Overall entries are running ahead of the 2001 pace that saw a record number of 326 boats compete, forcing an expansion to four race courses. The climate, conditions, competition, renowned race management and shoreside attractions are among the reasons why the event dominates the world's midwinter sailing calendar. Even regulars from throughout Florida are keen to return despite the heavy hardships and losses suffered by themselves or their neighbors when their state was hammered by a rare succession of four major hurricanes recently.

Some recent visitors were surprised at the lack of hurricane-related damage.

`I was expecting to see damage and I haven't seen any,` said Liz Schopfer, of Meadow Vista, Calif., who vacationed in Marathon. More details on the Keys are available at www.fla-keys.com or by calling 1-800-FLA-KEYS. The destination's Web site features a series of live Web cams to help reinforce the undamaged nature of the region.

With the hurricane season long gone by January, Gary Schwarting, a Melges 24 sailor from Naples, said, `I entered well before the hurricanes hit and I'm still planning to go. There were no direct hits in Naples. We only got [winds] up to 80 mph. The Melges were supposed to have the King's Day Regatta up on the east coast at Jacksonville and they canceled that because of the last hurricane [Jeanne]. `

Dr. Jose Suarez Hoyos of Tampa, who will sail his J/109 Mariah in his eighth Key West week, said he wouldn't miss it for anything. `The restaurants are great, you meet a lot of famous sailors and boats, and the organizers are really organized, so you know that a race is going to be [fair].`

Premiere Racing management, recognizing the unprecedented hurricane season and tenacity of the state's competitors, has reduced entry fees for Florida residents by $100 for both Key West 2005 and Acura Miami Race Week 2005.

Last January, week-long ideal winds produced winners from five countries and 11 states coast to coast and allowed a Key West record number of nine races to be sailed. This time there will be more than 20 one-design and PHRF classes for boats from 24 to 75 feet---notably the Transpac 52s that have quickly surged into a class of their own and the J/105s making a quantum jump from 29 boats to a free-for-all of possibly 40 or more.

The Transpac 52s are now officially organized as the TP 52 Association as the box rule class expands far beyond its original concept of big boats that were equally suitable for the Transpacific Yacht Race and inshore buoy racing. Now there are boats competing or being built for owners in seven countries, including a Mediterranean fleet of 17 led by King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Tom Pollack, the class's executive director from Newport Beach, Calif., promises that six will line up at Key West. They are follow the lead of Roger Sturgeon's Rosebud, a bi-coastal competitor from Santa Cruz, Calif. and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. that has crisscrossed the country competing at Key West and other venues in between the last two years.

`It all started with Rosebud traveling around and getting people interested,` Pollack said.

After winning 6 of 7 races at the Big Boat Series in San Francisco, Uematsu said, `This is the best boat I have ever had. It is also the fastest I have gone in a boat---faster than my powerboat!`

Except for the Med campaigners, the TP 52s require owners to drive but permits professionals on board to offer helpful advice. Key West will mark the start of the TP 52s' 2005 season championship series.

The J/105s' growth since their inception 13 years ago also has found no bounds. Class secretary-treasurer Nelson Weiderman said, `We have a lot of new people who are interested and we're retaining the people who have been there.`

Also, he added, reconfiguration of the early Annapolis fleet will put those boats in the chase. `The Annapolis guys decided to go with deep keels,` Weiderman said. `That's a 40- or 50-boat fleet that couldn't race with us because of their shoal keels. They're in the midst of converting their boats and will start bringing them to Key West.`

Glenn Darden, the current North American champion, will not compete, but Richard Bergmann and Shawn Bennett's Zuni Bear, the two-time defending champion from San Diego, will be back, challenged among others by Ed Cummins and Jack Franco's Bold Forbes, the NA runnerup from Newport Beach.

Anticipated one design classes include the Swan 45s, which debuted a year earlier; Farr 40s, Mumm 30s, 1D35s, J/120s, J/80s, J/29s, C&C 99s, Corsair 28Rs and the largest group of all, the Melges 24s with their usual strong international turnout.

One-off designs and others without the numbers to establish classes will be assigned to the PHRF fleets that traditionally comprise about one-third of the turnout.

Key West 2005 sponsors are Nautica, Terra Nova Trading, RealTick, Mount Gay Rum, B&G, Lewmar, Samson Rope Technologies, and the Florida Keys and Key West Tourist Development Council. The Historic Seaport is the Official Site. Support also comes from a record number of 28 Industry Partners.

Premiere Racing is also managing the new Acura Miami Race Week 2005 (`the SORC renaissance`). Race dates are March 10-13, 2005, with ocean and Biscayne Bay racing. Many Key West entrants are planning to store boats in Miami and FT Lauderdale and return for more great South Florida racing.

The Florida Keys, like many destinations throughout the state, are suffering from a misperception that the island chain was devastated by cores of four hurricanes that came ashore in other regions of Florida during a six-week period in August and September.

In fact, dangerous hurricane-force winds from all storms stayed well offshore of the region, from Key Largo to Key West, according to Matt Strahan, meteorologist-in-charge for the National Weather Service in Key West.

`Unfortunately, our lodging industry and other tourist-related businesses continue to get phone calls from potential visitors asking if the Keys have been devastated,` said Harold Wheeler, director of the Keys tourism council. `The fact is that the Keys is unscathed and open for business.`

Source: Event Media