Key West chill

Dobbs Davis gives his view of today's shifty racing at Key West

When TV broadcasts are filled with stories of record low temperatures being felt throughout the US, it's hard to complain about the water being too cold to go snorkeling.

But this and early pub-crawling were but a few of the choices faced by the members of Key West fleet today as the dying northerly finally petered out completely. All but the Division 2 courses still managed to get a shortened and massively shifted race on the scoreboard before heading back to the docks for late lunch. Some returned happy to be positioned on the right side of the current-induced 40-degree right shift, and others headed straight for the bar.

The crew on the new Farr 36 Tazo were especially disappointed to have had the Division 2 races abandoned, as they'd built an impressive lead of close to five minutes on their PHRF Class 2 rivals as the conditions died out.

Having earned a dubious DSQ in Race 1 on a starting line incident against the Farr 395 Tsunami, they needed the good result, but will have to work hard for the remaining three or four races of the series.

Key West used to be a showcase for new boats, but the popularity of one-designs in recent years has shifted the focus towards the racing quality rather than quantity of new products. And while the Johnstones have a new J/109 making its debut here, it's the Farr 36 that seems to attracting the most attention on and off the water. With its low freeboard, straight shear, flush deck and ultra clean lines, Peter Morton, Geoff Stagg, and the rest of the gang at Farr International have been inviting prospective customers and other interested parties on board after racing to lure them into temptation.

Barry Carroll will be receiving his tooling from DK Composites soon and will be ready to start production in about a month's time. So far interest has been keen, and they're looking forward to a stream of deposit cheques to follow.

With the overdue completion of the other Farr 36 due to this event, I'm finding myself in the unusual position of sailing a powerboat, assisting my ex-Pom mate Rick Deppe in creating a video production for the event and North Sails. This perspective is actually fantastic, because we're able to see action in any class we wish, stay dry and warm, and remain tactically flawless while we shuttle between race courses and critique the fleet.

Besides, being a new dad, I've vowed to focus more closely on the racing I really enjoy: match racing and the occasional offshore jaunt. It's not the Swedish Match Tour, but nonetheless fun to come to this event, escape the cold, and get caught up on the gossip.



Which will be laid on pretty thick here tonight as we go into a closed-door discussion with movers and shakers in the rating game to discern how to structure a new Grand Prix rule system. There's not been a new IMS yacht built for a US client in years, and no one here knows anything about IRC or IRM.

The three Transpac 52s entered in the event are here from the West Coast to show that after a long hiatus that side of the country may be leading the way towards the future. Their plumb bows, light displacements, and generous sail area are suited to the downwind-oriented racing done on that coast, but are proving versatile enough to be fun to sail around the courses here in Key West as well. At this point they're also proving
competitive against the older and slower IMS 50s on corrected time.

We'll see, however, how this may change when tomorrow's new cold front comes slamming through, promising last week's brisk conditions to return once again. The crowd here is ready for the breeze to return, rested from their midweek break.