Maybe we can talk the guy out of getting married.

ramp launching with 20 knots + gusts... should be fun!

With this crowd - that might just be possible.

Back it out and unfurl jib/ hoist main once you've shoved off out of the way...

For some reason I think the front's moving faster than the forecast (it's over my house right now, and I'm only a 2 hour drive away from KL), so I'll let you know what the wind is tomorrow. I suspect less than 20 knots.

It is a piece of cake launching there. The ramp is almost all sandy anyway.., shouldn't make any difference.

The wind forecasted is not the front. When it is from the eastern quadrant it is pretty much our normal Tradewinds somewhat fortified by the High following the front.
Rick
Rick

I think the front that they are talking about pushed through ATL last night. Had a couple of gusts that shook the house. Thats my indicator of a "gonzo blast".

Its also 20 degrees colder here today that it was yesterday. Brrrr!!!

giddy up!

Saturday
North to northeast winds near 20 knots. Seas beyond the reef 5 to 8 feet...except higher in the Gulf Stream. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters rough.

Saturday Night
Northeast winds near 20 knots. Seas beyond the reef 5 to 8 feet...except higher in the Gulf Stream. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters rough.

Sunday
Northeast to east winds 15 to 20 knots and gusty. Seas beyond the reef 4 to 7 feet...except higher in the Gulf Stream. Seas inside the reef 2 to 3 feet. Nearshore waters choppy. Isolated showers.

Eat yer wheaties boys! You're gonna have a fresh one.

BTW, the breeze is still relatively strong around here after it pushed through. Doing a nice job drying out my soaked and soggy lawn.

Crossing the flats on Sunday is going to be a bitch!

Main Key, Barnes Sound

Sat
Low 8:13 AM -.1
High 1:55 PM +.6

Sun
Low 9:06 AM -.1
High 2:46 PM +.6

Well, I guess it was predictable. Beachcat sailors are notorious procrastinators about leaving the beach. When the sailors no longer had a deadline to meet of getting to the lift bridge by 8:30 for the opening, very few got to the starting line by the scheduled 9:00 a.m. start. They straggled under the new high bridge and up Jewfish Creek to Barnes Sound, and finally all 21 boats were assembled, and the start was at 9:30.

The wind was out of the northeast at about 20 knots at the start but now has died to about 16 knots. No boats in sight yet at Anne's Beach.

Air temp. was chilly at the start but is now quite pleasant. They should be having a fun spinnaker run to the first-day finish.

Here is the list of competitors, experienced sailors all:

SAIL# BOAT TYPE TEAM
2230 ARC 22 Eric Roberts/Bill Roberts
USA 151 Tornado Leandro Spina/Jamie Livingston
USA 643 Tornado 2 Bob Walke/Robert D’Angelo
USA 2 Marstrom 20 Michael Phillips/Kenny Pierce
USA 1 Marstrom 20 Bret Moss/Mark Jones
69 Nacra 6.0 Tony Priu/Mark Lipkus
Marleys Yellow Nacra 20 Steve Lohmayer/Jay Sonnenklar
Marleys Orange Nacra 20 Chris Runge/Terry Greene
864 Nacra 20 Larry Ferber/Robbie Behrens
642 Nacra 20 Todd Riccardi/Brendon Scanlon
1005 Nacra 20 Mike Hill/Holly Conklin
1018 Nacra 20 Karl Langefeld/Bryan Paine
622 Nacra 20 Todd Hart/Jerry Wolfe
Marleys White Nacra 20 Rick bliss/Evan Greene
867 Nacra 20 Chris Titcomb/Trevor Burd
844 Hobie 20 Leonardo Valdiria/Saramy Fuentes
287 Hobie 20 Jack Woehrle/Bailey White
647 F-18 (Nacra) John Casey/Lluka Muco
856 F-18 (Infusion) Jim Zellmer/Nora Zellmer
230 Nacra 5.8NA Steve Karr/Josh Samples
709 F-16 (Blade) Chris Stater/Hans Evers

As of the 1 p.m. report from Molasses Reef, the wind was up to 18 knots gusting to 20, out of the north-northeast.

So how is the weather? We are having a perfect day here.

About 70 degrees, slightly overcast, breezy. Like I said: pleasant.

I'm a little surprised to see a Blade entered. How are they doing?

Thank you for the updates Mary.

Rick has not called any results in to me yet.

Yes, it will be interesting to see how the F16 does. Chris Slater is an excellent sailor, but he is pretty new to the F16. He now lives in Miami, and he and his crew have been practicing on Biscayne Bay.

Now I have most of the results. All but five boats have finished. The five that have NOT finished are the two Hobie 20's, the F16, the Nacra 5.8 and the old Tornado (without spin).

Here are the actual finish positions (not Portsmouth), and I am just giving you last names:

1. Phillips
2. Roberts
3. Spina
4. Lohmayer
5. Moss
6. Titcomb
7. Casey
8. Bliss
9. Hart
10. Langefeld
11. Hill
12. Runge
13. Riccardi
14. Priu
15. Ferber
16. Zellmer

The first boat finished in about 4 minutes under four hours. The 16th boat on the list above, the Zellmers on the F18, finished almost an hour and 20 minutes later.