Key West Race Week - the start's the key

The Farr 40 is Heeley's first boat since owning an International 14 high-performance dinghy a number of years ago. Heeley, who has competed in three Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup (CMAC) regattas in the last decade, hopes to represent his homeland next July when the biennial event is held.

The CMAC led the advertising and Internet businessman to purchase the Farr 40, and also to race at Key West Race Week, his first time at the 14-year-old regatta. "We felt this would be more valuable than racing at home," said Heeley. "It's great to come into the dock and discuss the boat set up with the crew and others. If we were racing in England we'd be looking to get out of the cold and to a warm place."

Heeley's tactician, Ado Stead, helped Jim Richardson and Barking Mad place in the top three at the class's three world championship regattas, including first at the inaugural Farr 40 World Championship in 1998.

Stead -- who will skipper England's 45-footer in the CMAC -- said that Race Week is tougher than last June's world championship, where 25 boats competed. "There are more talented sailors now," said Stead. "The level of competition has definitely gone up."

Heeley, Stead and crew were placed seventh heading into the third day of racing, and helped their hunt for victory by finishing 10th in today's light-air race, sailed mostly in 5- to 8-knot winds.

Steve Kaminer's Predator of Annapolis, Md., staked its claim on the championship with a solid third place in the north-to-north-easterly wind that ranged from 30 to 60 degrees. Predator got away cleanly from the start, hit the left side of the beat hard and rounded in first.

Predator began the day placed third, but moved into the lead when the two leaders, Barking Mad and Alexander Geremia’s Crocodile Rock, had bad days. Barking Mad was disqualified, while Crocodile Rock finished 25th.

Predator now leads the class with 37 points. Brack Duker’s Revolution, with Peter Isler as tactician; and George Andreadis’s Atalanti, with Robbie Haines calling the shots, are tied for second with 41 points. Philippe Kahn’s Pegasus is fourth with 45 points.

Barking Mad, the class leader at the beginning of the day, added a heap of points with the DSQ and is now out of the running for the class title.

Heeley's crew holds fifth overall with 53 points. "We've saved ourselves by turning a few 30s into a 16, 12 and 10," said Stead.

Onboard John Thomson's Solution, we had another frustrating rough day, although we managed to stay in the teens instead of the 30s. Our troubles began at the start. We lined up a bit too early and a bit too close to the leeward end. As a result, we wound up too close to Tom Hill's Titan and Peregrine, chartered by David Thomson of Auckland, New Zealand, two boats fighting for the leeward end. To weather were Robert Shaw's Wahoo and Helmut Jahn's Flash Gordon, preventing us from heading up to keep out of the way.

When the starting gun was fired we were nearly head to wind, with little way on. Titan and Peregrine were to leeward, locked in a war of words and a game of bumper boats. As was Barking Mad. Flash Gordon rolled us to weather, as did about ten other boats before we got going again.

After the race, won by Tom Neill's Nitemare, with Olympic silver medallis JJ Isler calling tactics, the race committee initiated protests against Barking Mad and Peregrine, both for hitting the pin end. Both boats were disqualified.

The outcome hurt Barking Mad more than Peregrine. Richardson hopes to fill the Farr 40 class on the U.S. Admiral's Cup team. He's locked in a battle with Pegasus. Races count a half point and the selection process calls for a 50-hour race this weekend, planned to take the competitors back to Ft. Lauderdale, where many stay when not racing. Heeley of England also plans to compete, as do a few other foreign entries. Now saddled with a DSQ, Richardson likely needs to win the triple-weighted race to assure a trip to England next summer.

We've sailed five races in the first three days. The two races that we had a good start we finished fourth and were on our way to winning the other race before it was abandoned. One start we were over early, we had to re-round the boat end, and we finished 34th.

An old adage of one-design racing is that the start's the key. Make that a truism.

First published on QuokkaSailing.com, republished with permission.