- Local News for Southern Sailors - July 2002 Next Story
RACING
The 2002 Key West Regatta
By Daphne Ullman
"It was the best of times ...it was the worst of times."
For those die-hard sailors that were fortunate enough to avoid the carnage, the 2002 Key West Regatta was an enjoyable experience. For those weekend warriors, many of whom spend a majority of their time sailing the sheltered waters of Upper Hillsborough Bay, it was not quite as memorable. Aptly described by one participant,"It was more than a few hours of being knocked around, suffering that queasy nauseous feeling that plagues even the rock stars." In the end, there were broken masts, torn sails, damaged rigs, leaving only the sailmakers and boat yard owners with smiles on their faces.
The Key West Regatta, held May 14-21, comprised three distance races covering more than 400 miles of open water racing in the Gulf of Mexico. There were two races to Key West, one each from Clearwater and Naples, followed by a return race to Naples after a brief hiatus in Key West. The Clearwater Yacht Club served as event organizer and was co-hosted by the Naples YC, the Naples Yacht and Sailing Club and the Gulf Coast Sailing Club.
Unlike last year, there was plenty of breeze for the race to Key West from Clearwater. Winds were blowing about 15-20 knots from the northeast, increasing to about 25-30 knots, gusting in the 35-40 range, making it a rough ride for all involved. Of the 59 boats on the starting line, 12 boats did not finish, several of which experienced significant damages on the way. With such strong winds, it was not surprising that line honors went to a multihull — John Scanlon's Roamin Chariot. Last year's second place finisher completed the 220.3 nm race in little more than 27 hours. It might have finished sooner had the entire fleet of multihulls not missed the start by approximately seven minutes. Geoff Humphrey, crew on Roamin Chariot, said the boat "hit speeds of 17 knots as it reached Smith Shoal in 24 hours." From then on, it was a long three hours up the Northwest Channel to the finish line.
Sailors have strong opinions on which way is the best to go. This race was no exception as racers argued that east or west of the rhumb line was the way to go. However, there was consensus that those last few miles up the channel to the Key West finish line were no cakewalk. Frank Hanna, skipper of Prime Plus said
he "tacked only three times before coming up the channel, but then tacked all the way up." Another rather experienced skipper, after losing the charts overboard half way up the channel in the dark, chose a somewhat unorthodox approach to navigating the channel. The boat, which shall remain nameless, allowed the competition to pass and then followed it up the remainder of the course.
The first keelboat to finish was George Cussins' Fire and Ice in the Spin A (Clearwater) division. With corrected time, it placed second overall behind Desperado, followed by Tigress in third place. In the Spin B division, Heart of Gold (aka "the Hog") took first, followed by Cat's Meow and Shibumi in second and third respectively. According to Brian Richardson (Heart of Gold), "The race was pure reach, and a boat like the Hog is bound to perform well. Even with a reefed main, and a 135, we were averaging 7 knots." However, the key to the Hog's success was attributed to "having 6 drivers on board ... with each watch having two drivers shifting off frequently."
Other winners in the Clearwater to Key West race were Frank Hanna's Prime Plus - Non-Spin A; Bill Baker's Mariah - Non-Spin B; Nick Nichols' Long Gone - True Cruise A and Allen Lindsey's Coconut - True Cruise B.
In a testament to the handicap rating system, it was a close finish in the Spin A division of the Naples to Key West race. Based on corrected time, Dan Kerkoff's Southern Crescent beat Greg Petrat's Constellation by four seconds, with Tippecanoe, coming in third only three minutes behind. Actually, based on corrected time, 5 boats finished within 7 minutes of each other. The interesting part according to Lodge McKee, was that the boats "designed and built in different decades, pairing today's carbon fiber, GPS interfaced technology (a Farr 395) against an early '70s designed Morgan, remained competitive."
Other winners in the Naples to Key West Race were Mike Kayusa's Sun Runner — Spin B, Joe Barrett's Island Time — Non-Spin, and Toran Wright's Valpariso — True Cruising.
For the return race to Naples from Key West, only four boats had scored finishes. Perhaps it was the front that passed through, or perhaps it was too much time spent doing the Duval Street crawl. Whatever the excuse, of the initial 17 entrants, four boats were DNS, and another eight withdrew before completing the 97.4 nm trip to Naples. What began with moderate winds from the northeast quickly filled in firmly on the nose, resulting in a long, hard beat to Naples in 6-8 foot seas. Dan Kendrick's Tippecanoe won the Spin A division, and Hoku Lele was the only finisher in the Non-Spin division.
