A Short but Sweet Key West day for one of the little guys

by Rich Roberts on 23 Jan 2003 Nick Maxwell is a successful general surgeon from Madison, Wis., which answers the question sweeping the Melges 24 fleet after the third day of Terra Nova Trading Key West 2003: Who?

'I was very lucky,' Maxwell said after winning Wednesday's race, and he means it. The victory lifted him into, uh, 35th place in the 57-boat fleet, still behind a couple of world champions and other world-class talent overall but thoroughly enjoying his moment of glory.

When dying wind brought abandonment of the day's competition after only one race, Maxwell had no complaint. That meant he could enjoy it the rest of the day and all night long, because Thursday's forecast looks gnarly. It calls for ideal breeze to 15 knots in the morning followed by a cold front bringing a sustained blow of 20-25 knots in the early afternoon when the second race should be under way.

'Wait 'til tomorrow when the wind picks up,' Maxwell said. 'I think we'll have a little more trouble. This is the best race I've ever done in this boat. It was great to hang with the big boys. Usually, we just see them going by, but today we went by them.'

Wind shifts---including one of 100 degrees that shuffled the Farr 40s, 1D35s and Mumm 30s on a different course---may have played a part in Maxwell's success, but he also said, 'We had a very loose rig with a lot of power.'

While the Division 1, 3 and 4 courses managed one race, the biggest boats on Division 2 called it a day when the wind swung so far, principal race officer Bruce Golison said, that 'there was no way to get a finish line [placed] due to the rocks.' That left Rosebud, Roger Sturgeon's Transpac 52 from San Francisco, in command of PHRF 1 ahead of Bill Alcott's Andrews 70 turbosled, Equation, from Detroit.

The Farr 40s remained muddled as George Andreadis' Atalanti XII (Robbie Haines on tactics) from Greece and the Scott Harris/Alexandra Geremia Crocodile Rock (Vince Brun), Santa Barbara, swapped spots on the leaderboard and John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti (Paul Cayard), Los Angeles---dead last in Race 4---appeared to be running away until the monster shift kicked it back to seventh place.

Atalanti XII struggled from the start and was recovering nicely until the shift dumped it into 15th place in the race and second in the regatta, two points behind Crocodile Rock.

The day's winner? Stuart Townsend's Virago (Steve Benjamin) from Chicago finished first, but opted for a 20% alternative penalty on the water rather than risk a DSQ on a protest by Alex Krstajic's Honour (Tony Rey), which claimed leeward rights at the start. That made John Coumantaros' Bambakou (Chris Larson) the day's low scorer in second place, although still in mid-fleet overall.

It was clear that the race committee had its hands full, but the sailors seemed satisfied that the difficulties were handled as well as possible. Gavin Brady, the tactician on Jim Richardson's Barking Mad, Newport, R.I., has raced in the top level all over the world and had high praise for Division 1 PRO Ken Legler, although he didn't know his name.

'The race committee guy on that course is the best I've ever seen,' Brady said. 'He doesn't make it a mystery for the competitors. He talks to us [by radio] and lets us know what's going on: 'Hey, guys, I'm only going to do one race today . . .' He needs to write the book on how to run a race committee.'

The 1D35 class is now in the grip of David Kirk's Détente, Chicago. Kirk said, 'The wind gods smiled on us.' Détente has a string of 2-2-1-1-1 finishes after Wednesday's win.

The strong West Coast group is absent this year, but Chris Busch, who won six of seven races with Wild Thing last year, is sailing on Détente to wind down from service with Team Dennis Conner's America's Cup campaign. Kirk recruited Busch to make his boat more competitive.

'Our biggest shortcoming was boat speed,' Kirk said. 'Tactically we had enough depth, but Chris is extremely familiar with how to get these boats going. Last year we weren't even in the game. They sent the Coast Guard out for us a couple of times.'

Among the Melges 24s, while Maxwell had his fun defending champion Flavio Favini benefited from leader Bruce Ayres' 21st-place finish and slipped into first place overall with a fourth. Favini is four points ahead of Ayres' Newport Beach, Calif. colleague Argyle Campbell, with Ayres another 10 points back.

Favini blitzed the fleet last year when the prize was the delayed 2001 class Worlds title, but he hadn't sailed a Melges since while participating in the America's Cup.

