasping their last.

Few complained--not even Tom Hill, whose Andrews 68, Titan XI, was T-boned
by Stephen Murray's Andrews 70, Decision. The Decision collision, port on
starboard, cut Titan XI nearly in two, but Murray turned his boat over to
Hill and his crew the next day. Hill scored a second and third on corrected
time.

'We had a delightful day,' Hill said.

Tsuha was disappointed that Heartbreaker didn't get a chance to go after
Atalanti XI. 'Without the throwout, we would have beaten them,' he said.
'But it was a good series.'

Such was the prevailing attitude. Tom Leweck, the Curmudgeon host of the
e-mail sailing newsletter Scuttlebutt, was tactician on Tad Dietrich's
Santa Cruz 52, Triumph, from Scottsdale, Ariz. He wrote: 'I came home from
KWRW with the feeling that it was not the racing itself that makes this
regatta so special. It's the fact that the event organizers have provided
the venue and facilities for the ultimate weeklong reunion for racing
sailors. The event provides a wonderful opportunity to spend time with
people we don't get to see often enough. And, after all, isn't it the
people who make our sport so special?'

Even the new title sponsors had their moments. Stuart Townsend, sailing his
rhyming Farr 40, Virago from Chicago, with Steve Benjamin as tactician and
Terra Nova Trading president Chris Doubek alongside, were tied for first
with Heartbreaker after two days. Townsend is president of Townsend
Analytics, the provider of RealTick®, Terra Nova's real-time trading
platform.

'Believe me,' Doubek said, 'it is not fixed.'

Terry Hutchinson, Heartbreaker's tactician, said nobody on his boat knew
they were racing the title sponsors.

'We had no idea,' Hutchinson said, laughing. 'Should I take that into
consideration next time? We aren't gonna cut anybody any slack. They're
sailing really well.'

Other competitors included not only the Farr 40 fleet's celebrity
tacticians--besides Hutchinson, Chris Larson took a leg off from the Volvo
Ocean Race to do Key West and conduct a Volvo seminar--but four
coast-to-coast Colahans sailing their IC 45 RIO to first place in PHRF-2
and English expatriate Nicole Christie of Annapolis sailing Euro Trash Girl
to fourth place in PHRF-5 with four other women and three guys.

Wayne Colahan of Santa Barbara, Calif. trucked his boat cross-country with
one son Loren and his daughter Nancy and joined his other son Wayne III in
Key West. 'We decided to go play with the big guys,' the elder Colahan
said.

They beat Mike Rose's J/145, Raincloud, from Kemah, Tex., on a
tiebreaker--two wins to none.

Among the heavyweights, in IMS Isam Kabbani's C/60, Rima, with Larry
Leonard driving, outsailed George David's hard-pressing Nelson/Marek 49,
Idler. Tactician Ken Read went on the attack trying for a start clear of
Rima's wind shadow but lost an ensuing protest against Rima that could have
turned the tide.

'I don't do all this match racing for nothing,' said Read, who would soon
rejoin Dennis Conner's America's Cup campaign.

In PHRF-1 George Collins' Farr 52, Chessie Racing, swapped places with Bill
Alcott's Santa Cruz 70, Equation (Gary Jobson tactician) before winning the
last two races for a two-point edge.

Other handicap classes:

PHRF-3--Trice and Chris Bouzaid's Thompson 30, Wairere, from Jamestown,
R.I., won easily with three seconds and a string of four firsts.

PHRF-4--David Millett's Aerodyne 43, Tango, Marblehead, Mass., hung on with
an eighth place in the last race to win by one point.

PHRF-5--Von Blumencron, despite owing time to everyone, won three of seven
races to edge Rod Johnstone's new J/109 by two points.

PHRF-6--Dean Cleall's Olson 30, Baddog, Bradenton, Fla., came from behind
with a 1-3-1 to beat Richard Hallett's 2001 winner, Family Wagon.

PHRF-7--How close can you get? Greg Robinson's C&C 99, Rabbit, Severna
Park, Md., sailed a deadheat with Teddy Turner's Speed Racer in Race 4,
then nipped Bruce Gardner's L'Outrage by a half-point for the title.

PHRF-8--Peter De Beukelaer's Tripp 26, Dream Cookie, Jackson, Miss.,
stepped up from a PHRF-9 victory last year to swap all the first places
with Chuck Simon's local entry Tartan 10, Liquor Box, and win by two
points.

PHRF-9--Dan Myers' Moorings 38, E-Ticket, Lighthouse Point, Fla., stumbled
once and took a 20 per cent penalty but won four of six races for a runaway
victory.

Von Blumencron, 37, is an ex-Finn sailor who bought his Beneteau for both
racing and cruising, but he still prefers one-design sailing to PHRF.

'I think it's the greatest way of sailing,' he said. 'I'm looking to do
Far