Good As It Gets

Y'all know that Ken Read (along with crew Scott Norris and Karl Anderson) simply dominated the 03' Etchells Worlds. We wanted to find out how they did it and Ken, as always, was able to help out. Enjoy.


Six bullets out of eight races in a 93 boat fleet is sick. Sick! This is not exactly a weak fleet either. Do your best to explain to us mortals how this is done

KR
Well, I guess I have to say a large percentage of the success was preparation, a great boat and an awesome team. Scott Norris, coach of the University of Rhode Island Racing Team was in the middle and as good a young sailor as I have sailed with as far as keeping track of the numbers and helping keep us in phase. Karl Anderson and I have been sailing together on and off for nearly 20 years. He preps as good a boat as anyone and this boat was no exception. Plus, he is a hockey player when he isn’t sailing so he is tough and physical by nature. Good combo for this boat.


What would be the one biggest factor?

KR
Very simple. When you are fast it is much easier to be smart. We also had some really good starts and were able to keep our lane until we wanted to tack in all races but one. That is crucial in a huge fleet like this. Pretty fun when it all comes together.


Give us a description of what you and your team did to get ready for the regatta

KR
Well, Karl contacted me right near the end of last year when I was still in NZ and asked if I wanted to go sail “real boats” again. I was obviously pretty burned out when the Cup trials was over and took this as an opportunity to get back into sailing for fun. Early in the year we mapped out a schedule that would peak at the worlds. Next step was finding a third crew, and we both decided that we would bring a bit of youth into the team. Scott is 28 and the right size (about 225 lbs) so we decided to give him a shot. And as it turns out he not only fit in- but he fit in perfectly to the team. Vince Brun of North Sails and I were sailing together on Stars and Stripes so we put together a sail plan and I simply picked his brain on the latest in Etchells tuning tricks, and we took it from there. We also have a great local fleet with the likes of Bill Fortenberry, Phil Garland and Henry Spingler constantly pushing us in local racing. It all came together obviously.


Your brother mentioned that you were very confident going into the regatta. Why? did you know you had speed? Local knowledge? An electric inboard engine?


That's how you do it.
Photo TOM RAGLAND PHOTOGRAPHY

KR
Actually we were pretty confident. We had won the New England Championships mid summer and since got faster in all conditions. We really worked at the lighter air speed because we knew that Long Island Sound could throw a lot of light air at us if a high pressure sat over top of us. Karl also worked really hard at the boat prep. I haven’t sailed on a boat in a long time (maybe never) that was so utterly prepared. It all just breeds confidence.


Tell us about the sail program.

KR
Pretty simple. Call Vince Brun at North Sails San Diego and buy a suit of sails. Nothing special. Set up our shrouds almost identical to his tuning guide. I do think we set up the sails a bit different because of the chop on LIS. But for the most part, we were stock San Diego North set up. I was prepared to tweak them if I needed to. But, they were simply really nice sails with great wind range overlaps and adjustable. Nice combination.


Thanks Ken. What's next for you? Big boats?

KR
I have several projects going. A new Transpac 52 “Esmeralda” being built for my friend Makoto Uematsu. Another project is “Carrera”, Joe Dockery’s 81 foot turbo maxi that we sail here in the northeast a lot- doing short to medium distance off shore racing. Just got done sailing with Edgar Cato winning the 12 Meter North Americans on “Hissar”. We will keep the Etchells program going. And there is obviously the chance of doing more match racing and signing up with another team for the next AC. There is a lot going on. Which is great.