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For Immediate Release

January 21, 2000

Big Shifts, Big Breeze Bring  Key West Race Week to a Dramatic

Conclusion

--1D35 Heartbreaker from Michigan is Yachting Magazine Trophy winner

Key West (Fla.)  January 21, 2000  — Big shifts and big breeze brought GMC Yukon Yachting Key West Race Week, sailed January 17-21, to a dramatic conclusion. A final day of north-northeast winds ranging 12 to 25 knots, with shifts as large as 30 degrees, wound up the level of intensity for boats whose chances for a class win rode Friday's finale.

"It was a day when you had to jump on the shifts," said event director Peter Craig, principal race officer on Division I, of the final day of racing. Wind shifts and swings in velocity may have been the wild cards in the last deciding race, but the boats that triumphed at series end sailed well in a wide range of conditions.  

Sailors saw light five-knot winds, breeze in the mid-teens, and firm north-northeasterlies. This range in conditions from light air to stronger conditions of 18 to 20 knots has been the case for the past three years at this January regatta.  

One boat had a better all-around performance than any boat in the 261-boat fleet and  captured overall honors. Robert Hughes (Holland, Mich.) and his crew on One Design 35  (1D35) Heartbreaker captured boat-of-the-week honors, and this Great Lakes crew was  presented this evening with the Yachting Magazine Trophy.

Thirty seconds made the difference today for the crew on Heartbreaker. Losing that time could have meant adding enough points to lose the 1D35 class — and adding enough time to lose a shot at the Yachting Magazine Trophy.  

Heartbreaker entered the last race of the series five points ahead of John Wylie's Tabasco (San Diego, Calif.). According to Heartbreaker tactician Bill Bennett, valuable seconds and that leading points edge could have easily vanished at Friday's finish line. "Every boat in this class has their day," said Bennett of the competitive 21-boat one-design class. "These boats are so even in speed. It's the small things that make the difference."

With a 10th and a 7th place on the opening day, this crew had a slow start in the standings. “We had a very talented crew but we had never sailed together as a team. As the week went by we learned how to sail together better, and that showed in our finishes.”

By mid-week, this crew was logging top-5 finishes, but their move into the lead did not come until the end of the week.

"Thursday was our breakthrough day," said an ebullient Hughes at regatta's end. Two first-place finishes on Thursday and a fourth in Friday's final race earned the Heartbreaker crew the class win.   

"Every victory is only as satisfying as the level of the competition," said Hughes, after collecting the overall prize for this regatta known by sailors around the world as one of the toughest big-boat contests. "And the level was very high here in Key West."

The winner of the Yachting Magazine Trophy is determined by using a time-on-distance and points differential formula. The Key West Trophy, which goes to the boat that wins the most competitive PHRF (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet) class, utilizes the same type of calculation.

The Annapolis, Md., crew on Beneteau First 10M L'Outrage captured the Key West Trophy. Owned by Chesapeake Bay sailor Bruce Gardner, L'Outrage and its crew are known at home for their skill in heavy air. Before he came to Key West, Gardner educated himself on the local weather patterns and prepped his boat for lighter breeze. Their light-air performance peaked on Wednesday, with a win in Race 4, and they never dropped below a fourth-place finish to win the 13-boat PHRF-7 class and this overall trophy.

The Yukon Cup, the international team competition, which was added to this event four years ago, was captured by Team Italy. The three-boat team of Italian Farr 40 Mascalzone Latino  owned by Vincenzo Onorato, Italian Mumm 30 Kismet owned by Stefano and Massimo Leporati, and U.S. Melges 24 Zenda Express owned by Harry Melges took the title by 21 points. This is the second year Team Italy has captured this trophy, which is loosely patterned after the format used in the Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup in England. In the Yukon Cup, two of the three boats on the team must be from the home nation.

George David (New York, N.Y) and his crew on Nelson/Marek 50 Idler won the inaugural Lewmar Marine Trophy, which signifies the top Group 1 owner-driven boat in the IMS class.

