Friday, January 16, 2009

Key West 2009 Preview

With most of the country in a deep freeze, J sailors are trekking south for next week's Acura Key West Race Week hosted by Premiere Racing. J Boats represents 27% of the total fleet. Among the one-designs, the J/105 and J/80 classes will be hosting their annual Midwinter Championships. Each J/80 will be fitted with Kattack GPS transponders for the week, with all the racing able to be tracked (played and replayed) by folks back home on the Kattack website. Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK and Jim Bishop's J/44 GOLD DIGGER are back to compete for IRC honors, and the PHRF competition looks very strong with two of the top J/120s in the country (EMOCEAN and EL OCASO) , Bill Sweetser's J/109 RUSH and Robert Armstrong's J/100 GOOD GIRL, all seen as pre-event favorites. J Boats will be hosting evening gatherings for the owners with video action and Kattack coverage of the J/80 fleet. Event site