Prepare for Winter Relief in Key West

The 30th anniversary of Quantum Key West Race Week is taking shape as teams commit for competition and winter relief on January 15-20, 2017. With IRC, ORC, and Multihull rating classes available, top one design classes already signed up include the C&C 30 One-Designs, J/111’s, Melges 24’s and J/70’s.

Flying Tiger 7.5m

For those without a boat, or aren’t eager to deliver the boat to Key West, an alliance with the National One Design Sailing Academy of Canada has made available a fleet of 10 Flying Tiger 7.5m sportboats for charter. The Flying Tiger 7.5m is sailed with a maximum crew weight of 1,025 pounds/465 kilograms and will be berthed at the Truman Annex.

The charter fee includes the entry fee, dockage, and on-water lunches each day. Also included in the charter fee is a two day on-water clinic with Bill Gladstone the weekend before racing begins, Jan. 13-14, 2017.

Also slated to compete is the TP52 Class, which will kick off its 2017 52 SuperSeries in Key West.

“The TP52 Class is excited to return to Key West,” said class manager Rob Weiland. “It was a popular decision for the class to make. We have owners from many countries like Argentina, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Turkey, the UK and Sweden who’ve raced there before in IRC or other classes such as the Melges 24 or Farr 40, and they, as well as our American owners, wanted to return for the 30th anniversary. I expect we’ll have 10 to 12 boats on the start line.”

The TP52 Class bristles with talent from the America’s Cup, Olympic Games, Volvo Ocean Race and innumerable World Championships and represents the highest caliber racing in the game where every second counts. Quantum Key West Race Week also offers something for the more casual racer – the Performance Cruising Class.

Featuring one race each day that starts and ends in the harbor, Performance Cruising Class monohull and multihull entries will enjoy courses that tour the area south of the island and provide an opportunity for long legs to better enjoy sailing on the turquoise palette of the Florida Keys.

“We are very excited to return to Race Week in January,” said Ken Johnson (Stoughton, Wisconsin), owner/skipper of the C&C 121 Grateful Red. “The new format of one race a day and now pursuit starts suits our crew perfectly. We are looking forward to a great season, and this is the perfect start.”

C&C 121 Grateful Red

Johnson berths Grateful Red in Key West and has campaigned and cruised all over the world, including the 2011 ORC World Championship in Croatia. His winter plans are similarly ambitious, with plans to do the Pineapple Cup race to Jamaica, followed by a race to Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, and Cuba, before returning to Key West.

The Performance Cruising Class in 2017 will feature pursuit starts, to which Johnson gave his approval. “Every boat starts at a different time, so there are no starting line issues, and if we all sail our rating we finish at the same time,” said Johnson. “In a number of races last year using ORC ratings the corrected times were really close but the distances at the finish were large. Competition makes the race more exciting and the crew more motivated. We would much rather all finish together than all start together.”

After the first entry discount deadline on October 1, the entry fees increase between $3 and $5 per foot), For more information and to enter Quantum Key West Race Week 2017, and results, photos, and videos from 2016 and other previous events, visit the event website at www.keywestraceweek.com.