The Wednesday of Key West Race Week is called Moving Day. For some, it's the day they put the regatta in the bag, and for others it's the day
they give up any chance of taking a trophy or two home. At this year's
Key West Race Week, Moving Day was the day the big breeze that had
dominated the first two days of racing abated somewhat and race
committees were able to get off as many as three races in 12-to-15-knot
conditions. For the crew of Tom Hill's R/P 75 Titan, it was the day they
finally broke the stranglehold that Makoto Uematsu's Farr-designed TP 52
Esmeralda had on PHRF 1. In the heavy air of Monday and Tuesday
Esmeralda scored three straight first-place finishes, but in Wednesday's
lighter conditions Titan scored three bullets in three races, raising
them to second overall in the class, seven points behind Esmeralda. For
others in PHRF 1, it was merely a miserable continuation of the previous
day's results; Marco Birch's succesful IMS racer Talisman scored a
6-10-6, and kept their place at the bottom half of the class with 45
points, 38 points behind Esmeralda.

On Division 4's circle, only two races were sailed, which left the
second and third-place Tartan 10s, Team Farr From Sober, and Cygnet
within striking distance-5 and 6 points respectively-of their fellow
Chicago sailors aboard Liquor Box. "Liquor Box is doing a great job,"
said Neil MacDonald, crewmember on Cygnet. "They have their heads in the
game." MacDonald described Monday and Tuesday's race days: "There were
no shifts to look for, it was blowing hard everywhere. We just tried to
stay in touch with the guys we knew we needed to beat. We got a 3-2-5
and earned our third-place position; no excuses." On Wednesday, the
Cygnet crew went out early and tried to turn their regatta around. "We
took tension off the rig and it paid off," said MacDonald. "You have to
be sensitive to the changing conditions." MacDonald and crew plan to
make the most of the four races left. "We're going to check the weather,
get good, clean starts, and be tuned in to the shifts."

John Bonds is sailing as the offside trimmer on Jim Swartz's Mumm 30 Q,
which boasts Dee Smith as tactician and is in eighth place after five
races. Q's owner Jim Swartz is new to the racing scene, but had attended
J/World classes in Key West and is familiar with the area. Swartz, who has a
Swan 601 on order, wanted to get into racing and the Mumm 30 seemed like
a good fit. "We thought a Mumm 30 would be a fun boat for him to sail,"
said Bonds. "He's got a natural talent for driving, and today was a lot
easier for him to drive straight because there were less waves." Swartz
has to miss the rest of the regatta, so Peter Stoneberg, who owns the
San Francisco-based Farr 40 Shadow will take over helming duties.

A Key West Race Week without the Esposito family and their J/29 Hustler
wouldn't be the same. Once again, the Hustler team has dominated the
J/29 class-this year with five first-place finishes in five races. "It's
not easy, but we come down here every year with a new set if sails,"
said John Esposito, who praised their driver, Greg Smith. "This guy's
the man," said Esposito. Smith's game plan for the rest of the regatta
is simple: "Tomorrow we'll go out and try to stay in front of the
competition," he said.

One of the great sights on the racecourses Wednesday was the Farr 40
Flash Gordon, steered by Helmut Jahn, taking a first-place finish in the
final race of the day. Jahn, an enthusiastic supporter of the Farr 40
class has seen more than his share of bottom-of-the-fleet finishes, but
thanks to a respectable scoreline in the 18-boat class this week, now
lies in sixth place. Topping the class is Peter DeRidder's Mean Machine,
which leads Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory by three points. With six
points separating the top four boats, the final three races should be a
classic Farr 40 dogfight.

Tom Carruthers' J/105 Invisible holds the top spot in his 40-boat class,
one point over Tom Coates' Masquerade. Maspero Giovanni's well-sailed
Melges 24 Joe Fly has taken the lead from Freddy Loof and Kevin Burnham
on Pegasus Racing by 8 points. The hotly contested Swan 45 class is led
by Andrzej Rojek's Better Than, with Craig Speck's Vim, and Alex
Roeper's Plenty 6 and 7 points back, respectively. To illustrate
how tightly the Swans are grouped, at the end of one Swan 45 race on
Tuesday the top four boats finished within 8 seconds of each other.


The 1D35 class is a nail-biter, with Stig Osterburg's Midsummer in first
with 14 points, getting the nod in a tie with Chris and Kara Busch's Wild Thing. Deneen Demourkas's well-traveled Mumm 30 Groovederci is in first place
by four points over Bodo van Der Wense's Turbo Duck. The C&C 99 class is
led by Bob Wilson's Trumpeter, but with Wally Hogan's TAM only one point
behind. The brand-new Melges 32 Star, steered by Jeff Ecklund, is atop
the sports boat class PHRF 3, but he's only three points ahead of the
Thompson 30 Wairere, which goes well in light air, and the Farr 36
speedster Grins, owned by Rick Orchard. The Muller family's Andrews 38
Pamlico has a near-impeccable 1-1-1-3-1-1 record in PHRF 4, but can't relax with Otto von Blumencron's Dame Blanche not far behind.

Thursday's forecast is for lighter winds, and Friday's forecast is even
worse. For most boats in the 295-boat regatta Wednesday may have been
Moving Day, but Thursday will be their last chance to take a spot on the
podium come Friday evening.