Those that make the trek to Key West Race Week do so for many reasons. For most, it’s the high point of their racing year; the biggest and best regatta they’ll do. For others, it’s simply a means to an end.

The crew of the Tuesday’s Boat of the Day honors, the Mumm 30 Foreign Affair, fit in the latter category. For them, Key West is merely the second step of a journey that began at the Lewmar Cup in December, and will end this September in Annapolis. “We bought the boat to lead up to the Mumm 30 Worlds in 2003,” said boat manager Darrin Jones in a broad Sydney accent. “But things came together quickly, so we decided to go for this year.”

Foreign Affair’s owner, Richard Perini, also from Sydney, is no stranger to class championships. His Farr 40, Corinthian Doors, is the current Australian Farr 40 champion, and on the second day of racing here at Key West, he and his crew scored a 2, 1, and
sit comfortably at third in the 20-boat class. “Today we had good speed and two perfect starts, “said Perini. “So far, so good.”

Foreign Affair’s road trip will take them to SORC next, then the Annapolis NOOD , Newport Gold, New York YC One Design , Chicago Verve, regattas. The Mumm 30 Worlds will be held in Annapolis in September.

Bambakou, a Farr 40 owned by John Coumentaros, took the first race of the day in the Farr 40 class. “We had a good start, which allowed us to go left and straight for a while,” said tactician Will Harris. “There was something just too good on the left the whole time.”
The second race didn’t yield quite the same result, after on OCS, Bambakou managed to claw back to 11th at the finish. “ We had a picket fence day,” said Harris. “1, 11.”