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Gains at the End

Team Spaceman Spiff's hard work pays off on the final day of racing in Key West.
Sailing World

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Nick Turney

Quantum Key West 2012 has come to an end, sadly, but I think my liver and wallet are very pleased! Team Spaceman Spiff ended the week on a very good note. Each day, we improved and learned more about the boat and the rig, and today we showed that this team can compete. All of our hard work paid off in the end. Our owner/skipper, Rob Ruhlman, is very excited to sail the boat more and compete in this new one-design class. Lesson learned here: no matter how bad your scores seem, or how poor your boathandling and tactics are, never quit. And always try to improve. Each day we all made a list of what our weaknesses were and focused on improving them.

Today we saw another chamber-of-commerce day on the water, with breeze in the 12- to18-knot range, and very steady. Early in the day, before the first warning signal, we were tracking a persistent right shift. By the time the Maxi fleet was underway, the breeze locked in, and it never changed. The left side of the course was very special, as the current was a huge factor and the left provided some relief. The Farr 400s got in two great races, with Red dominating. Congrats to Joe Woods and his team for a fantastic job on the water all week, taking the first-ever Farr 400 one-design event. We are looking forward to sailing against Team Red again.

‘Til next year, I’m out!

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_ Access SW‘s complete coverage of Quantum Key West 2012. _

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