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(Key West, FL)- For the first “official” Conch Republic Race dash from
Key West, Florida to Havana, Cuba, the fastest boat in the fleet was
Peter Krueger’s J/125 silver bullet called DOUBLE TROUBLE; she covered
the course in just about 10 hours, or an average of 9.0 kts.
First-to-finish honors were not in the calling cards when Krueger’s team
registered for the race. However, with extremely favorable sailing
conditions, the famous J/125 from San Francisco simply lit-up the track
and took home overall elapsed honors.
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For
the rest of their J sailing colleagues in PHRF B Racing class, it was a
battle for the top five class handicap awards. In the end, J’s took
five of top seven boats in class. Sailing the 90nm course about two
hours behind the mighty DT was David Malkin’s J/88 MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2
from Annapolis, MD, taking 3rd in class. Finishing just one hour behind
DT and taking 4th place in class was Bennet Greenwald’s J/111
PERSEVERANCE from San Diego, CA. Twenty minutes elapsed behind them was
Marcus Cholerton-Brown’s J/120 SUNSET CHILD in 5th place. Just 40
minutes off handicap corrected winning time was Krueger’s DOUBLE
TROUBLE, taking 6th on corrected. Bill Smith’s J/111 WOOTON rounded out
the top 7, finishing just 10 minutes behind PERSEVERANCE on elapsed
time (e.g. within eye-sight of each other), but not enough to crack the
top five, that’s how closed the handicap times worked out for the fleet.
The regatta now has two more races to go, at this time it is Greenwald’s
J/111 PERSEVERANCE leading overall honors for the racing fleet. More
news next week! For
more Conch Republic Cup sailing information