The 13th annual GMC Yukon Yachting Key West Race Week drew 261 boats from 12 nations. Boats racing under IMS (International Measurement System), PHRF, and one-design rules competed.

Title sponsor GMC Yukon and event founder Yachting Magazine are joined this year by event sponsors and suppliers Boatscape.com, The Florida Keys & Key West, Mount Gay Rum, Lewmar Marine, Champagne Mumm, Grand Banks Yachts, The Historic Seaport, Samuel Adams, Fiji Natural Artesian Water, Saucony, Kenwood Cup, Historic Seaport, and the Ocean Key.

Race Week is produced by Premiere Racing of Marblehead (Mass.). Top-three  standings in each class follow. Fleet results and feature reports are posted on www.Premiere-Racing.com.

For more information:

Cynthia Goss

305-295-6373 (until January 22)

203-453-2731 (as of January 24)

CynthiaGoss@compuserve.com

Website:  www.Premiere-Racing.com

NOTE: A limited selection of photography is available for editorial usage; please contact Cynthia Goss for more information.

DIVISION I

CLASS A – IMS (9 Boats)

1.   Highland Fling/Irvine Laidlaw  (Isle of Man, U.K.) 2-1-1-1-2-2-6-1 -- 16

2.       Rima/Isam Kabbani (Newport, RI) 1-5-3-7-1-4-4-3 – 28

3.       Virago/Bache Renshaw  (Portsmouth, RI) 8-2-4-5-3-3-1-5 -- 31

 CLASS B – PHRF 1 (10 Boats)

1.       Chessie Racing/George Collins  (Gibson Island, MD) 4-1-1-1-1-3-3-1 – 15

2.       Fatal Attraction/F. Gray Kiger (Norfolk, VA) 1-4-2-2-3-2-2-3 – 19

3.       Uarshek/Ennio Staffini (Annapolis, MD)  2-2-3-7-5-1-1-4 -- 25              

 CLASS C – Farr 40 (27 Boats)

1.       Atalanti XI/George Andreadis (Athens, Greece)  3-9-1-1-2-5-2-2 -- 25

2.       Mascalzone Latino/Vincenzo Onorato (Savoia, Italy) 4-1-8-12-8-3-3-5 – 44

3.       Raging Bull/Richard Marki (Bristol, RI) 5-5-7-5-1-8-9-4 -- 44

 CLASS D – 1D35 (21 Boats)

1.       Heartbreaker/Robert Hughes (Holland, MI)  10-7-3-4-5-1-1-4 – 35

2.       Tabasco/John Wylie (San Diego, CA) 1-5-4-2-11-11-2-2 – 38

3.       Smiling Bulldog/Garth Dennis (Ithaca, NY)  4-4-9-8-3-6-4-1 -- 39

 CLASS E – PHRF 2 (14 Boats)

1.    Speed Racer/S. Liebel  (Sarasota, FL)  3-7-1-2-1-2-1-4 -- 21

2.       Ceres Group/Peter Nauert (Lake Geneva, WI) 2-2-2-1-11-1-5-1 – 25

3.       New Wave/Michael Carroll  (Clearwater, FL)  6-1-7-3-5-4-3-3 – 32

 CLASS F – PHRF 3 (11 Boats)

1.       White Trash/Greg Smith  (Mobile, AL)  1-3-1-3-2-3-1-5 – 19

2.       Brainstorm/Rogek, Gutin, Zaleski (Stamford, CT)  2-1-5-2-5-2-2-1 – 20

3.       The Wall/Gordon Schiff  (St. Petersburg, FL)  5-2-2-4-1-4-3-2 – 23

 DIVISION 2

CLASS A – PHRF 4 (12 Boats)

1.  Snake Eyes/T.L. Ballard (Annapolis, MD) 1-1-3-1-1-2-1-1--11        

2.  Frigate/H. Albert/R. Reedy (Mandeville, LA) 3-2-2-2-3-1-4-2--19

3.  Ragamuffin/R. Harris (New Orleans, LA) 2-3-5-3-4-3-2-6--28

CLASS B – PHRF 5 (10 Boats)

