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Photo courtesy of Mike McNamara's Facebook page. Check out those smiles...[/caption]
Just look at the crew onboard Tea Dance Snake ... making winning look so easy...
And our apologies to the crew. We left them out of yesterday's report. What can we say? Sometimes I'm worthless.
Day Two at Quantum Key West Race Week got off to a quiet start, with battle flags barely lifting in the whispers of breeze. Weather was forecast to show up around noon, and it did, bringing with it more breeze for the second race of the day. Despite getting a little wet, our heroes on the water showed up and had solid showings across the board.
First of all, let's talk about Catharine Evans and crew onboard the J/70 Mojito. After spending her first two races deep in the fleet, for Race Three she came out of the gate swinging. It helped a little that over a dozen boats were called OCS, but in a fleet with 54 boats, you can expect that. She didn't spend any time checking to make sure everyone cleared; instead, she led the fleet for all four legs. She ended up with a solid fourth. Holy cannoli.
Dave Brannan is managing the PRO in Division Two, and he said that conditions really favored no one. " “The breeze was very dodgy and moving through at 50 degrees so the trick was picking the right radial to kick the race off,” Brennan said. “We want the sailors to have a reasonably square line. Prior to Race 4, we had to postpone three times to reset the line.” He managed to get the Melges 24 fleet started with a heading of 150 degrees, but by the time he went into sequence for the J/70 fleet the wind had shifted to 180.
In Division Three, the Farr 280s are having a hard time keeping the British boat Red away from the gun, but Stephen Murray's Decision with Annapolis resident Geoff Ewenson onboard managed to block him out in the third race. Winds picked back up after the weather passed, bringing 10-11 knots for boats to get a race off. Bob Moran onboard Ragin' came in third in the fourth race.
Gerry Taylor and crew onboard Tangent are killin' it in PHRF 2. Currently, their throw out is a 2.
In Division Two, boats had to get a little wet waiting for the fourth race, which finally got off just after 2 p.m. Winds were crazy shifty, and RC ended up having to change the J/70 course mid-race. Thomas Bowen's Reach Around came in a solid ninth, with Peter Bowe, Todd Jenner, Susannah Jenner, and Mike McNamara onboard Tea Dance Snake killin' it with a 14th.
There's very, very little breeze in Key West right now, so we're anticipating a shore day (there has to be one each year, right?). Come to Boatyard Bar and Grill with us tomorrow (Thursday) to celebrate (or commiserate) the fact that "We're Not in Key West." We'll see you there.
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