Quantum Key West Race Week saved the best for last with winds edging towards 20 knots and a short, sharp chop that made for a challenging, on-the-edge-of-control final day of racing for the GC32 foiling catamaran crews. In the conditions the boats were sailing with their small jib and one reef.
Credit : Jen Edney
Friday started with three boats tied on points, all jockeying for the lead. In the conditions it was a day when time in the boat seemed likely to pay and it came as little surprise when Flavio Marazzi’s experienced ARMIN STROM Sailing Team secured the first race with Jason Carroll’s ARGO second and the French team on Erik Maris’ ZouLou third.
Sadly during the first race one of the fittings holding the transom-hung rudder in place on board ARGO failed. As her two time Melges 32 World Champion skipper Jaosn Carroll explained: “We thought about whether or not we could repair it or lash it in place, but given how rough it was out there we thought that was just a recipe for further damage if we continued to race. At the end of the first race we were one point off first, so we were very tempted to try and race but we didn’t want to put anyone in danger.”
This left the fight for first between ARMIN STROM Sailing Team and ZouLou. In this Erik Maris’ team was fastest out of the blocks and took the bullet.
“It is a really good conditions, really perfect racing,” said ZouLou’s tactician and main sheet trimmer Gurvan Bontemps. “On the second race, we made a good start - our speed downwind was really good and for Flavio it was really good upwind. Just after the start, Zoulou was foiling upwind. It was fantastic…” Bontemps, runner-up at last year’s F18 World Championship, added that in the waves they hadn’t been able to push to the max, but had still managed 22-25 knots of boat speed.
Marazzi’s second place in race two was enough for his Swiss team to secure GC32 honours at Quantum Key West Race Week.
Cameron Appleton, tactician on Alex Jackson’s Leenabarca summed up the feeling among the crews: “All in all it was a great week. I’ve never come last in a regatta before and had so much fun. Alex walked away with a huge smile on his face and he really liked what he saw. These boats are accessible to the less experienced multihull foiling guys - you can get into them and steer them well and then it is about refining your skills from there. The learning curve is huge, but it is not on a level you can never achieve.”
The GC32s now move on to Europe with the first event of the GC32 Racing Tour, the GC32 Austria Cup, to be held on Lake Traunsee, Austria over 27th-31st June.
