The 13th annual Key West Race Week begins January 17th with 263 boats from 12 nations scheduled to compete over five days of racing. The United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Greece, Canada, and Brazil will be represented in 16 classes. The Farr 40 class has drawn 28 boats from eight nations. The One Design 35 class will have 21 rivals. The popular Melges 24 class will see 45 boats competing for line honors. Twenty-six Mumm 30s will go head to head, as will 18 J-105s, and 12 J-80s. The highest number of international entries is from the United Kingdom, with nine slated to participate.
The largest boats of the fleet will also have sparring partners as the 60-foot Highland Fling prepares to race its sistership Rima from Newport, RI for the first time. The 70-foot Chessie Racing (formerly Pyewacket) will additionally contest Equation in the large boat forum. Twelve international teams will pursue the GMC Yukon Cup in team racing competition. Florida has sent the largest number of entrants to Race Week with 30, followed by California, 29 and New York, 22 with participating U.S.sailors spanning 30 states.
