Acura Key West 2009

Opening day of Acura Key West 2009, presented by Nautica, showcased the international flavor of the event with foreign entries seizing the early lead in four of the grand prix classes. Italian entries set the pace in a pair of the premier one-design fleets while British teams surged to the front of two top tier handicap classes.

Competition in North America’s largest winter regatta got underway in ideal conditions with strong westerly winds allowing organizers to hold two races. An ominous squall put a brief damper on the proceedings, but moved through quickly and allowed the action to continue under sunny skies.

Vincenzo Onorato and his team aboard Mascalzone Latino overcame the unexpected loss of three sailors to win both races and the Nautica Watches Boat of the Day in the Farr 40 class. Two crew members took ill while another suffered an injury in practice – forcing the three-time defending world champions to scramble. One substitute was flown in from Italy while the team coach and chef filled the other vacancies onboard.

Joining Onorato on the podium for Nautica Watches Day was fellow Italian skipper Lorenzo Bressani, who steered UKA UKA Racing to a pair of bullets in Melges 24 class – largest of the regatta with 33 boats. Gabriele Benussi is calling tactics while two-time United States Olympian Jonathan McKee is serving as trimmer aboard UKA UKA Racing, the reigning world champion. McKee is taking a break from his duties in the after-guard of Puma Racing, one of the top contenders in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Both IRC classes have seen an increase in entries this year and the British showed their colors on Monday. Skipper Tim Powell steered the Reichel-Pugh-designed Ran to a pair of first place finishes in IRC 1 while owner Tony Buckingham and his team aboard Ngoni seized the early lead in IRC 2 on the strength of a 1-2 line.

Acura Miami Grand Prix

Colm Barrington and his crew aboard Flash Glove counted all first and second place finishes and did not need to sail the final race en route to winning IRC 1 class in convincing fashion.

Andy Fisher skippered Bandit to a hard-earned victory in IRC 2, which had four different leaders over the course of the four-day regatta.

Michael Illbruck and the Pinta team led at the end of each day in Melges 32, an amazing feat considering it was the German skipper's second regatta in the highly-competitive class.

Ultimately, the three-part criteria that officials with Premiere Racing use to select the Acura Trophy winner favored the Farr 40 Barking Mad, owned by Jim Richardson of Newport, R.I. won three of 10 races and overcame some double-digit results to capture what proved to be the closest, most competitive class at Acura Miami Grand Prix.

Richardson and company are hot, having won all three winter regattas in Farr 40 class. The part-time Boston resident got a gorilla off his back by winning both Key West and Miami for the first time in 11 trips to capture the Acura Grand Prix Championship in Farr 40. That trophy goes to the boat with the best combined score at the two international events organized by Premiere Racing.

Illbruck is a newcomer to the up-and-coming Melges 32 class, taking delivery of his boat just prior to Acura Key West 2008. The German skipper did not steer as Pinta placed seventh in that regatta. He made his debut as helmsman in Miami and performed admirably, winning four races and second or third in five others in totaling 16 points - 10 better than runner-up New Wave.

John Kostecki, who skippered Illbruck's victorious entry in the 2001-2002 Volvo Ocean Race and is now with the BMW Oracle America's Cup syndicate, called tactics aboard Pinta. Ross Halcrow of BMW Oracle and Dan Cowie of Emirates Team New Zealand served as trimmers.

Volvo Ocean Race veteran Rob Greenhalgh helped optimize Flash Glove to IRC and served as tactician onboard while boat captain James Hynes oversaw the alterations.

IRC 2 class wasn't decided until the final leg of the last race when the Aerodyne 38 Thin Ice played spoiler by winning on corrected time. That assured the Swan 42 Bandit of the overall victory by the narrowest of margins. Skipper Andy Fisher steered Bandit to six finishes of third or better in totaling 25 points, a mere half point ahead of the J/122 Teamwork.

Farr 40 (28 entries) - no discard
1. Barking Mad, Jim Richardson, USA, 62
2. Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato, ITA, 66
3. Warpath, Fred & Steve Howe, USA, 67

Melges 32 (20 entries)
1. Pinta, Michael Illbruck, GER, 16
2. New Wave, Mike Carroll/Marty Kullman, USA, 26
3. Star, Jeff Ecklund, USA, 37

IRC 1 (6 entries)
1. Flash Glove, J/V 52, Colm Barrington, IRL, 14
2. Windquest, TP52, Doug DeVos, USA, 23
3. Rusal Synergy, Sergey Pichugin, RUS, 5

IRC 2 (6 entries)
1. Bandit, Swan 42, Andy Fisher, USA, 25
2. Teamwork, J/122, Robin Team, USA, 25.5
3. Gold Digger, J/44, James Bishop, USA, 26.5

Key West

Things didn't look good on Wednesday night after two of the initial three days of the regatta were cancelled due to bad conditions. Making matters worse was the fact the forecast for Thursday was for a second straight day of light, fickle breeze. However, Mother Nature did an about face and brought a solid 12-knot northerly that enabled organizers with Premiere Racing to get in two races on Thursday. Things got even better on Friday with a northeasterly bringing 16-20 knot winds that allowed for three more races to be held. Competition was also extremely close in Melges 32 class, which saw a significant increase in entries and caliber of competition at Acura Key West 2008. Star, skippered by Jeff Ecklund of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, finished fifth or better in six of seven races that counted in edging New Wave by two points and capturing the Midwinter Championship. After eight races Jim Richardson's Barking Mad and Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino were tied on points. Each had scored 29 points, but the final race win, his second victory in the 25-strong Farr 40 class, gave the overall victory to the class President, Richardson, over the reigning world champion, Onorato.

Key West

The usual suspects were to be found near the front of the fleet and after three races, it came as little surprise that Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino topped the overall points score. The Italian's consistency with two second places and a third gave him a three point advantage over Peter de Ridder's Mean Machine, which had the same points as Jim Richardson's Barking Mad. Nevertheless, the first race provided a major surprise. Everyone was eager to start, the line was biased towards the pin end, and that resulted in a welter of individual recalls and those who had aimed for the pin being baulked somewhat. World Champion, Vincenzo Onorato in Mascalzone Latino was among the latter, although the Italian was able to shrug off the opposition and head rapidly into clear wind. But out of the middle of the line John Demourkas drove Groovederci to the front to lead Mascalzone Latino by 100 yards.

Demourkas stretched his lead slightly on the next two legs and was 20 seconds clear to start the run for home. It was enough and he scored the first win of the week from Mascalzone Latino and Barking Mad with Mean Machine fourth.

The breeze was up to 18 knots for the second race and from a perfect line the Farr 40s responded with a clean start. Vincenzo Onorato nailed the pin, but a right hand shift lifted Barking Mad and Mean Machine in front by the first mark. Then came Helmut Jahn with Flash Gordon, Massimo Mezzaroma in Nerone and SLED. Bertarelli was ninth with Alinghi. As the race developed, Mean Machine began to edge away to finish ahead of Mascalzone Latino and Barking Mad. These three then occupied the first three places on points as Groovederci had a bad race.

The breeze had fallen to just ten knots for the start of the third race and this time it was the turn of Barnaba's Fiamma to lead away from the pin end. He lost the lead towards the end of the first beat when a left hand shift favoured Mean Machine and Nerone, but the three boats were overlapped as they rounded the first mark.

As the race developed, places swapped with rapid frequency and by the finish it was Fiamma that crossed the line to win the race from Nerone and the highly consistent Mascalzone Latino with Barking Mad fourth and Mean Machine fifth