'It's a nice place to sail, but you face a lot of different conditions,' he said. 'We were over the line at the start, so we had to go back. But [the wind] was streaky, and when it's streaky you have a chance to get back.'

Favini, an Italian, again is sailing Franco Rossini's Blu Moon from Switzerland, which is part of the German team that took over the lead from Italy in the International Team Competition for the Key West Trophy by a single point. The other two are Dr. Wolfgang Schaefer's Farr 40, Struntje light, and Bent Dietrich's Mumm 30, Rainbow.

There is only one unbeaten boat remaining---Mike Carroll's Henderson 30, New Wave, with four wins in PHRF 4, which was unable to race Wednesday.

Terra Nova Trading Key West 2003 sponsors include Terra Nova Trading L.L.C., Mount Gay Rum, RealTick(r), Lewmar Marine, Nautica Watches, Nautica Eyewear, Pearson Yachts, Samson Rope Technologies, Saucony and the Florida Keys & Key West Tourist Development Council. The Historic Seaport at the Key West Bight is the Official Site.

The Performance Sailing Industry Partner Program is in its second year, with 24 members at press time. Participating companies and details about the program are on the event web site.

Racing is scheduled Monday through Friday, Jan. 20-24, on four circles off the south shore of the island. Registration is on Sunday, Jan. 19. The regatta is open to entries in PHRF, one-design and IMS classes of 24 to 85 feet LOA. PHRF entries must have a rating of 175 or lower.

Class leaders (after 5 of 9 races, except 4 of 9 in Div. 2):

FARR 40 (24 boats)---Crocodile Rock, Scott Harris/Alexandra Geremia, Santa Barbara, 2-2-4-17-5, 30 points.

1D35 (8)—Détente, David Kirk, Chicago, 2-2-1-1-1, 7.

MUMM 30 (15)—Foreign Affair, Richard Perini, Sydney, Australia, 2-3-4-1-4, 14.

MELGES 24 (57)---Blu Moon, Flavio Favini, Switzerland, 2-4-12-7-4, 29.

J/105 (29)---Wet Leopard, Jim Sorensen, Sag Harbor, N.Y., 12-1-7-1-3, 24.

J/80 (22)---Warrior, Craig and Martha White, Fort Worth, Tex., 1-2-1-9-1, 14.

J/29 (10)---Rhumb Punch, John Edwards, Solomons, Md., 2-3-2-1-1, 9.

TARTAN 10 (8)---Liquor Box, Robert and Bill Lehnert, Cutchogue, N.Y., 1-2-1-1-1, 6.

CORSAIR 28R (14)---Hot Flash, Robert Gleason, Wareham Mass., 1-3-1-6, 11.

IMS (4)---Idler (N/M 50), George David, New York, 1-1-2-1, 5.

PHRF 1 (5)---Rosebud (Transpac 52), Roger Sturgeon, San Francisco, 1-1-2-2, 6.

PHRF 2 (6)---Bandolier (1D48), Charles Burnett III, Seattle, 2-4-1-2, 9.

PHRF 3 (12)---Tsunami (Farr 395), Ostberg/Aras/Daily, Annapolis, 1-1-2-1, 5.

PHRF 4 (10)---New Wave (Henderson 30), Michael Carroll, Clearwater, Fla., 1-1-1-1, 4.

PHRF 5 (13)---Fitikoko (Tripp 38 ML), Andrew Wilson, Annapolis, 3-2-1-3, 9.

PHRF 6 (12)---Dr. Evil (Olson 29), Tom Treat/Cliff Davis, Milford, Conn., 3-1-3-1-3, 11.

PHRF 7 (10)---Invincible (N/M 30), Brian Lees/Jeff Gastrau, Annapolis, 1-1-1-1-2, 4.

PHRF 8 (9)---Hot Ticket (Farr 37), Jim Hightower, Houston, Tex., 5-1-4-1-4, 15.

PHRH 9 (10)---Ruby My Dear (Express 37), Grosse Point Park, Mich., 3-4-2-2-2, 13.

PHRF 10 (12)---Rumblefisch (J/24), Peter Fischel, Savannah, Ga., 1-3-1-4-2, 11.

Complete results at www.Premiere-Racing.com