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TERRA NOVA TRADING / YACHTING KEY WEST RACE WEEK --- January 22, 2002 Tuesday's conditions: Wind 6-15-8 knots, E. National Weather Service forecast for Wednesday: Wind 15-20 knots, S-SE, 2-3-foot seas. TITLE SPONSORS SHARE FIRST PLACE IN FARR 40S AT KEY WEST KEY WEST, Fla.- Chris Doubek took a solemn oath after the second day of racing inTerra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week Tuesday. Doubek, the president of title sponsor Terra Nova Trading, is sailing aboard Stuart Townsend's Farr 40, Virago, which shares first place in that Grand Prix international class. Townsend is president of Townsend Analytics, the provider of RealTick ™ which is the software trading system Terra Nova uses. "Believe me," Doubek said, "it is not fixed." With a third and a sixth following Monday's second in the 25-boat fleet, Virago, from Chicago, and the Wally Tsuha/Bob Hughes Heartbreaker, Holland, Mich., have 11 points, only two ahead of Atalanti XI, the double defending champion of Greek banker George Andreadis. John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti finished first in the second of two races Tuesday and would be level with Atalanti XI if it hadn't been disqualified on a protest by Alexis Michas' Phish Food, Stonington, Conn., over an incident at the leeward mark. Samba Pa Ti rounded inside of Phish Food, which claimed it had to bear away to avoid a collision. There was a slight bump in the 1D35 class when helmsman Giovanni Arrivabeno, driving the Italian boat Smiling Bulldog, tacked into the stern quarter of Chris and Kara Busch's class leader Wild Thing, San Diego, 30 seconds after a start. Wild Thing bent a stanchion but didn't miss a beat, posting second- and first-place finishes after Monday's opening win. Stronger southerly breezes building from 6 to 15 knots, then fading to 8, allowed a full schedule of racing for the 324 boats: two races each for 17 classes and three races for the Melges 24s, who have 10 on their schedule to determine the 2001 world champion. The 78 Melgeses were among the eight classes left drifting by lack of
wind Monday. Their first three winners were France's Laurent Pages, Annapolis'
Morgan Reeser and Switzerland's Flavio Favini, but the early leader is More Melges 24 information is in the report following this release. The big boats are having a dogfight. Isam Kabbani's C/M 60, Rima, which owes time to everybody, is tied with George David's Nelson/Marek 49, Idler, at 6 points after swapping 2-1 and 1-3 finishes. Larry Leonard drives and Kevin Burnham calls tactics for Rima. Ken Read is tactician for Idler, which had its way in the first race Tuesday but lost contact with Rima in the second. "We couldn't figure out a way to stop Rima," Read said. "The last two legs we lost two minutes in corrected time on them. I don't know if we had something on the keel or the rudder or what." In PHRF-1 it's a three-way deadlock among Bill Alcott's Santa Cruz 70, Equation; George Collins' Farr 52, Chessie Racing, and Tom Hill's Andrews 68, Titan XI, each with 7 points-and Steve Murray's Andrews 70 Decision is hardly out of it with 9. Collins had to go to Miami on personal business Tuesday, but Jim Allsopp, normally the navigator, took the wheel to finish 3-1, almost as good as Equation's 1-2. Other winners Tuesday included multihull guru Randy Smyth, Ft. Walton
Beach, Fla., with a second and first in the new F-28R trimaran class,
and Lewis Gunn of Hilton Head Island, S.C., driving his J/105, Dead On
Arrival. It may be difficult for the F-28Rs to stop a runaway by Smyth, sailing
Dealer's Choice, although Tim McKegney of El Paso, Tex. is hanging tough
only one point behind, followed by Doug Harkrider, Flowery Beach, Fla., Townsend and Doubek, who sailed a Mumm 30 at Key West the previous five years, have upgraded their team by adding Steve Benjamin as tactician and working the new boat up to speed in various events last year. "To say we were prepared is a true statement," Doubek said. Heartbreaker tactician Terry Hutchinson said nobody on his boat knew they were racing the title sponsors. "We had no idea," Hutchinson said, laughing. "Should I take that into consideration next time? We aren't gonna cut anybody any slack. They're sailing really well." The new title sponsor, Terra Nova Trading, L.L.C. (member NASD, SIPC & PCX), is recognized as an innovative leader in Electronic Direct Access Trading. Other Race Week sponsors and supporters include Mount Gay Rum, Lewmar Marine, Pearson Yachts, Samson Rope Technologies, Sam Adams, Saucony and SUUNTO USA. Supporting organizations include the Florida Keys & Key West and the Historic Seaport, the official site for Race Week. Yachting Magazine is the Event Founder. Premiere Racing Publicity For more information about Terra Nova Trading, L.L.C., contact:
