 Kinetic posted a great result in her first one-design regatta.
First, we had to get the boat there. The newly purchased Kinetic IV, a M30 (the design formerly known as the Mumm 30), was lying in Michigan and came with a twin-axle road trailer. We drove from Vancouver through the States to pick up the boat during the last week of November and turned south just as the snow started to fly. With each day’s travel the temperature went up, and soon enough we were peeling off layers as we approached Florida, where we put the boat in storage to await race week.
The team was Eric Holden on tactics, Brian Huse on main trim, Kris Johnson on headsail trim, Graeme Sutcliffe on offside trim, Adam Thomson on bow, Peter Wealick on pit and David Sutcliffe on helm. We assembled in Key West late on Wednesday, January 16. For crew quarters, we were lucky enough to find two tiny “cigar cottages” a few blocks apart in the Old Town district, a very touristy area straddling Duval Street.
Most of the race fleet was squeezed into multi-boat rafts in the Historic Seaport among a dazzling assortment of sport fishers, luxury powerboats, tall ships and cruising boats. We rented bicycles and Mopeds, made bag lunches and rode to the boat. Wearing shorts, shirts and sandals, and with the temperature flirting with 27 degrees (80 F), we broke out the SPF-30 sunscreen. Winter in Vancouver it was not.
PULLQUOTE: “We ripped downwind to our race circle, surfing to more than 16 knots under mailsail only.”
It was good that we arrived to practice earlier than our competitors because we were sailing the boat for the first time, we had not all sailed together and, for most of us, it was our first M30 regatta and our first time sailing in Key West. Thursday, we set up sails, running rigging and hardware, and got an initial feel for the boat. Friday, we beat, tacked, ran, gybed and did mark roundings using a few of the innumerable crab pot floats. We gained confidence in our boat handling—although my helmsmanship was noticeably rusty. Saturday, we saw some of our M30 competitors scattered among the practicing TP52s, Swan 42s, Farr 40s, Melges 32s and 24s. We practiced on our own, getting smoother on our evolutions and focusing on pre-start and first-leg performance.
By Sunday morning, a potent cold front dropped the temperature by about 20 degrees and the wind was blowing dogs off chains. Most of the fleet stayed at the docks, a significant practice time disadvantage for crews who were just arriving. We donned fleece garments, checked boat preparation items off our lists and generally got ready for the racing to start.
Monday dawned warmer, still very breezy and with a large, confused sea running through the shallow water of the racing circles. We ripped downwind to our race circle, surfing to more than 16 knots under mainsail only. The Farr 40s, Melges 32s and M30s shared one circle with separate starts, bobbing and slamming around, waiting anxiously. After a lengthy delay, and with progressively stronger gusts blasting through, racing was abandoned. We beat back toward Key West, dialing up with another M30 before bearing off and hoisting a small spinnaker, flying crazily downwind. Turning and beating back to weather, it was quite late before we finally rejoined the raft.
Tuesday, with 15–20 knots of breeze, the water was still quite lumpy and we got our first three races in. No one was more surprised than us when we rounded the first mark in second place and finished fourth in our fleet of 15 M30s. We diluted that promising start with a 12th and an eighth in the next two races. Wednesday, the most wind we had all day was a few puffs to five knots, and for the first time in the 21-year history of the race week, a second day of racing was cancelled. After doing some boat chores, we squeezed in a visit to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, where we enjoyed their signature refreshments and dinner.
Thursday morning, the seas were calm and it was warm and sunny, with discouragingly light winds ashore. Fortunately, by early afternoon the breeze filled in nicely and we got two more races in, finishing mid-fleet in both. After five races spread over four days, it was all going to come down to the final three races on Friday. We had a modest start in the first race in a building breeze of 20 knots and a number three jib. Downwind, we had three wipeouts with the masthead spinnaker up and finished 11th. Digging deeper for the second race, we started well and sailed cleanly with much better control, finishing fifth. For the last race of the day, we got a great start, hiked our hearts out, were the first boat to each of the first three mark roundings, let a couple of boats sneak by at the last leeward gate and then finished the final, shifty upwind leg in third place, just 20 seconds out of first.
We went to Key West race week to have fun sailing in warm weather in January and to learn how to sail the M30 better in a tough one-design fleet. We got all of that, and more: Earning sixth place overall was a very nice surprise for our first time out and something we hope to build on in the future.
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Racing Corner 
