The comments from the first day of the 30th anniversary Quantum Key West Race Week, the City of Key West Day, were nearly unanimous – epic sailing conditions in one of the best racing venues in the world. In the highly competitive J/70 fleet, the largest Class at race week with 42 entries, the story from the past two years remains the same – Carlo Alberini’s Calvi Network of Italy is leading the way. The fleet sailed three races on Monday. Alberini won the fleet last year and in 2015, when he also won Boat of the Week honors. Along the way, he and crew have been extremely consistent, never counting a finish worse than 11th in 19 races. After finishing 3-2-1 Monday, they’ve posted top three finishes an astounding 13 times over the past three years. That type of consistency is rare in one regatta, let alone over a three-year span. “It always turns out right for us. It’s just very nice sailing,” said mainsail trimmer Karlo Hmeljak of Slovenia, a two-time Olympian (2008, ’12). “We escape winter to come here and sail in summertime conditions. We enjoy it a lot and maybe that’s why we do so well.” Hmeljak said that their performance is even more important because crews are not allowed to discard their worst finishes. So a bad finish adds points that can hinder an overall victory. Hmeljak said that their strong showing was due in part to a good first leg. “The first leg wasn’t that long so the first shift was crucial,” said Hmeljak. “We did very good playing the first shift, and that was it. There was quite a big swell, especially downwind, and that made for huge differences between boatspeeds. We were planing, but just below full power so sometimes we had to work hard to get the waves.” Henry Filter (Annapolis, MD) leads the J/70 Corinthian Division with Wild Child. “This weather is a so much better than last year; it’s just spectacular with the wind, waves and sun,” said Filter. “We got off the line OK, and had good first legs, usually within or close to the top ten. But then we’d have a few mistakes and drop back, and in this Class it can be hard to recover. A lot of these other crews have been racing together more recently, but I think our teamwork will improve as we keep racing.” Racing continues through Friday. Photos are available on the Class Facebook page, and complete event information is available at https://keywestraceweek.com/.