BRITAIN'S JAMIE LEA DOMINATES OPENING RACES AT MELGES 24 WORLDS KEY WEST, Fla. -- After the intense frustration of day one when a lack of wind meant no races were completed at all, the Melges 24 fleet was raring to go for day two. Fortunately, Key West delivered the conditions for which it is rightly famous and three great races were achieved in a steady 8-12 knot wind with only a small chop. On the first start the majority opted for the right-hand side of the two-part line and picked the shifts up the center of the course. By the weather mark Laurent Pages had managed to eke out a couple of boat lengths lead from Jamie Lea with Tony Wetherall, Argyle Campbell, Stuart Rix, Morgan Reeser, Harry Melges, Vince Brun and Benoit Charon following him in. The fleet was still well bunched resulting in some interesting mark-rounding incidents and lots of business for the on the water judges. The Melges 24 class introduced on-water judging--now standard at all of its international championships-at Key West today. One of the most frequent penalty calls was for infringement of the class bowsprit rule, which requires that the bowsprit be extended only when the spinnaker is being flown. By the end of the first run Pages and Lea had developed a reasonable
gap between them and the front of the pack. Campbell rounded third while
Melges had pulled up from 7th to 4th, Wetherall dropped into 5th ahead
of Although Pages and Lea were safely out on their own at the front of the
fleet, there were some fantastic battles taking place at the front of
the pack. Melges, Campbell and Brun fought tooth and nail on the second
lap Weatherwise, race two was more of the same with the center left favored
up the first beat. Doug Fisher put in his first appearance at the front
of the fleet to lead round mark one with Reeser, Kent Haegar, Lea, Brun,
Brian As the conditions were near perfect the race committee elected to run a third race to help make up for yesterdays lost time. The breeze was up slightly and everyone was in agreement that this was the right decision. "The race management has been phenomenal, good lines, good courses at just the right length and everything pulled together as quickly as possible" commented IMCA Class Chairman Tom Freytag. Race three threw up the most unexpected results of the day as a result of a big shift on the first beat. Several of the previous frontrunners were caught out, although Favini took full advantage of it to lead at the first mark ahead of Markus Brennecke. Robert Tennant, Don Jesberg, Steve Suddath, Miles Martschink, Sean Scarborough and John Demourkas followed him in leaving Lea down in 11th, Reeser 13th and the rest of the previous front runners down in the clag. Favini increased his lead on every subsequent leg whilst behind him there
were some desperate teams working the shifts for all they were worth to
make up lost ground. By the 2nd windward mark Tennant was in 2nd, Lea
had Favini took the race by a country mile from Tennant. There was a battle royal between Jesberg and Lea for fourth with Jesberg just getting it on the line. Demourkas took 5th whilst Reeser had made up to 5th just ahead of Melges. Overall it was a fantastic day's sailing for this huge fleet of Melges
24s, the biggest ever assembled in the United States. Jamie Lea was by
far the most consistent of the day. He and his team of owner Richard Thompson,
Jim "The race management was excellent, the lines were square and the course length was perfect at around 1.5 miles allowing the fleet to separate," Lea said. "We had about five or six people we knew would form our main competition including Vince Brun, Laurant, Harry Melges and Morgan, and it was them we were sailing with most of the day. "We managed to get consistent starts and work our way through the fleet and we rounded in the top ten at every first mark. Looking ahead we've just got to keep an eye on the overall points so we know who our main competition is and make sure we don't do anything stupid." Lea leads by 7 points over Melges and Morgan who are tied for third. There are a lot of good sailors out there on the course and in a fleet of this size anything can happen so consistency will be the name of the game. Further Melges 24 stories can be found at www.melges24.com and www.premiere-racing.com and via IMCA Press Officer Fiona Brown on e-mail FionaBrown@compuserve.com and Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week Press Officer Rich Roberts on e-mail richroberts@compuserve.com. The 2001 Melges 24 World Championship is being run in association with
Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week 2002. Our thanks to Melges
24 World Championship sponsors Woody's Ice,
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