Pete Hunter’s Wairere crew captured second in PHRF 1 at Key West Race Week 2009. Photo by Shannon Hibberd/SpinSheet
Huge fans of the venue, longtime Key West veterans Bruce Gardner and crew on L’Outrage took home a pile of silverware from the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West feeder race and then sailed to second in class. Photo by Shannon Hibberd/ SpinSheet
66 February 2009 SpinSheet
feels the most connected.” Linda agrees and says, “It’s such a personal award and for us, a family award. I’m sorry our kids, Patrick and Regan, couldn’t be here.” Sad as they were to be without the kids, the Rhumb Punch crew hung in there in tight competition, despite a broken spinnaker pole on day one, and captured first in class. The skipper says, “The mountain got a little higher, but we dug in that much harder. By Thursday, we smelled blood and our game was on fire. All we had to do on Friday was keep the Canadians on Kinetic behind us. The best way to do that was to get to the top mark first. Job done. Time to start the preparations for next year.” With an impressive record, including four bullets, was Annapolis sailor Brad Kaufmann and his crew on Mummbles. Noting the tight racing, Kaufmann says, “The last day moved Mummbles from fourth to second and Rhumb Punch from second to first with a one-point difference between fourth and first, respectively. The race committee did a great job in Division One. Crew work on both boats was stellar along with the race conditions.” In the eight-boat grand prix class, with four competitors from Great Britain, one from Russia, one from Massachusetts, and two from Annapolis, Ennio Staffini’s Anema & Core crew sailed well all week with a handful of seconds and thirds and finished fourth, as the British TP52 Ran proved it was well-named and took first. The Italians on Mascalzone Latino topped the Farr 40 class, also one with international flair with entries from Denmark (His Highness the Prince of Denmark at the helm), Turkey, California, Ohio, and Illinois. Last year’s Boat of the Year, Newport-based Barking Mad finished third—after three solid days and what was clearly a rough day four—with owner Jim Richardson as skipper and Annapolis pro Terry Hutchinson as tactician. PRO Wayne Bretsch of Annapolis managed Division Three, which included four PHRF classes and J/80s. Annapolis YC member and Key Biscayne, FL resident Steven Stollman and his crew on the C&C 115 Primal Scream won the PHRF 1 class, having started the week with an exceptionally strong few days. Pete Hunter’s Wairere (Thompson 30) crew came in second and returned home to Kill Devil Hill, NC with at least one memorable, hairy wipe-out story. In PHRF 2, Robert Armstrong’s J/100 Good Girl got so many bullets that they might as well have played musical chairs just for kicks and still strolled away with a first. Sweetser and his crew took second in class on his modifed J/109 Rush. Sweetser says, “Good Girl and ManO-War [third-place finisher] were fast and well-sailed, and it was a constant battle to finish in the top three.” In the J/80 class, there were four Annapolis entries as well as boats from as far as Texas, Sweden, and Great Britain. Annapolis sailor Kirsten Robinson took a third in class with the Angry Chameleon team.
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