1.  Ultra Violet/D.&D. Prucnal (Pasadena, MD) 1-1-2-5-4-1-1-4--19

2.  Nemesis/G. Longenecker (San Diego, CA) 2-2-5-6-5-2-2-1--25

3.  Owslarah/J. Melino (Alameda, CA) 3-4-4-4-8-4-4-2--33

CLASS C – J/29 (13 Boats)

1.  Tomahawk/B. Lockwood (Ludlow,VT) 1-4-4-1-3-2-1-1--17

2.  Titillation/P. Anderson (Deltaville, VA) 4-1-3-5-1-1-2-2--19

3.  Fast Lane/J. McArdle (Milwaukee, WI) 6-3-7-4-6-4-8-3--41

CLASS D – J/80 (12 Boats)

1.  Syzyey/J. Lutz (Houston, TX) 1-1-1-7-1-1-1-1--14

2.  Monster Lady/M. Kald (Pt. Washington, NY) 2-2-3-1-3-2-2-4--19

3.  Kicks/D. Balfour (Austin, TX) 3-3-2-4-4-4-3-2--25

CLASS E – PHRF 6 (11 Boats)

1.  Hustler/J.&A. Esposito (City Island, NY) 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1--8

2.  Savage/A. Townsley  (Palisades, NY) 2-2-2-3-2-5-2-2--20

3.  Scrambled/G. Fisher (San Diego, CA) 5-4-4-2-4-3-4-6--32

CLASS F – PHRF 7 (13 Boats)

1.  L’Outrage/B. Gardner (Annapolis, MD) 4-2.9-2-1-3-4-2-4--22.9

2.  Liquor Box/C.Simon/B. Buckles (Key West, FL) 3-2-6-6-4-1-1-2--25

3.  Think Blue/G. Disbrow (Sandusky, OH) 1-8-3-3-5-2-4-1--27

CLASS G – PHRF 8 (8 Boats)

1.  Rugger/J. Sampson (Detroit, MI) 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-DNC--16

2.  Challenge/D. Johnson/C. Nielson (Racine, WI) 2-4-3-3-3-2-2-1--20

3.  Fresh Kill/K. deHam (Seabrook, TX) 3-3-4-4-2-4-4-2--26

DIVISION 3

CLASS A - Mumm 30 (26 Boats)

1. Ville de Saint Raphael/Jean Pierre Dick (FRA) 14-4-1-1-3-6-3-4-6-- 38

2. Trouble/Phil Garland (Barrington, RI) 3-5-12-9-1-2-5-3 -- 40

3. Turbo Duck/Bodo von der Wense (Annapolis, MD) 2-8-3-1-3-11-15-12 -- 55

 CLASS B - Melges 24 (46 Boats)

1.Full Throttle/Brian Porter (Lake Geneva, WI) 8-1-1-2-8-2-1-2 --25

2. Zenda Express/Harry Melges (Lake Geneva, WI) 4-6-6-3-4--4-2-3 -- 32

3. RockN’Roll/Argyle Campbell (Newport Beach, CA)  2-7-11-5-2-1-8-8 – 44

 CLASS C - J/105 (18 Boats)

1. Plum Crazy/Andrew Skibo (Ocean City, NJ) 1-2-2-3-3-5-2-1 -- 19

2. Phantom/Geoffrey Pierini (Perth Amboy, NJ) 2-3-3-4-5-4-8-4 -- 33

3 Wonder Wagon/Rick Wright (Marblehead, MA) 4-6-9-2-1-1-3-9 -- 35

 -end-

 For more information

Cynthia Goss: (203) 453-2731, Fax (203) 453-3026,  CynthiaGoss@compuserve.com

Peter Craig: (781) 639-9545, Fax (781) 639-9171,  PremiereRacing@compuserve.com

NOTE: To follow hometown sailors from your area, please contact Cynthia Goss at the numbers above until January 13. As of January 13, contact the Race Week Press Center at 305-295-6373 (telephone) or 305-295-9254 (fax).