Miami Race Week: Tune Up

(Jim Madden recently launched his new 66-foot canting keel Reichel/Pugh design named "Stark Raving Mad," and will be submitting reports from 2006 Acura Miami Race Week. This is Part One of a five part series.)

Tuesday, March 7: First day of practice today, which in reality was our first day of proper sea trials as the most breeze we previously saw in San Diego was under 10 knots. Today had wind from 16 to 20 knots out of the NW. Upwind saw boat speeds of 9.5 to 10 knots, and off-wind we saw speeds of 13 to 16 knots. Still fine tuning many components of the boat including keel cant timing, sail shape, winches, and blocks. Very happy we have another practice day to go. - Jim Madden

Wednesday, March 8: Just completed day two of practice on “Stark Raving Mad III”. Consensus of crew is we’re ready to race, but still in the very initial stages of a steep learning curve. Today’s best lesson was to determine just how many contraptions could be used at one time (forward board adjustment, keel canting, backstay, etc…). The boat is certainly not simple. Racing should be fun and exciting with 9 boats in IRC 1 on the same race course as 19 Far 40s, 6 Melges 32s, and 6 Mumm 30s. Thursday should be a photographer’s day.

The team for the event - a mix of Newport, RI, and SoCal guys. Jim Madden – Skipper; Robbie Haines & Dave Ullman – Tacticians; Artie Means – Navigator; Plus: Mick Harvey, Chris Busch, Jim Canon, Keith Lorence, Jeff Brock, Dave Culver, Mike Nash, Jon Gardner, Greg Nelson, Dave Calverley, David Doucett, and Greg Isett.

Shortly after the launch in San Diego Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five