Opposite: normally we avoid ‘told you so’ but since the AC cats appeared we’ve stuck to our guns that the younger, athletic and mentally nimble skiff and foiler sailors would have the legs on the ‘old boys’ on such fast-accelerating and pressure-sensitive machines, helped also by familiarity with making reflex strategy choices under pressure. If you don’t agree take another look at Pete Burling’s body language during the Cup Match; he couldn’t have looked more relaxed if he was having a warm cocoa with granny. One of the best racing venues in the world (above) at which to get it wrong. A broach in Key West – slow but harmless


helping tip the scale towards demise: local costs. In the first decade of the event Key West was not inexpensive, but it was relatively affordable for a club team to transport and cam- paign for a terrific week of racing; the biggest group back then was PHRF sailors from across the US and it was seen as good value. But then Key West itself was discovered, developed and reno- vated, cruise ships moved in to bring hordes of day tourists and the prices of dockage and housing started to soar. This affected not only the costs for participants, but also for sponsors and their guests – and organisers needing to house their army of volunteers. Classes became skittish about promising to return, and every year Peter Craig would murmur ‘This is my last year’, even when Quantum stepped up as title sponsor with a generous level of support. With his new superyacht regatta business doing well and growing, in 2015 Peter stuck to his word and finally passed the reigns to the Storm Trysail Club, organisers of the 2016 and 2017 events. The transition appeared nearly seamless and no major changes were made because much of Premiere’s race management team were STC members anyway. And while STC did not need to make a profit like Premiere, the same pressures have driven them to the same conclusion as Peter Craig: running a large regatta in a boutique location is not sustainable without good sponsorship plus a large mass of participation that will better guarantee repeat customers. With the club having continued success with its signature event, Block Island Race Week, sweating over trying to sustain Key West was just not a high priority; though Storm Trysail commodore Lenny Sitar has said that with its good relations with sponsors STC may still consider future editions of Key West, but not for 2018. So, with a major fixture gone from the calendar, what will this mean for US racing? For owners there may be some relief at not having to spend the massive sums needed to attend recent editions, which some may simply redirect to spend massive sums somewhere else like the Caribbean. There was even speculation that someone else might step into the void with a new winter race week in the south, but this is unlikely – no one in south Florida is worried about the loss of revenue from a few hundred sailors when there are cruise ships and A380s full of sunseekers showing up every day. For pro sailors it’s a loss of 8-12 days of billable time in January, but most will figure out how to make this up somewhere else. What’s likely is that everyone will take a break, do some skiing and consider an early start to their season in some place like Charleston Race Week in April. And who knows, perhaps STC will rally itself to recreate Key West as a biennial event, just as Block Island is now. Dobbs Davis


 SEAHORSE 21


SHARON GREEN/ULTIMATE SAILING


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96