Mark Heeley returns from Key West

British Farr 40 skipper reflects on a great week and an unusual last "race", Andy Rice reports

Mark Heeley was pleased with his week's work at Key West Race Week. He and his team finished fourth in the toughest fleet of one-design keelboats assembled for more years than anyone could remember - 37 Farr 40s chock full of Olympic and America's Cup talent. He took delivery of his brand new Farr 40 just a week before the regatta began, so there was little time to get up to speed.
Heeley told madforsailing: "We learned a lot, and the conditions and venue allowed us to put a lot of hours in on the water. You always get teething troubles with new boats, and we managed to iron a lot of those out and get the boat pretty well sorted. It was a week that went to plan."

Adrian Stead was acting as guest tactician for the week but stepped off for the long offshore race at the end. Iain Percy took his place whilst Ado teamed up with his old friend Jim Richardson, the American owner with whom he won the Farr 40 Worlds over two years ago. For Richardson and his team on Barking Mad this was a last chance to make up the ground on their rivals for Admiral's Cup selection, Philippe Kahn and Pegasus.

But the selectors decided Pegasus had already done enough to put herself in an unassailable position for US selection. Richardson and his team believed otherwise. "The Barking Mad guys were going mad," commented Heeley. "For an hour-and-a-half there was lots of shouting and no one knew whether there was going to be a deciding offshore race or not."

The race was only going to be run to determine which of the two American boats would be representing their country in the Solent this summer, but when it was eventually called off, Heeley decided to treat the passage back to Fort Lauderdale as a race anyway.

"It's hard to keep focused and keep your mind on the task when you're racing against yourself," said Heeley, "but it was a crucial exercise for us. It was a bitch of a trip though, 20 hours of bumpy, breezy conditions crashing upwind through the Gulf Stream."

It was also very cold, and it was no more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit when they arrived in Fort Lauderdale. But it was a worthwhile trip. "We had everybody geared up for the race, so we decided to go regardless of whether the American's came or not. And it meant Ado was freed up to join us for the trip too.

"It was a good test of the boat, and of the crew, who kept their focus despite the strange situation. It was also useful to get into the Gulf Stream, which has its own micro weather system around it, because of the warm water flowing through it."

The passage proved Iain Percy's first experience in the tactician's role, and Heeley was well encouraged by what he saw. "We had a chat every day after the inshore racing, and you could tell by the things he was saying that he has picked it up very quickly. The job we're asking him to do is really not that different to the decision making he would do in the Finn - he just has to get used to the different tacking angles and laylines - that sort of thing."

Heeley was packing up the boat for shipping as he spoke to madforsailing. Now he must wait for it to return in mid-March before he can resume training, with the first scheduled competitive outing being the Red Funnel Easter Regatta. Whilst greatly encouraged by his sparkling performance in Key West, Heeley was not getting too carried away. "Racing in a fleet like this in the conditions we've had will be vastly different to racing a small fleet in the Solent, so we know we've got our work cut out if we're going to qualify for the Admiral's Cup," he said.