J/44 KENAI Wins Class, J/111 HEAT WAVE Second!
(Fort Lauderdale, FL)- The 41st Annual Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race,
hosted by Lauderdale Yacht Club and the Storm Trysail Club, started at
noon on Wednesday under absolutely perfect conditions- winds from the
ENE blowing 15-20 kts with boats setting Code Zero’s and asymmetrics
once they approached Rebecca Shoals, the first primary turning point to
the WSW towards Key West. Records were broken for both monohulls and
multihulls. And, the J/crews reveled in the conditions.
The annual race sends sailors on a 160 nm sprint down along the curve of
the Florida Keys, to the Key West Sea Buoy, where they make the hard
turn onto the final leg up the channel to the finish off Fort Zachary
Taylor State Park. The record was basically 10 hours flat for both the
Gunboat 60 ELVIS and the RP74 WIZARD- 16 kts average! Even more
remarkable?? Two J/24 World Champions were the tacticians on each boat-
Anthony Kotoun on ELVIS and Chris Larson on WIZARD.
The
competitors enjoyed classic Lauderdale to Key West Race conditions this
year. David Cannon, Director of Yacht Ops and Meteorologist for Weather
Routing, Inc., Official Weather Provider for the Race, forecasted “for
Wednesday and Thursday, high pressure and Easterly winds will be the
rule throughout the area, with wind speeds averaging near 20 kts. Higher
wind gusts (to 23-24kts) are likely in any local NE winds downwind of
any ‘channeling’ areas between the Florida Keys. Short and choppy seas
will be from the east as well, generally from 4-6 feet, though within
the Gulfstream waters south of the Keys, seas will tend to be near the
high end of this range.”
Race veterans will attest that these are the conditions that bring them
back to do the race again and again. South Floridian Dave Woolsey, a
three-time race winner, recalls similar sleigh-ride conditions for the
1980 race, won on a hot pink Santa Cruz 27 named Inspector Clouseau.
Among the motivations for the youngsters doing the race in those days
were honing important offshore (and onshore) skills against the world’s
best (not to mention the motivation for someone on a Santa Cruz 27 to be
someplace warm and dry in January).
Speaking of the world’s best, none other than Volvo Ocean Race and
America’s Cup Skipper (and 5x J/24 World Champion) Ken Read is a long
time competitor in the event, and used to hold the monohull race record
as a member of the crew of Joe Dockery’s 81 footer Carrera in 2005.
Kenny commented about the experience of the race and the record,
“The
Fort Lauderdale to Key West race is one of the first "Distance" races I
remember doing. It was Christmas break and I was at Boston University
...early 1981. There was no Key West Race Week back then. It was simply
the Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race. I remember the amazing party at
the end of it and this crazy group of guys on a boat called Puff owned
by Wilkie Gilbert. I remember that the whole crew was nuts and I loved
it. And my friend Tom Lihan was the person that got me on board. No
shock that Tom was onboard and we won our class. Snapshot forward to
2005 when I sailed aboard Carrera and we broke the record. It was a
great forecast of reaching and running on an 80 foot Reichel Pugh sled.
Amazing crew. Great owner, a guy named Joe Dockery. We had a phenomenal
easy fun trip down, only to load the boat up a little too much about 5
miles before the right hand turn to go into the cut at Key West. That's
when we did a little spin out with the A4 up and heard a big bang only
to find three quarters of the rudder gone. But nobody wanted to stop so
after about 15 to 20 minutes we got the boat back under control, bore
off without hitting the reef and got up a number 4 jib and put a reef in
the main. That was when as a crew we learned how to sail the boat with
about a 2-foot stub of a rudder and easing and trimming the Jib and
Mainsail in order to keep the boat going straight. The windy jibe at the
final mark to head for shore was very tricky if I remember correctly.
But we finished without crashing into anything and probably would've
done the race about a half an hour faster if it weren't for a broken
rudder. Every year since then a group of us who were all on board
including the owner and the project manager Simon Davidson and Chris
Larson and others get in touch and watch the race to determine whether
our record is still safe. Well I can tell you this year based on some
early prognosis it looks like it could be another ripper of the year.
With great boats like Wizard and Prospector doing the race I certainly
wouldn't be shocked if the record was in jeopardy.”
As it turns out, he was right! David and Peter Askew (former J/122
owners) sailed their 74 foot WIZARD (the old BELLA MENTE), with a
who’s-who of offshore talent, several of whom sailed Alvimedica in the
last Volvo World Race, including Alvimedica co-Skippers Charlie Enright
and Mark Towill and the aforementioned Chris Larson. Yet again, two
J/24 World Champions on the same boat calling tactics and strategy-
Charlie Enright from Bristol, RI and Chris Larson from Annapolis, MD.
Enright had his eye on the forecast, noting that it “looked like a great
forecast. 20 knots from the ENE going ESE will make for a fast trip
down to Key West. Exactly how fast will depend on how much the breeze
shifts with us as we free up. The more we have to VMG run the longer it
will take, by virtue of having to sail more distance. The Gulfstream can
compound this, if it doesn't head and you end up lifting offshore, you
expose yourself to more adverse current, too.” It clearly all worked
out for them in the end. And, it was also ideal conditions for the top
J/sailors in the race.
This
year, the ORC Class has an enormous range of boats from 40 to 52 feet
and it was Chris & Karen Lewis’ J/44 KENAI from Lakewood YC in
Houston, TX that ran away with their class win by 27 minutes corrected- a
virtual landslide victory in such a fast race! KENAI covered the race
track in 16 hrs 56 min, about a 9.4 kts average, not bad for an 22,000
lb boat on a 40 ft waterline (8.47 kts hull speed)!
The PHRF A class had Gary Weisberg’s J/111 HEAT WAVE from Jubilee YC in
Gloucester, MA up against a J/88, M32, Farr 395 and a Class 40! In the
end, the HEAT WAVE gang took the silver and Kristen Berry’s J/88 M.I.2
took 4th place. At just over 17 hours to cover 160nm, that’s a 9.38 kts
average. In other words, “planing mode” for the entire race given that
hull speed on the 35.5 ft J/111 is around 8.04 kts! For more Storm Trysail & Lauderdale YC Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race sailing information