Thursday, January 4, 2007

JBoats are 31% of Key West Fleet

80 of the 260 boats registered for the upcoming Acura Key West Race Week, or 31% of the fleet, are J’s, the highest percentage any brand has seen in the 20 year event history.

The J/105 fleet leads the way with 33 boats including five from California and two from Bermuda. Tom Coates and team Masquerade will be defending their 2006 Midwinter title. Also back is a 17 boat strong J/80 fleet led by pre-regatta favorites Kerry Klingler and John Storck. The J/109s enjoy their second consecutive class start with Anthony O’Leary of Ireland and current North American champion Jon Halbert from Dallas, TX attending. Last year’s Boat-of-the-Week and Sailing World cover girl, J/120 EL OCASO and Rick Wesslund returns to headline the J/120 midwinter fleet and four new J/92S’ will be making their Key West debut. Add to this the J/133 and J/44 in IRC and several other Js in PHRF and it promises to be a great event.