Alec Cutler and the crew of Hedgehog remained on course for a top-ten showing after the penultimate day of the Quantum Key West Race Week in Florida yesterday.

The local entry posted a fourteenth and fourth in light air conditions to head back ashore in tenth spot in the 38-boat J-70 fleet. Overall, they have managed seven top-ten showings in the 11 races contested so far with a highest finish of fourth, which they have achieved three times.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club skipper Cutler is no stranger to the Quantum Key West Race Week, having won the Melges 32 title at the 2014 regatta. His crew for this year’s event includes Olympic gold medal-winner and five-times world champion Nathan Wilmot, of Australia, the team’s tactician.

Also among the crew is Bermuda Red Bull Youth America’s Cup sailor Mackenzie Cooper, who is making his first appearance in the J-70 and also sailing with Cutler for the first time.

American entry New England Ropes, helmed by skipper Tim Healy, has a nine-point advantage over the rest of the J-70 fleet heading into today’s final day of the regatta.

Healy, who has won a plethora of major titles in the J-24 class as well as multiple national and North American titles in other classes including the J-70.

The American skipper and Pan American Games gold medal-winner was a three-times All-American Sailor at St Mary’s College in Maryland, the same school Bermuda Red Bull Youth America’s Cup sailor Cooper attends.