Terra Nova Trading Key West 2004, presented by Nautica produced winners from five countries and 11 states coast to coast and allowed a Key West record number of nine races to be sailed.

There were 301 boats in 10 one-design and 11 PHRF classes representing 18 countries and 32 states. Eighty were J Boats, sprinkled through both groups.

Peter De Ridder, a 57-year-old Dutch investor who lives in Monaco, elbowed his way to the table and rolled the dice in the tough Farr 40 fleet, cashing out some world-class rivals with a one-point victory. That also earned him the Terra Nova Trading Trophy as ‘Boat of the Week’ for winning the most competitive class and a share of the Nautica Trophy in the International Team Competition.

His Mean Machine was paired with Kristian Nergaard’s Melges 24, Baghdad, from Norway as the Europe B team, which out-sailed nine other Farr 40-Melges 24 global alliances.

Mean Machine’s tactician, Ray Davies of New Zealand, said: “I’ve done a lot of sailing with Peter, including the Admiral’s Cup we won in ’99. But this is huge. To win in a fleet like this is a special achievement.”

Sebastian Col also sneaked up on people. While most observers tried to pick a Melges 24 winner from among several former world champions, including 14-year-old Samuel (Shark) Kahn of Santa Cruz and Hawaii, Col drove Philippe Ligot’s P&P Sailing Team from La Rochelle back from a 59-point premature start penalty on Day 1 to a four-point win over the California prodigy, whose father Philippe wound up sixth.

As Kahn ran away from the fleet mid-week, it was easy to overlook that Col, sailing consistently well and quietly, would be able to discard those 59 points after seven races and reel the Shark in decisively. In the final race Kahn passed Col on the beat to the finish for his third consecutive win and fourth overall, but he needed four boats between them.

Col said: “We wanted to stay close to Shark the whole time. We started in the same position as Shark, and by the middle of the first beat we were in front and were able to sail our own course and focus on going fast.”

The first five boats represented as many countries.

Kelly, Andrew Cheney’s Beneteau 1st 10 from St Petersburg, Florida, received the Lewmar Trophy as PHRF Boat of the Week for winning PHRF 9, where six of the 10 entries won races but he won three.

‘Boat of the Day’ honors were awarded to those that prevailed in the class with the most competitive racing each day. California entrants were recognized the first four days: Philippe Kahn (Melges 24), Santa Cruz, on Nautica Day Monday; John MacLaurin’s Pendragon V (Farr 40), Los Angeles, on City of Key West Day Tuesday; Roger Sturgeon’s Transpac 52, Rosebud (PHRF 1), San Francisco, on Mount Gay Rum Day Wednesday, and Tom Coates’ Masquerade (J/105), on Lewmar Day Thursday.

Rumor, John Storck Jr’s J/80 from Huntington, New York was Terra Nova Trading Boat of the Day for winning Friday’s finale, which earned him fourth place overall.

Swan 45 and C&C 99 one-design fleets were new on the scene. Six of the eight Swans won races, but consistency was key for Thomas Stark’s RUSH (Reloaded, with Ed Baird as tactician. Colin Andrew’s Trumpeter, one of six C&C 99 entries from central Canada in this 11-boat class, won four of the nine races.

The Swan Performance Trophy went to So Far, Lawrence Hillman’s Swan 48 from Chicago, for its consistent dominance in PHRF 8, where it was first or second in seven races. Seven-time Soling world champion Jorgen Johnsson steered So Far while 17-year-old Brian Smith distinguished himself as tactician.

Some sailors also worked on their freestyles. Three hard-hiking crew members fell off a Farr 40 when their lifeline gave way at the start, and America’s Cup star Peter Holmberg took a dive when Tom Hill’s R/P 75, Titan, the biggest boat in the event, shrimped its spinnaker with a sheet wrapped around his left ankle. Two days earlier Titan bowman Ken Nevor also went overboard in a similar incident. All were recovered safely.

Overall Results

Class winners (9 races; 1 throwout, except in Swan 45, Farr 40 and Mumm 30)

Swan 45 (8 boats)RUSH (Reloaded), Thomas Stark, Newport, R.I. (4-2-2-4-1-2-4-5-1), 25 points

Farr 40 (23) Mean Machine, Peter De Ridder, The Netherlands (6-7-18-5-6-12-4-2-1), 61

Mumm 30 (13)Turbo Duck, Bodo Von Der Wense, Annapolis, Md. (1-2-2-1-2-4-3-5-3), 23

Melges 24 (58) P&P Sailing Team, Philippe Ligot/Sebastian Col, France (1-(59)-1-2-1-6-7-3-2), 23

J/105 (29) Zuni Bear, Richard Bergmann, San Diego (1-(19)-1-2-1-1-9-6-7), 28

J/80 (20) Warrior, Craig and Martha White, Ft. Worth, Tex. ((13)-2-2-1-7-6-1-1-4), 24

Corsair 28R (10) Bad Boys, Bob and Doug Harkrider, Augusta, Ga. (1-1-3-2-1-(5)-1-2-2), 13

Corsair 24 (9) Breaking Wind, Robert Remmers, Buda, Tex. ((10)-1-1-1-1-1-2-1-2), 10

C&C 99 (11) Trumpeter, Colin Andrews, Toronto, Canada (1-(4)-3-1-1-2-2-3-1), 14

T-10 (8) Liquor Box, Chuck Simon/Bill Buckles, Vermilion, Ohio and Key West (1-2-3-1-1-3-1-1-(9)), 13

PHRF 1 (9) Chippewa (Swan 68), Clay Deutsch, Road Harbour, BVI (7-1-1-1-(8)-1-1-1-1), 14

PHRF 2 (8) Storm (R/P 43), Les Crouch, San Diego (1-2-1-1-4-5-1-1-(9)), 16

IMS (5) Talisman, Marco Birch, New York, N.Y. (DSQ-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1), 9

PHRF 3 (8) Raincloud (J/133), Mike Rose, Kemah, Tex. (1-1-(2)-1-1-1-2-1-1), 9

PHRF 4 (10)Tiburon (Melges 30), Michael Gray/John Dane, New Orleans, La. (1-(5)-1-1-2-1-1-2-3), 12

PHRF 5 (12)K2 (J/120), Luis Gonzalez, Mallets Bay, Vt. ((10)-2-1-2-9-1-2-3-3), 23

PHRF 6 (14)Bounder (Sydney 36), David Hudgel, Detroit (1-(5)-1-2-2-1-3-1-2), 13

PHRF 7 (12) Phaedra (Evelyn 32-2), Robert Patroni, Pensacola, Fla. ((7)-1-3-2-1-2-2-5-3), 19

PHRF 8 (9) So Far (Swan 48), Lawrence Hillman, Chicago, Ill. ((9)-2-1-5-2-1-2-1-1), 15

PHRF 9 (11) Kelly (Beneteau 1st 10), Andrew Cheney, St. Petersburg, Fla. ((7)-3-1-5-6-2-1-1-2), 21

PHRF 10 (7)Phantom (B-25), Frank Silver, Kill Devil Hills, N.C. (1-(6)-1-2-4-2-3-1-1), 15

PHRF 11 (12)Circus (J/30), Team Circus, Chicago, Ill. ((3)-2-3-2-3-3-1-3-1), 18