This year's event attempted to change the atmosphere of the regatta by focusing more Key West events in and around the Galleon Marina and Resort. Dick Boblenz, Commodore of the Clearwater YC, said the regatta committee "desires to create a
family-oriented environment, attracting both racers and cruisers ... that ultimately will develop into an even larger event in the future." In addition to the 71 boats that participated in the Clearwater and Naples races, a fleet of 25 cruising boats joined the racers in Key West. Results of the Clearwater Key West Race (220.3 nm) Spin A (11 boats) - 1. Desperado; 2. Fire & Ice; 3. Tigress Spin B (8 boats) - 1. Heart of Gold; 2. Cat's Meow; 3. Shibumi Non-Spin A (8 boats) - 1. Prime Plus; 2. Escapade; 3. Electra Non-Spin B (10 boats) - 1. Mariah; 2. American Spirit; 3. Avanti True Cruise A (7 boats) - 1. Long Gone; 2. Free Spirit; 3. Sonia-Cate True Cruise B (11 boats) - 1. Coconut; 2. Shady Lady; 3. Angelina Multi-hull (4 boats) - 1. Roamin Chariot; 2. Raider Results of the Naples Key West Race (95.2nm) Spin A (6 boats) - 1. Southern Crescent; 2. Constellation; 3. Tippecanoe Spin B ( 2 boats) - 1. Sun Runner ; 2. Lisa Marie Non-Spin (2 boats) - 1. Island Time; 2. Schatzle True Cruise (2 boats) - 1. Valpariso; 2. Trade Wins Results of the Key West to Naples Race (97.4 nm) Spinnaker A - 1. Tippecanoe; 2. Children at Play ; 3. Tigress. Non-spinnaker - 1. Hoku-Lele |
Multihulling the Race to Key West: One Boat's Story of Wind and Speed The Chariot — May 15th 2002 By Geoffrey K. Humphreys
The day started when the all male crew (not that
there is anything wrong with that) joined the boat
on a very blustery day right behind the Clearwater sailing center. The skipper, who shall be known as Scanlon from this point forth, eyed the luggage. We all hoped that he wouldn't say anything. He has a thing about too much stuff — after all, it's a race, you know. At that point, the sailmaker, Dennis, frantically threw his Fresca aboard this strange looking vessel, a Newark 38 trimaran. The Fresca escaped Scanlon's gaze. "It goes perfect with rum," he says.
Besides myself, there was also a 26-year-old "wabbitt wacer" from Denver and Sid Zipperman, the last man to come on board. Some of us had never stepped onto one of the fastest boats in Tampa Bay, but I knew just what we were in for. So we stashed all the gear and generally milled around the "chariot" waiting to pull the anchor and head up to the start.
The annual Clearwater to Key West sailboat race in 2001 proved to be a slow, ponderous affair with only a handful of the fleet actually completing the race. Would this year be any different? After all, it was taking place much earlier, and it was already blowing 15 knots.
Our "chariot," named Roamin Chariot, to be precise, is a FOMA (Florida Offshore Multihull Association) boat. Therefore, we really only race against 3 others multihulls - in this race. However we chariot drivers always attempt to get there first and as fast as possible.
After raising the anchor, we joined the rest of the fleet milling around the start, eyeing each other up with an optimistic hopefulness reserved for the beginning of any race. Sails were hanked on and then removed. Discussions about spinnakers and angles and other tactics ensued. Other sails were then hanked on, and there was more eyeing of the competition.
The start is always a confusing part of any race, with committee boats, different-colored flags, imaginary lines, guns and horns, and let's not forget pages of legal instructions. But have no fear, we roamins have Sid, who is not only an ex-lawyer but also president of FOMA. He also went to the skippers meeting the night before (where he admitted to drinking too much rum).
Finally we got going. The race proved to be fast. Would this great wind hold up? The real stuff came from the East. By the time we reached the MOA, we had passed most of the fleet. Both Sid and Dennis wanted to stay close to shore in case the wind disappeared. Scanlon grunted his disapproval but was trying to get his sea legs, so he let it go. Scanlon knew how fast the chariot flew. He seemed distant and slightly uninterested. Onward and forward flew the chariot already hitting double digits. As darkness approached, the wind started to build, and the roamins started to get wet.
Chavez, the wabbitt wacer, was new to the area, and on the chariot he proved to be both brave and enthusiastic, handling most of the deck work and those rare sail changes. As the chariot sped up, so did the amount of water pounding the crew with incredible force. We battened down and lashed ourselves in. Scanlon was summoned to the tiller. Here we are beating to weather zipping along at 10, 12, 14 and then flying along at 17 knots. The chariot was crashing through the waves with stinging spray burning the eyes. The wind is still holding, and we are fairly close to the rhumb line. Scanlon drives the boat on. I check my life jacket wondering just why it hadn't inflated with all this, water hitting me. The chariot feels like the inside of a washing machine. We pumped out the small aft cabin. On a wild beat like this, water pours in and around the kick up-rudder. The wind died a little around dawn. Dennis was steering and managed somehow to hit a turtle at 10 knots. We don't think we have damaged it. I hope not. Then we break the jib halyard, followed with the Chinese fire drill dealing with it. I am sooooo wet. I figure at this rate we should be across the line around 2 p.m. We have not seen another sail since the previous evening. Around 1 p.m. we spot Smith Shoals. There's more talk of angles. Two and half hours later Roamin Chariot crosses the finish line although I am not sure of the exact time. It was around 3:30. That's not bad as we covered 220 miles in 27 hours. We were the first boat across the line, but now you have the ratings, etc., and the ire of the monohulls. Strange, but Scanlon looks pleased. He really loves his chariot and my friend John Scanlon really knows his boat.
Thanks to Dennis Vallenga, Sid Zipperman, and Jason Chavez. For me it was just another adventure aboard the Roamin Chariot, and yes, I will probably go again next year. The boat will go faster. I know it will!
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