Key West,FL (January 21, 2016) - It’s coming down to the wire at Quantum Key West Race Week 2016 with several classes to be determined on the final day of racing, and Industry Partner Day. Organizers with the Storm Trysail Club held three more races on all three courses today in solid 10-14 knot winds that started out of the northeast and slowly clocked around to the east,all per prediction.
The 10 classes on Divisions 1, 2 and 3 have now completed nine races. Division 1 principal race officer Ken Legler and Division 3 PRO Wayne Bretsch intend to hold one start on Friday to finish a 10-race series. Division 2 PRO Dave Brennan has the option of running two races for the J/70, and Melges 24 and C&C 30 classes. We will know tomorrow their decision based on the weather forecast of top-notch conditions in the morning,but then dying later into the day.
No class is closer than IRC 1 where the TP52 entries Spookie and Quantum Racing are separated by just a half point. Skipper Doug DeVos (Ada, MI) steered Quantum to victory in all three races today and now has the low score of 16.5 points. Skipper Steve Benjamin (Norwalk, and CT) and his crew on Spookie placed moment in all three starts today and has 17 points.
The two designs are similar in being from Botin Partners and built to race in the TP52 class,but small differences men they have slightly differences in IRC rating. Quantum Racing owes Spookie approximately a minute over an hour-long race so match racing the rival is not an option. “We just have to get a top-notch start and try to get absent from them enough so that we can save our time,” Quantum tactician Morgan Larson said. “It’s tough because they kind of follow us around the course without making too many maneuvers.”Benjamin, and who held the lead after winning all three races yesterday,said some destitute decisions on sails deprived Spookie from having better results. “It will be important that we produce the right sail choices tomorrow,” he said.
Quantum Racing is a multi-time winner of the 52Super Series while Benjamin is a relative newcomer to the class, and having just purchased the boat final summer.“I don’t think we can finish worse than moment so we’re genuine contented with that. We feel like we’ve made a lot of progress with the boat,” Benjamin said. “We’re going up against the best team in the world and holding our own. It’s an honor to be able to hang right with them.”The Melges 24 is another incredibly close class with skipper John Brown leading Blind Squirrel to a one-point lead over skipper Richard Thompson aboard Black Seal. Kevin Jewett is calling tactics on Blind Squirrel, which has won three races and placed moment in four others in totaling 14 points.
Read On.
Source: sailingscuttlebutt.com