‘Soozal’ Tearing It Up at Race Week
With two races left to go today, Dan Woolery’s brand-spankin’ new Pt. Richmond-based Soozal is kicking butt and taking documentation numbers at Acura Key West Race Week. The Mark Mills-designed King 40 is proving to be a potent threat right out of the box. After eight races in which they counted only one finish outside the top three — a ‘lowly’ fifth — in the 13-boat, IRC 2 division, the Soozal crew doesn’t seem too hampered by the fact that this is the boat’s first regatta. The team has already notched three bullets, one of which came on Wednesday and helped earn Woolery’s team ‘Boat of the Day’ honors.
"This is an extremely competitive fleet and we sailed our butts off today," he was quoted as saying Wednesday evening in the regatta’s daily publication, Key West News. "I think the key for us was that we made very few mistakes, and we covered up those mistakes by catching the shifts."
It doesn’t hurt to have Robbie Haines picking those shifts for you. Nor does it hurt to have sailors like Project Manager Scott Easom and Matt Siddens trimming headsails, North Sails’ Pete McCormick on the main, Greg Sultan on the bow, Chris Lewis navigating, Gary Sadamori in the pit and Portland’s Deb Hong in the sewer.
"To win Boat of the Day is quite an honor for the entire crew," Woolery added. Soozal carries a three-point lead going into today’s final two races. "We’re taking nothing for granted . . . we have to keep the pedal down and keep pushing forward."
Elsewhere in IRC 2, the only other Bay Area boat at the event, Steve Stroub’s brand-new Santa Cruz 37 Tiburon, is suffering for having the fourth fastest rating in the division while giving up a minimum of three feet of waterline to every other boat save a near-sistership which rates slower than she does. Not designed to race in IRC from the get-go, the boat doesn’t get any favors from the rule. That, coupled with the fact the crew had never seen this particular boat until two days before the regatta started, gives a better picture of why this solid program isn’t looking so good in the results department.
By the time you read this, the regatta will be over; you can look here to see if Woolery and company were able to seal the deal.