Key West Race Week | Ullman Sails USA 32 Day 4 Report

Team USA 32 Representing California Yacht Club

Day 4 from Key West Race Week came with good breeze and an early seat to make up for the lack of sailing on Wednesday.  The drama from the big boats (Bella Mente hitting something) was the talk of the town and the climax of the J-70 fleet was imminent as they were three races scheduled for the day.  USA 32 was keen on getting out early to see what the racecourse was looking like.

When the breeze came in it was refreshing as it quickly built to a steady 10kts.  Racing was tight and the leader board started to get organized with a few different groups forming.

USA 32 has a mediocre day with two over early races really making things tough.  Flojito Y Cooperando won two of three races using their new Ullman Main and propelled themselves into third place.  The Italian contingent "Cali Network" have sailed very consistently and with the throughout they are sitting top of the leaderboard.

Keith Magnussen: "In the first race we were looking ok but did not stick to the game plan as we had in previous races.  As the clouds and systems came through before the start we tried to tune the rig accordingly.  We might have been a little behind but felt good when we found a lane."  I think that a little more time in the boat as a team will be really beneficial in the future as this is our first regatta in the boat.  I am super positive about tomorrow and know that this will be a success as I have learned a lot about the J-70 and more about big boat management."

Grek Koski:  "Over early can be very costly and it took us out of our game plan.  We were more prepared for the light air because that is what we practiced in and were a bit un prepared as the breeze came on."

Erik Shampain: "Today was hard. Again I learned the lesson "Stick to the game plan." On the first beat of race 1 we went against our pre race game plan and it hurt as we rounded the first mark very deep. Luckily with a little speed and clean crew work, we were able to climb into the 20's. The next two races were harder as we pulled the trigger early and were called OCS. With shorted legs and few passing lanes, we were only ably to climb to around mid fleet. But we're staying positive and looking forward to getting three races back in on tomorrows final day.

Doug Mclean: "Tough day on the water and I am still learning the boat.  Time and distance was critical and we obviously missed that on two starts.  Team was a little disappointed but we are upbeat and looking forward to tomorrow.  It is great to be out here representing California Yacht Club and the West Coast."

Results

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Key West Race Week Sunday Report | Ullman Sails

Key West Race Week

USA 32 Team "Latis Racing" has been in Key West since Thursday and are excited about day one of racing which starts tomorrow.  Doug Mclean, Erik Shampain, Greg Koski and Keith Magnussen have been spending a few days on the boat practicing and have taken the time to share some observations.

Erik Shampain at the Southern Most Point

Erik Shampain:  Today was a great day to warm up.  A large fleet was on the water and had a good chance to test their speed against rivals.  We are very happy with our boat speed and optimistic about chances to compete.

Greg Koski: It was a really good practice to work on the little things. We worked on down modes and up modes.  It was about the fine tune.  Downwind we managed our crew position in order to switch gears.

Doug Mclean: Time on the boat and sailing with a relatively new team is always crucial even when you race with experienced sailors.  I had the chance to experience a wide range of conditions which helped us pack a lot of transitioning into two days.  I am looking forward to the regatta and representing California Yacht Club.

Keith Magnussen:  We had a great practice today and had a chance to fine tune our crew work.  Key West is a unique venue with many challenges and I am looking forward to a competitive week of saddling.

Follow USA 32 on Ullman Sails Newport Beach Facebook Page

Key West Race Week Sunset Over The J-70 Course

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Ullman Customers at Cal Race Week

Congratulations to Ullman Sails Customers at Cal Race Week

J-105:

1st Gary Mozer

2nd Rick Goebel **

3rd Rich Bergman

J-70:

2nd Karl Pomeroy

3rd Dan Gribble

J-80:

3rd Bob Hayward **

Viper 640:

3rd Jim Sears

J-24:

1st Deke Klatt

PHRF B:

2nd Jim Murrell **

J-109:

2nd Bryce Benjamin

Martin 242:

1st Peter Stazicker

2nd Duncan Cameron

3rd Mike George

RLC:

1st Jay Steinbeck **

** Denotes Partial Inventory

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J-70 Report From SDYC Hot Rum I

JK3 Yachts reached out to Ullman Sails and offered to let us use a J-70 for the Hot Rum Series in San Diego California.  The Hot Rum Series consists of three random leg races with over 100 boats competing for the top spot.   JK3 Yachts have three J-70’s available for purchase and they generously loaned them out to generate some interest and display the boats at a top venue.  4 J/70s were in our fleet and 3 of those were loaned to the top sailors in Southern California. With Ullman, and two other big sail makers bringing their best sails and their best sailors to represent their lofts, it was shaping up to be a great head to head contest that only a true one design class can provide.

The Hot Rum has an inverted start where the slowest boats start first and the fastest boats have to chase them down as they charge through the fleet. The start line was heavily biased to port and we had a strategy to win the pin.  At the start, one of the J/70’s set their spinnaker a little early and rounded up.  This allowed us to dip under them and start near the pin with speed.  World Champion Star Sailor and Louis Vuitton Cup Vetran Eric Doyle was just to leeward of us and we felt that the advantage was ours. 

It was a very tight reach to the first mark as we left San Diego Harbor.  We managed to roll the J-70 to leeward of us and we now in an even better position.  Our goal now was to avoid potential carnage as we sped by plethora the slower boats that started in front us. The guys that had previously rounded up on the line managed to stay above the fray and in clear air.  This allowed them to jump out to a little lead by the first mark.  Unfortunately we were held up by the wind shadow of a big wood Pacific Class boat allowing Eric Doyle to just get by us and round the mark in second.

Downwind we had extremely good boat speed compared to the other boats. We gobbled up one boat passing them and cut the lead on the other by 99% to round the bottom mark hot on their heels.

Off the bottom mark we were both locked in a drag race to get to the shore and get help from the eddy that would push us closer to the finish. With one of the J/70’s on our leebow we were in a tight spot. But thanks to the powerful and easy to tune Ullman sails we were very comfortably able to hold our lane and go forward, getting us out of trouble. On the beat to windward we tacked on a few shifts to get over to cover Eric Doyle on the left of us, while making steady gains on the boys inshore of us. We anticipated that once we all tacked we would be ahead of both boats.  We flopped over and hit the perfect lay line in to the last top mark.  

Once we rounded the last mark it was all port tack right into the finish where we had the impossible task of fending off the half dozen J/105s that came storming up from behind.

We crossed the line as the first J/70 and first in class (PHRF 4). The Ullman team consisted of trimmer/tactician Dusty Durant of the Long Beach Match Racing team, and jib trimmer/bow girl extraordinaire Sarah Curran, and me, Phil Toth on helm. It was a pleasure sailing with such a rock star team.  

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