(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.
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