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Key West Day 1Two races were completed on the first of 5 days of racing. Ideal winds of 12-17 knots made for close racing up and down the fleet. Division 1 with most of the fleets bigger boats saw much close racing. In the IMS class the 2 CM 60's Rima and Highland Fling each won a race. The new Farr 52 making her racing debut finished 3rd and 4th. Class leader is Highland Fling with 3 points to Rima's 6. The PHRF class features a pair of Santa Cruz 70's. However, for day 1 it was a pair of Farr designed 40 footers that sailed the best. Uarshek put up 2 2nd's to lead, followed by Fatal Attraction with a 1st and a 4th. Chessie Racing got the best of fellow 70 Equation placing 4th and then 1st. Equation posted a pair of 3rd to trail Chessie by a single point. Division 1 is the home to two of race weeks premiere one design classes. Day 1 of racing for the Farr 40's saw Mascalzone Latino driven by Vincenzo Onorato of Italy sailed a 4th and a 1st. Onorato is persued by a pair of boats which have been class world champion. Samba Pa Ti posted solid finishes of 2nd and 3rd, while 1998 world titlist Barking Mad scored 8 points on finishes of 6th and 2nd. Best results of a boat from the Farr 40 great lakes fleet were scored by Flash Gordon 3 with a 9th and a 10th. The One Design 35 class also has a tie for the lead after one day. Avalanche sits on 5 points (2,3) as does past class national champion Roxanne (3,2). 3rd is Tabasco with 6 points. Top Great Lakes boat is Northern Bear with finishes of 6th and 1st. After one day of racing the Mumm 30's of Division 3 are also closely bunched. Phil Garland's Trouble leads with 8 points, followed by Turbo duck with 10, then Blurr with 11 and Chicago based Virago with 12. The Melges 24 class is also showing to be a class of fierce competition. The leading boat from the United Kingdom has 6 points. Next is Full Throttle with 7, Rock N' Roll with 8 and Zenda Express with 9. As the first day results show few boats have much of a lead. 6 more races are scheduled to get the fleets a bit more sorted. Day 2 of Race week show a forecast of lighter conditions. At 0855 Key West reported winds of just 3 knots. The forecasts calls for North winds of 10 knots decreasing to 5 knots.
UUNET Record AttemptPhilippe Monnet has sailed his Open 60 to a position off the Canary Islands. Monnet reported a speed of 7-9 knots. This was a bit of a come down as "yesterday I was flying along at 12 and 18 knots, wind astern with a blue sky." Monnet is currently ahead of Mike Golding's record for
a 'wrong way' circumnavigation. However, Monnet is thinking long term,
""I’m ahead of
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