From Scooter Simmons:

We had a great time down at Key West Race Week. Our crew consisted of myself, Tim Russell, Rhett Smith, Ryan Simmons, Amy Guanierri, and Matt Clark. Lindsay Browne who normally sails with us is still recovering from his shoulder injury, but he came down to Key West to cheer us on. We charted the boat Gumption3 out of Rye, New York and she was well-prepared for racing. We practiced Saturday and Sunday in light to moderate breezes, but unfortunately our sail trimmer, Rhett, slipped on Saturday dislocating his shoulder and was out for the rest of the regatta. We scrambled to find a replacement and John Claude took the redeye out from San Francisco Saturday night and practiced with us Sunday afternoon.

Our first race day, Monday, the winds were light, shifty and the weather was warm (mid 70s). Actually the winds were light and shifty with warm weather the first three days. The winds picked up the first race on Thursday, but became moderate to light by the second race. We felt like we performed better each day as we became accustomed to the lighter breezes. Our highest score was an nine (out of 14 boats) and our lowest was a three before the bigger breeze on Thursday. We got a bullet and a third on Thursday giving us a third overall at this stage in the regatta one point ahead of fourth and one point behind second. (Savasana held a tight grip on first place throughout the entire regatta culminating with two bullets on the final day). We had a good shot at moving up to second, but in the light breeze along with some mistakes, we couldn’t move ahead of Ghost ahead of us, but soundly defended third overall in the regatta.

The competition in the top half of the fleet was quite stiff as most of these boats generally sail in lighter air conditions. There were no general recalls, and I think there was only one protest in our class during the entire regatta. There were a number of circles spun (including one by us hitting the weather mark on the final day), and there was very little if any yelling or screaming going on between boats.

Of course Key West Race Week is not all about sailing (at least not for us), and I can tell you a good time was had by all throughout the week.

Congratulations to the crew!