J's Winning IRC2, PHRF A, PHRF B- J/One-Designs Are Hot.
(Key West, FL)- Dawn broke with another spectacular sunrise, with the promise of yet another classic Key West day on the water. It was not to be. Instead, a lingering front spun a cloud front onto the race course by noon and turned the skies uniformly grey. However, the wind Gods cooperated with yet another nice day of oscillating, streaky breezes out of the NE quadrant, starting light, gradually increasing to the 8-12 knot range towards the end. Again, two races seemed to be the orders for the day, first one a double-sausage and the second one the same, but finishing upwind after four legs.
The Division 1 IRC2 course saw David Murphy's J/122 PUGWASH repeat the converse of their performance from the first day, starting the day with a bullet, followed up by a second for a 2-1-1-2 series, leading IRC2 by six points. Again, the leaders of all classes on Division 1 had their work cut out for them because of the fact they have the most current, the most chop and the ability for large wind streaks with pressure to develop from either the north coming down the channel or coming offshore from the east. Today, they got everything. Making a bold move up the escalator in these tough conditions was Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK, gathering a fourth in the first race and winning the last race, now sitting just four points out of third place with a 7-8-4-1 record while tied for fourth. Also climbing rapidly up the ladder today was Jim Bishop's veteran campaigner GOLD DIGGER. Jim's team got a second and third to round out their scores with a 8-7-2-3 to be tied for fourth just off the top three. The next three days ought to be pretty interesting for this tight fleet.
On the "one-design" Division 2 course, the competition remained quite "keen" amongst the top players. However, some leaders' score cards changed quite considerably as the shifty winds were seemingly less predictable or obvious as to where pressure was moving down the course in the flat light under leaded grey skies. Brian Keane sailed SAVASANA into a six point lead with a consistent 4-2 over Ken Colburn's GHOST that tallied a 2-3. Patrick Eudy on BIG BOOTY sailed well to get a 5-6 to stay in content, dropping from 2nd to 3rd overall. The surprise was the downhill slide of Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK, picking up a 9-7 to fall into a three-way tie for 5th with 24 points.
As observed on Monday's racing, the top ten boats in the J/80 Midwinters fleet would remain close on points and, depending on the usual variables like start, wind direction and pressure, but would have a roller-coaster experience for the next few days moving up and down the standings. Will Welles racing RASCAL is hanging onto the lead by a thread. RASCAL got caught out in a couple of tight situations, missed wind shifts and managed to get a 3-8 score today. The biggest gainer was Jeff and Rod Johnstone sailing LITTLE FEAT to a 1-1 record, climbing rapidly up the fleet ladder to be tied for second with sixteen points just one point out of first. Glenn Darden sailing LE TIGRE nearly had two firsts as well as the Johnstones. However, a few tricky shifts at the end of the two races left LE TIGRE with a 2-2 score to remain strongly in contention tied for second. Falling off the pace a bit from the leaders for a variety of reasons were Magnus Tyreman from Sweden sailing to a 7-6 record and Neil Martin on JAMMY DODGER with 14-11 finishes.
Seemingly, the news on the Division 3, "Stock Island course", was the same as yesterday. In PHRF 1, Jim Madden's STARK RAVING MAD again sailed two solid races, played the wind shifts and pressure well and simply sailed away from the fleet, sailing higher and faster upwind and much faster and lower downwind-- a killer cocktail for the fleet and a recipe for success for Jim and the gang aboard. They now have four straight firsts.
In PHRF 2, Bill Sweetser's J/109 RUSH continues to perform well and sailed conservatively enough in the variable conditions to garner a 4-1 to be winning by just two points. Steve Thurston's J/29 MIGHTY PUFFIN is still hanging in there with a 5-6 to be in 6th overall.
In PHRF 3, the three J/24s enjoyed the conditions and continue to occupy second and third overall. Mark Milne's BLAH BLAH BLAH is in second with a 3-2-2-2 record and just behind is Naroski/LeBlanc's NOJOE in third with a 2-4.-3-5
Wednesday's forecast looks promising to be another nice day of sailing with a partly cloudy day, mid-70s for temps and easterlies in the 8-12 knot range. Stay tuned! For regatta information and sailing results, please go to: http://www.premiere-racing.com/KW10_Results/kw10_results_reports.htm
