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Said to be one of the world’s greatest regattas, Key West Race Week has it all for the Northern Hemisphere Sailor:
-Steady wind (important)
-Nice temperatures (always good)
-Beautiful Venue (not bad if you’re out on the water all day)
-Great Shore-side
-Awesome Racing (not the largest fleets, but some of the best sailors are present)

After the first day of racing, some of the latest custom boats have shown that preparation is as important as the gear. IRC-2 looks to me as the most fun class with lovely yachts competing. Here ‘Sjambok’ did not perform as well as in the feeder-race last week (the design a little more focused on the offshore stuff?). The new Rogers 46 ‘Yeoman’ started well compared to that same race. The Irish Ker 50 ‘Magic Glove’ is showing off some good potential against some of the TP52’s. The production canter ‘Chieftain’ (Cookson 50) seems to perform close to her rating. I am looking forward to the firs pics of the racing in this class.

Also interesting will be to see how everything evolves in IRC-3. Here the new Club Swan 42 (a.k.a. NYYC 42) makes her debut on the racing-scene. At the moment she seems to outperform a Swan 45, in the class a French Sinergia 40 has the lead with two bullets. Surprising to me, since I thought a Sinergia 40 was designed for IMS and not IRC. I guess that there have been some modifications to the keel…

Also interesting are the OD-fleets. The Melges 24 and 32 do not ring a bell, but the Farr 40 and Mumm 30 classes have some of the best competing. In the Farr 40 class ‘Alinghi’ has the lead (and yes this is the same Alinghi we know from the AC). Peter de Ridder and his ‘Mean Machine’ currently occupy third place in the Mumm 30 class.

More info on Key West Race Week can be found here. For a direct link to the results click here.

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Ciao,

Luuk

Well, if you know me, you’d know I am just a little fascinated by boats, especially if they get their speed from sails. So I present you with a little boat porn:

The New Sjambok (IRC 45 racer, Reichel-Pugh design) the third boat I know of after an 1D48 (bloody fast at last years North Sea Regatta) and a TP52 just had her first race and it’s looking fabulous! Here’s a link to her hauling ass downwind from Fort Lauderdale to Key West in preparation of Key West Race Week (large file).

And here is a nice pick of the boat (from the Hakes Marine Site):

Then there is the new TH38, the Team Heiner 38.
Design: Juan Alfabet
Builder: Schaap Shipcare
Development: The team behind Team ABN AMRO

We’re talking about a 38 foot, cantingkeel turbo’d raceyacht. Impressive looks, electronic power for the retractable prop and the canting keel system, carbon build and a canard that goes the opposite way of the keel. First auting: Cowes Week 2007.

Some pics (from their site):

Now, where did I leave my lottery ticket?

Couldn’t let this get by unnoticed. You probably know I’ve been involved with the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race (otherwise, visit my portfolio for the published articles written on the race). After the victory of ABN AMRO I attended their celebration in Amsterdam and as a result wrote that I didn’t see them return for the next edition. I was right, but I certainly did not see the current Dutch entry coming. I can’t say I’m well informed and part of the circuit so I guess that’s nothing to be ashamed off.

But the Mean Machine Team announced their participation early on and is now the first team on the water. The Volvo-site has a piece of video online (click to open), it again shows off the VO70.

Well they got my interest!

Here’s a pic of Mean Machine XX (formerly Pirates o/t Caribbean), it’s courtesy of Sally Collison:

More info at the Team website: MEAN MACHINE

Respect to Peter de Ridder for getting ahead of the game!