Big J/80 Class, Cool New PHRF J/Class(Key West, FL)- While the world has not seen the best of times, nor the worst of times in the past few years, what has remained a constant, nearly magnetic attraction to the sailing world has ben the annual midwinter pilgrimage to Key West to sail Race Week. Many top teams from the Americas as well as from Asia and Europe attend the event for a bacchanalian sailing feast for a week in January that most describe as "tropical sailing conditions" in spectacular azure-blue sailing waters around the reefs of the Gulf Stream and the Florida Keys. Sunsets and the "green flash" are signature events that put an exclamation mark not only on the day's sailing, but usher in evening festivities that perhaps only can be best described as "epic" and "off-the-wall"! After all, that's what Key West is renowned for down at the bottom (or beginning) of the famous Route 1 roadway that goes from Key West to Easport, Maine.
One
of the features of this year's 25th Key West is the very welcomed
sponsorship and support from Quantum Sails, whose headquarters in the
Great American Midwest belies the subtle, laid back, but competitive
approach they have to supporting their sailors, their teams and their
customers. "We recognize that Key West Race Week is the flagship
regatta in this country and has been for well over two decades," Quantum
President Ed Reynolds said. "This has been reinforced by many people
we've spoken with both here and abroad. Even with the smaller fleet
sizes of recent years, this midwinter, big-boat regatta is very
important to North American and international sailboat racing. We would
like to see it continue and are committed to supporting the regatta
during this transition period."SAIL Magazine's Best Around the Buoys competition is another regatta highlight-- a remarkable "award" for the team that qualifies to sail in a supplied boat with sponsors J/BOATS, NORTH SAILS, HARKEN and others. The aim is to grow sailing at a grass-roots level with both one-design and PHRF competition- growing awareness that sailing can be fun with family and friends. This year, the SAIL BAB sailors from Dallas, Texas will be racing a J/80 one-design against some of the top teams in the country.
Yet
another special feature of this year's 25th Anniversary is the creation
of a J/Class. It's quite a turn-out of some of the top J/Teams that
have raced Key West over the past few years. At the top of the food
chain in PHRF 1/ J-Class is the J/122 TEAMWORK- Robin Team from
Lexington, NC- these guys have done it all, won Lauderdale-Key West and
Key West IRC Class and will always be a team in contention at the end of
a week long series like Key West. A new team from Detroit is the J/120
HOT TICKET sailed by Bob Kirkman from Bayview YC in Detroit, Michigan--
no shrinking violets this crowd is, having beaten all other multiple
Chicago/Bayview Mac Champions to the finish line in the 2011 version of
the races. More new faces to the Key West crowd include the J/111 trio,
including the J/111 WICKED 2.0 sailed by Doug Curtiss from Buzzards Bay
(he sailed his J/124 in Key West last year); the J/111 MENTAL sailed by
Paul Stahlberg from Chicago YC (a very fun-loving crew); and the J/111
WARLOCK skippered by Tom Hickey from Newfoundland YC, St John's, NB,
Canada (a fast-rising team from near the Arctic Circle and the cool
Northwest Passage). If this fleet wasn't' tough enough, you only need
to toss in two well-sailed J/109s, like a past J/109 North American
Champion and Key West Champion, Bill Sweetser's RUSH from Annapolis YC
in Annapolis, MD; he's accompanied by Gary Weisberg from Gloucester, MA
sailing his J/109 HEATWAVE in Key West for the first time. 
The
J/80s are sailing their J/80 Midwinter Championships, the 19 boat
turnout makes them the biggest class for Key West-- quite a remarkable
achievement over the course of time! In addition to the SAIL BAB Team
(which must feel like they're getting fed to the sharks), you will find
the J/80s led by World Champions like LE TIGRE- Glenn Darden from Fort
Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX and Swedish Champion ROCAD RACING
sailed by Mikael Lindqvist from KSSS (Royal Swedish YC). Plus, you have
multiple Key West J/105 Champion Brian Keane on SAVASANA from Buzzards
Bay, MA and J/80 North American Champions John Storck and family on
RUMOR from Storm Trysail Club in New York rounding out the leaders.
Finally, toss in Bruno Pasquinelli on TIAMO from Fort Worth Boat Club
and he's sure to be a factor amongst the leaders so long as he doesn't
argue with his boom!The PHRF 2 Class have ten boats participating. It will be a competitive fleet with two J's flying the flag and leading the fleet home (we hope)- the J/105 MAX POWER sailed by Gerrit Schulze from Cape May, NY and the J/95 STILL CRAZY sailed by Ed Palm from Grosse Pointe, MI and Naples, FL. For more QUANTUM SAILS Key West Race Week Sailing information
