In 1997 for the 25th anniversary of the J24, they scheduled the J24 North American Championship in Key West the week before Key West Race Week. The combination of these two events was too good to miss. To make it even better a special rule was implemented that allowed using different crew for each day of the J24 regatta as long as everyone was weighed in and the total weight stayed in spec. Key West would be run as a PHRF event and our only crew limit was a max of 6 people on board. We put out the call to see who might want to spend some time in Key West and were amazed at the number of people that ended up going. If my memory is right, we sailed with a different combination of people every day.
The weather for the first week was very unusual for Key West with a strong northerly flow and temps in the 50’s. To give you an idea of how unusual the weather was, they had freezing temps as far south as Orlando. The end result of the unusual weather was that we started the J24 Championship in 20 to 25 knots of wind and 6-foot seas. This was going to be interesting.
With nearly 100 boats there would be two fleets with the first day’s races deciding which fleet you would be in for the rest of the week. We got off to a decent start but were near the left corner before we found a lane back across the fleet. Then the wind made a big shift in our favor, and we found ourselves getting to the top mark with the leaders (not normal for us at this level). The only problem was that the entire fleet was on starboard and we were footing down on Port with everyone yelling at us. After ducking a couple of boats, we found a hole through the starboard train and breathed a big sigh of relief. I was smart enough to not get greedy, so I continued for at least three boat lengths before tacking to starboard. I guess I should have made it closer to 6 boats lengths. Not being used to sailing in waves this big, we managed to stall the keel before we could get going. The boat to leeward was busy pointing out the obvious to us, so I just reached around and pulled the I-flag as we surfed down sideways and hit him. That 20% penalty was not going to help us get a spot in the Gold fleet.
Our excitement wasn’t over yet, but you need a little background to fully appreciate the next part. One of the people we added for this trip was Chris. He grew up in England racing dinghies and was apparently a pretty good crew. For the 1968 Summer Olympics the common wisdom was that whoever represented England in the Flying Dutchman class would be the hands down favorite for the gold medal. I’ve forgotten whether Chris ended up 2nd or 3rd, but sure enough the English boat went on to win the Gold medal. Now the interesting part is that Chris never learned how to swim. If you’ve ever sailed a Flying Dutchman, then you might understand that Chris is more than a little unusual. However, he is a magician with a spinnaker. Now that you have the background, let’s get back to Key West
As mentioned earlier the wind was howling and the waves made for fantastic down hill rides. I’ve got a picture taken of our boat from a helicopter that reminds me how hard the wind was blowing. The crew in hanging off the side, and I have the sails depowered all the way. We’re cresting a wave with the front half of the boat clear of the water, the keel is visible through the clear Key West water. The beats were a real slog, but once the spinnaker went up, it was a real E-ticket ride. Every time we had to gybe, my stress level would hit max. While every person on the boat was a good sailor, they had never sailed as a team before. That unspoken communication and timing that comes with repetition just wasn’t there. We got our timing off in one of the gybes and it headed south in a hurry.
I let out the “I’m losing it !!!” hail, but I guess Chris didn’t hear me. He was handling the spinnaker sheets, and as he turned to see what was happening, he took the boom square on the head. The force of the hit knocked him into the leeward lifeline as the boat laid over on top of him. A quick glance and it was obvious Chris was unconscious, so I yelled at the other cockpit crew to grab Chris before he got washed out of the boat. We managed to get Chris wedged under the traveler so he couldn’t fall out of the boat as the forward crew got the chute down so the boat would stand up again. By now Chris was talking again and his answers to our questions made sense. We’d had enough excitement, so we radioed the RC and told them we were heading back to the harbor with a head injury onboard. They offered to have one of their chase boats take him ashore, but Chris was feeling pretty good by now, so we just sailed in.
The rest of the first week was rather uneventful, but we had a great time. The wind dropped and the temperatures steadily warmed up. By the end of the week it was typical Key West weather and we were looking forward Key West Race Week.
Key West Race Week was designed as a week-long party with Mount Gay as the sponsor. You left the dock at a respectable time in the morning for a full day of racing. Then as soon as you got the boat put away, you made your way to the Mount Gay tent for the open bars. After a couple hours of rubbing shoulders with hundreds of sailors and toasting the sunset, the Mount Gay bars would close. Then the serious party goers would move to the bars of Key West for most of the night. Through all of this, I do remember a few details:
- We were keeping the boat at Robbie’s Marina. Let’s just say it was not the nicest place, but it was close to the race course for the smaller boats where we would be sailing, which saved us an hour’s sailing each way from the nicer marinas. The day before the regatta I was walking by the office and heard a transient boat owner complaining to the staff about his docking situation. It seems that he was not happy about having the racing boats rafted up along side of his boat and the crews passing over his boat to the dock. The guy behind the desk listened politely and kept explaining that there simply was no other place to put his boat. The captain was having none of it and just kept demanding that Robbie find a better place to put his boat. After a few minutes, Robbie reached into the drawer and pulled out a stack of cash. He placed the money in front of the disgruntled captain, and told him that was the deposit he had sent for his reservation. He then informed the captain that he had one hour to get his boat out of the marina. Every time the captain opened his mouth to complain, Robbie just said he was tired of listening and wanted to boat moved immediately. The situation reached its natural conclusion with the captain asking where he should go. Robbie then explained that with Key West Race Week in town that there would not be a space available within 50 miles. The captain then decided that maybe his spot wasn’t so bad, but Robbie was done with him and demanded he vacate immediately. Sure enough, it was Robbie’s marina and the boat was gone within an hour.
- We were treating Kew West Race Week as a vacation more than a serious regatta, so we were open to sailing with whoever wanted to go as long as we stayed within out 6 crew max. We found we could carry the big jib in significantly more wind with the extra person on board. However, we also discovered that having more people on board than you have knots of wind might be a good party, but not good for racing !!!
- One of our female crew members made herself famous. While we were eating breakfast one morning at our favorite eatery, an unknown guy stopped by and told her he had enjoyed her dance the night before at Sloppy Joe’s Bar. It was clear that she had not sobered up enough yet to have a hope of knowing what he was talking about. Those of us that had gone to bed at a reasonable hour began quizzing our male crew member that had accompanied her the night before. He resisted our attempts at details, but he did volunteer that she had been thrown out of the bar for violating their morals. Forty years later we are still trying to figure out how you violate the morals of a city where the mayor leads their Gay Pride parade naked.
- The only race we won was the one to the marina after the last race. While some of the boats were enjoying their last day on the water, we were doing everything possible to be at the head of the line for the crane. The only boats that beat us were the ones with large inboard motors. We weren’t first, but we were close enough to the front of the line to be a winner. While we were getting our boat ready, Robbie came by and asked how much we weighed. When he heard 3000 lbs, he volunteered to pull us using his mast crane while the bigger boats had the main crane tied up. It was a little sketchy, but we jumped at the opportunity. As a result, we got our boat was on the trailer, dropped our own mast, and tied everything down to travel before the first big boat was off the crane. I believe the last boat wasn’t done being lifted out of the water until the next afternoon.