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TERRA NOVA TRADING / YACHTING KEY WEST RACE WEEK January 23, 2002 Wednesday's conditions: Wind 12-18 knots, SE. National Weather Service forecast for Thursday: Wind 15-20 knots, E-SE,
possible gusts to 25; seas 2-3 feet BIG BOATS CRASH IN STRONGEST BREEZE YET AT KEY WEST KEY WEST, Fla.-While big winds often bring bad news, most sailors will welcome them and take their chances. Some paid the price at Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week Wednesday. Foremost, there was the Titan XI-Decision collision in PHRF-1 class.
Stephen Murray's Decision, an Andrews 70 from New Orleans, struck Tom
Hill's Titan XI, an Andrews 68 from San Juan, P.R., near the windward
mark "We thought we were going to sink," Hill said. "The regatta's over for us." Well, not exactly. In what Titan XI helmsman Mark Ploch called "a
very gracious offer," Murray put his boat, which suffered what was
described as "superficial damage," at the disposal of Hill and
his crew for the last two Wednesday's breeze was up to 18 knots, strongest of the week. The F-28R
trimarans loved every minute of it. Although one of the class leaders,
Doug Harkrider of Flowery Beach, Ga., had to drop out of the second race
when the headboard on his main sail broke, he said with delight, "The
conditions were perfect for multihulls. A greater surprise was Flavio Favini's sweep of all three races against
the rest of the best Melges 24 sailors in the 2001 World Championships.
Favini, the IMS 50 world champion sailing for Switzerland, has won four
in a row More Melges 24 information is in the report following this release In the marquee class featuring celebrity tacticians, Atalanti XI, the
double defending champion with Robbie Haines brainstorming behind owner/driver
George Andreadis of Greece, slipped quietly into first place Consistently winning is even better. In the 1D35s, After three of five days, the only unbeaten boat left from the 324 entries from 33 states and 14 countries is Kerry Klingler's defending J/80 champion from Larchmont, N.Y., known only by its sail number, 395. In IMS, Isam Kabbani's C/M 60, Rima, and George David's Nelson/Marek
49, Idler, remained tied for first place after swapping firsts and seconds-ditto
Bill Alcott's Santa Cruz 70, Equation, and George Collins' The hottest PHRF boats are Wairere, Trice and Chris Bouzaid's Thompson 30, with a 1-1-2-1-1 series going in PHRF-3, and Dream Cookie, Peter De Beukelaer's Tripp 26, in PHRF-8. Richard Perini's Mumm 30 Foreign Affair from Sydney, Australia, won both of Wednesday's races to make it three in a row for a narrow lead. It wasn't immediately clear how Decision would be scored with the Titan XI crew now in charge, but nobody seemed concerned, and hard feelings were minimal.Hill, the owner of Titan XI, said, "I've run into boats myself, but it's really disappointing. It was a scary moment. The three of us in the back of the boat were ready to bail out."Mark Ploch of Titan XI said, "I was at the helm. At a certain point it was, 'They're gonna hit us, and it's gonna hurt.' " Decision's bow remained jammed in Titan XI's hull for more than a minute. The crippled boat, still heeling sharply to port, was taking on water at an alarming rate. "His bow was pushing us sideways," Hill said. "We thought we were going to sink."Randle took action on Decision. "I felt we were pushing the other boat under," he said. "I started the engine, grabbed the helm and backed the boat away."Randle said the crash was the result of misjudgment by the unidentified helmsman-not Murray-and not because the crew failed to ease the main sheet, as Titan XI crew members at first suspected. "The main was flagging when we hit them," Randle said. Decision apparently would sail Thursday with most of the Titan XI crew and a half-dozen Decision people. SAUCONY 5K FUN RUN Heartbreaker was tough to beat on land or sea Tuesday. After the Wally Tsuha/Bob Hughes Farr 40 from Holland, Mich. finished second and fourth to move into a first-place tie with Virago, crew member Brad Rodi of San Diego won the traditional Saucony 5K Fun Run through the streets of Key West.Rodi, 30, finished the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes and was 22 seconds ahead of the runner-up, local runner Mirek Kucera. "We had a pretty good day," Rodi told reporter Ron Cooke of the Key West Citizen. "The real bragging rights are on the boat. The run is just a little extra." BOATS OF THE DAY Monday/ Lewmar Marine Day: Nerone (Farr 40), Masimo Mezzaroma, Savona,
Italy
Publicity INTERNATIONAL MELGES 24 CLASS ASSOCIATION If you've ever wanted to watch a master class in Melges 24 sailing today
was the day to be out on the water. Italian Flavio Favini and his Swiss
team, headed by owner Franco Rossini, led the fleet from start to finish
in Overnight leader Jamie Lea, helming for Britain's Richard Thompson, had
a disastrous start to his day when he was OCS in the first race. He was
not alone as around 1/3 of the fleet found their numbers being called
forcing Strong overnight winds had kicked up a significant swell and chop and
with around 16 knots of breeze it was set to be a very hard day at the
office, particularly with 3 races scheduled. Of those not OCS in the first
race For race five the breeze was down slightly and the sea was beginning to flatten off a little. Again Favini broke away on the first leg and made the most of the clear air to extend his lead on each leg. Behind him Porter and his 3 time Worlds crew Harry Melges were enjoying a bit of friendly rivalry, coming into the first leeward mark neck and neck. Porter eventually got the better of Melges to finish 2nd. Campbell and Pouligny were both having another great race although this time Campbell got the upper hand taking 3rd with Pouligny 4th. Melges ended up 5th just ahead of Reeser. By the start of race six sea conditions had eased considerably and the wind was up a couple of knots. By now Favini had the bit between his teeth and seemed determined to prove to the American's that their domination of the Melges 24 Class at Key West was in serious jeopardy. He took off from the line with pace and attitude and yet again came out leading at the top mark. Jeff Thorpe had an excellent first beat too leading Reeser, Brun, Porter and Britain's Mike Budd (helming for Roger Peacock) in to the mark. By the end of the second beat Porter had worked is way up to 2nd ahead of Morgan and Budd with Thorpe in 5th, Melges 6th and Brun 7th. Although Favini was long gone the battle up the last beat between the
rest of the pack was a site to behold. Despite Melges best efforts he
couldn't quite get past Porter and had to be content with 3rd. Brun snatched
4th In the overall standings the discard comes into play now that six races have been sailed so Favini leads by 9 points from Melges with Lea and Reeser tied in third. The weather forecast promises another day of excellent racing for tomorrow and the Melges 24 crews couldn't be happier. The 2001 Melges 24 World Championship is being run in association with
Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week 2002. Our thanks to Melges
24 World Championship sponsors Woody's Ice, Geneva Trading, LightSurf
Technologies, North Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, the USMCA and
all Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week sponsors. Full results and further information on the Melges 24s can be found at www.melges24.com. |
