From across the country and across two oceans they came, 295 boats and some 3,000 sailors strong, perhaps the greatest gathering of eagles alongside recreational racers that North America has ever seen. An unofficial count tallied 21 Olympic medalists with 29 medals across the span of two decades and enough America's Cup veterans to reach from Auckland to Valencia, sailing in the 20 various of classes of boats from 24 to 75 feet. 

But you probably knew all of that from last week's reports. Apart from the obvious---mild climate, good breeze, intense competition---is another reason why the world's best sailors keep coming back: race management. Over five days in challenging conditions ranging from 25 knots down to 2, the principal race officers on the four courses---Ken Legler, Bruce Golison, Dave Brennan and Wayne Bretsch---started a total of 170 races.

Without a single general recall.

`I don't do that,` said Brennan, who ran the two largest fleets of 58 Melges 24s and 40 J/105s on Division 3. `This was my fifth year and I haven't had any.`

Event director Peter Craig, who ran Division 2 before Golison succeeded him, said, `I had one before Bruce arrived, and that would be pre-1999.`

At Key West, the starting process is managed not by calling everybody back when a few are over early but by identifying those who were guilty and hailing their numbers by radio.

Golison, running the big PHRF-1 boats, including five TP52s, on Division 2, said, `I have been on the big boat course for six years . . . and there has not been a general recall in that time. A lot of it is philosophy. In one of our first races two boats were over. In the third race 7 of the 10 were over, and we called those seven back. After that we didn't have one boat over in that class. They were still all lined up bow to bow, but they were 20 feet off the line.` 

Ken Legler, on Division 1 with the Farr 40s, Swan 45s, Mumm 30s and 1D35s, said, `The last one I signaled was on the Melges course in 1996.` 

Bretsch, managing the smallest boats on Division 4: `This year we almost had one with the Tartan 10 class, but instead we individually recalled 7 out of 9 boats.`

Professional sailors expect that level of efficiency, and there were plenty of them at Key West. For a seminar on tactics in the `big top` reception tent one night the panelists were, left to right, Terry Hutchinson, Ken Read, Ian Walker, John Kostecki, Dave Ullman, John Cutler and Kevin Burnham, with Mike Toppa as emcee. Mark Reynolds was scheduled but was still out practicing on Philippe Kahn's Farr 40.

Other notables across the seascape of the Conch Republic included Russell Coutts, Brad Butterworth and the core of the Alinghi crew, Morgan Larson, Chris Larson, Hamish Pepper and Luna Rossa's America's Cup helmsman James Spithill, who sailed a Melges 24 to second place. His crew included Seattle brothers Jonathan and Charlie McKee, each an Olympic double medalist, and perhaps the youngest sailor in the regatta: 10-year-old Mac Agnese of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., a member of the U.S. Optimist Dinghy Association Development Team whose 60 pounds hardly counted against the class weight limit. 

But if race management is the heart of Key West competition, the lesser known racers are the soul, and winning in that class of company becomes a lifetime achievement. It took Coates seven years.

`It feels fantastic,` Coates said after Masquerade won the next-to-last J/105 race in light and tricky conditions to clinch his victory. “When we realized we were going to be second last year, it took us about five minutes to say we were coming back with the same crew to try and get over the hump. Key West is a phenomenal event. To win this regatta in a very deep and talented 40-boat fleet is very rewarding.” 

Masquerade charged out of the gate to win the first two races and was chosen as Nautica Boat of the Day on Monday. Other Boats of the Day:

--Peter de Ridder's Farr 40, Mean Machine, from Monaco and Holland on Premiere Racing Day Tuesday;

--Maspero Giovanni's Melges 24,  Joe Fly, from Coto, Italy on Mount Gay Rum Day Wednesday;

--Chris and Kara Busch's 1D35, Wild Thing, from San Diego on Industry Partners Day Thursday;

--Jim Bishop's J/44 (PHRF-2), Gold Digger, from  New York, N.Y. on City of Key West Day Friday. 

Melges Performance Sailboats of Zenda, Wis., swept overall honors. The Pegasus Racing Melges 24 was Boat of the Week. Kahn drove the team's Farr 40 while Hardesty drove the Melges, which was honored for winning the most competitive class. He had help. Also on board were Burnham, Sweden's Freddy Loof, winner of a bronze medal at Sydney in 2000; Mark Ivey of Newport Beach, a four-time collegiate all-American, and Midge Tandy of Pensacola, Fla.

The new Melges 32, with Jeff Ecklund as skipper, won the Key West Trophy as PHRF Boat of the Week by winning PHRF-3. 

The International Team Competition for the Nautica Trophy matched a designated eight pair of Farr 40s and Melges 24s. The dogfight ended with four teams separated by two points, led by the USA East team composed of Barking Mad and Neil Sullivan's M-Fatic from Annapolis, driven by Olympic silver medalist Morgan Reeser. They edged Europe A (Mean Machine and Team SBAB) by one point, followed by Europe B (Atalanti and Joe Fly) and Italy (Mascalzone Latino and Blu Moon).

Because of severe winds and sea state early in the week, the Mumm 30s, Corsair 28R catamarans, PHRF-3 and the small boats on Division 4 sailed only eight of the nine scheduled races. All boats except those on Division 1 discarded their worst scores.

Key West 2005 sponsors are Nautica, 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 29 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 were planning to store boats in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and return for more South Florida racing.

Source: Rich Roberts