Yesterday I was the guest of Mount Gay Rum on the America 2.0 for a day on the water watching the Quantum Key West Sailboat Races. It was a perfect day for sailing, good winds and the sunshine on one side of the boat anyway. We left the Key West Historic Seaport at about 10 am and headed out to the race courses to observe the races. All of the crew and the Mount Gay people were clad in their Mount Gay racing caps and we were off to a great day of racing out on the water.
We first went to the smaller boat course and watched the J Boat and Melges 24 classes compete in the first race of the event. Both classes were very exciting to watch as the boats jockeyed for position entering the turn gates and weather marks on the course. The J Boat class had 65 starters and the pure congestion of the class made for some very exciting close racing. They are the largest class of the event, and provide some very exciting moments during the day.
Then it was off to the big boat course to see the very large and high tech Super Maxi Boats as well as the other large boat classes. The Super maxi's are boasting spinnakers in excess of 2000 square feet and boats in excess of 50 feet in length. These are the super complicated boats that have the ability to shape their sails and angle the masts in order to capture all of the wind possible. This makes these very powerful yachts that are also very fast by sailing standards.
The other classes are equally as exciting in their large boats as well, but it is hard to take your eyes off of the massive Super Maxi Class Boats.
It was a fun day of exciting race action and a fine lunch and good Mount Gay Black Barrel and Mount Gay XO rums. The sailing around under the sheets of America 2.0 and her fine crew made for a very fun day on the water. I always look forward to the Quantum Key West Race Week each year and I recommend that you come out and enjoy the races as well if you are in the Keys this week. ;o)
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