Key
West Race Week 2007, by Kerry Klingler.
After
sailing a week like this, it’s hard to believe why any sailor would not attend
this regatta. The combination of a
great regatta, super weather, crystal clear water, and fun competition. This makes Key West Race Week one of the
premier regattas in the world. The crew
of the yacht Lifted consisting of Kerry Klingler (Helm), Doug Lynn (Trim), Neil
Bresnan (Pit and Tactics), and Jay Lurie (Bow and Tactics) Sailing in their
second regatta as a team, won Key West Race Week by a narrow margin of 6 points
over the Yacht Rumor, and the Father / Son Storck team. When you consider that we sailed 9 races
over 5 days this margin of victory was pretty slim. The Storck’s pressed us to the end with finishes of 2, 3, 1, 1 in
the last four races. It was a good
thing we had a nice lead after Tuesday to carry us through the week. This year’s regatta was sailed in mostly
light air, with wind speeds from 4 to 8 knots.
One
of the important things we were working on was to sail in the lighter wind with
slightly looser upper shrouds than we have in the past. By backing off the upper shrouds 3 turns the
rig powered up and the boat speed was great.
The other thing we did was to make sure the jib lead was far enough
forward to make sure the sail broke evenly on the luff. Finally we pulled the traveler to windward
to keep the end of the boom on centerline, and sheeted the mainsheet hard
enough to stall the top batten. Then
when the boat started to slow up, I would ease the mainsheet enough to get the
top batten to flow. This allowed the
boat to accelerate yet maintain good pointing ability. One of the things you have to be aware of is
when you sail into a puff. There are
times that when the traveler is too high the boat will not carry speed as
well. So when the whole crew is on the
rail and hiking. If the boat starts to heel I eased the traveler down 6”,
tensioned the backstay slightly, and sheeted the main sheet harder. This kept the boat on its feet and sailing
fast. When the wind died, I reversed
this process. Pulling the traveler to
windward, easing the sheet, and the backstay.
We never stopped working the boat to try and keep the boat pointing and
having good speed through the water.
The
other advantage we enjoyed was great down wind speed. There were key times were we were able to reel in the
competition, and pass boats downwind. I
think this was due to our spinnaker, which is a great downwind sail. Plus the
ability of the crew to know how to sail deep as possible but still recognize
when to heat the boat up and get some speed.
A lot of times our competition was trying to sail too deep, the result
would be a sudden lost of distance to their competition. I think one of the keys we use is to match
angle of our competitors, but not sail deeper.
Make speed our primary goal.
The Final ingredient to the week was good crew work. These guys worked together as a team and had consistently good boat handling. This allowed me to attack the race and push our competitors. So to the team of Lifted, thanks so much for your commitment to success. You guys made for a fun week.
|
Key West Race Week 2007 |
|
|
Place |
# |
Boat Name |
Owner |
Home Port |
R 1 |
R 2 |
R 3 |
R 4 |
R 5 |
R 6 |
R 7 |
R 8 |
R 9 |
Total |
|
1 |
12 |
Lifted |
Kerry Klingler |
"Larchmont, NY" |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
- 7 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
14 |
|
2 |
01 |
Rumor |
John Storck Jr. |
"Huntington, NY" |
1 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
- 6 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
20 |
|
3 |
17 |
EmotionalRescue |
Magnus Tyreman |
"Stockholm, SWE" |
4 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
- 10 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
36 |
|
4 |
06 |
Angry Chameleon |
Kristen Robinson |
"Annapolis, MD" |
5 |
4 |
- 11 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
39 |
|
5 |
08 |
BlkRiver Racing |
Doug Strebel |
"Kemah, TX" |
- 18 dnc |
18 dnc |
2 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
43 |
|
6 |
02 |
Kicks |
Bill Rose |
"League City, TX" |
3 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
10 |
- 14 |
10 |
6 |
45 |
|
7 |
11 |
Parsons Project |
Paul Parsons |
"Houston, TX" |
- 10 |
6 |
6 |
10 |
2 |
6 |
10 |
9 |
3 |
52 |
|
8 |
16 |
Bone Chillin |
Alan Simonini |
"Cornelius, NC" |
6 |
10 |
- 12 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
11 |
55 |
|
9 |
14 |
Christe |
John DiMatteo |
"Centerport, NY" |
9 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
1 |
9 |
- 15 |
12 |
7 |
57 |
|
10 |
15 |
Sweet Baby J |
Robin Team |
"Beaufort, NC" |
8 |
7 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
12 |
- 16 |
7 |
15 |
76 |
|
11 |
09 |
Le Cluster |
Walter Caldwell |
"Seabrook, TX" |
7 |
9 |
8 |
- 13 |
11 |
13 |
12 |
8 |
9 |
77 |
|
12 |
07 |
Gostosa |
J Kirchhoff/K Hayes |
"Gilford, NH" |
11 |
- 15 |
14 |
12 |
12 |
8 |
8 |
13 |
12 |
90 |
|
13 |
05 |
The Office |
Steve Coneys |
"Weare, NH" |
14 |
12 |
10 |
11 |
13 |
14 |
13 |
11 |
- 16 |
98 |
|
14 |
13 |
Veloce |
Brian Louther |
"Madison, WI" |
13 |
11 |
15 |
15 |
- 16 |
15 |
7 |
14 |
10 |
100 |
|
15 |
04 |
Willy T |
Jan Smeets |
"Larchmont, NY" |
15 |
14 |
13 |
- 17 |
14 |
11 |
9 |
15 |
14 |
105 |
|
16 |
10 |
Harmattan |
David Leavenworth |
"Dillon, CO" |
16 |
13 |
- 17 |
16 |
17 |
17 |
11 |
16 |
13 |
119 |
|
17 |
03 |
Bear Instinct |
Jon Morris |
"St. Paul, MN" |
12 |
16 |
16 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
- 17 |
17 |
17 |
123 |