We had a situation a while back on one of our island races where we shortened the course because of too much wind. This was mainly for safety of the fleet, not just the beachcats but all the boats, and we had some good sized sleds entered.

The breeze was really brisk where we were, but where we were going was a different story.... as the local weather station closest to the first mark was showing 50 kts with a few peak gust of 60 plus.. We still had a great race that day closer to shoreline with an average wind of 15 to 20 kts... with some great up wind and spinnaker runs.

Funny story from that day, we actually had a entrant tell us the missed the start because there wasn't enough wind to make it to the start staging area which was a screaming beam reach from where we launched from.... and we the race committee should consider having a tow boat for future races! Guess you can't please everyone.

I have set my own personal limits of 25 kts plus and I am not going out....replacement parts are getting expensive...

That's a lot of open water from Sarasota to Key West. lots can happen there, not the least of which is you would get run over by mysterious, high-speed craft with a funny hemp-like smell running with no lights on after dark.

And it's an exercise area for the base down there, so you actually face the possibility of being hit by ordinance "residue" (flares, etc)

Oh, and the abandoned oil rigs that aren't marked..

is that jmac old boat in the pic?

Yes, that was the FIRST one he chartered to me that got hit.

I like that given the picture:)

I'll be there since I have a place to stay in Sarasota and my modified TheMightyHobie18 should keep up well enough, if I don't have a real boat by then or can somehow convince Chris to take the N20 down (yeah right). I'd recommend a 2 day event if we can find a stop over point.

Look at the GT300/Tybee 500 race rules. Basically they go in anything, its the Skipper/Crew's decision whether to go or not go, not the PRO's decision. They'd probably cancel in hurricane/tropical storm force winds, at least I'd be towing my boat and hitting the tiki bar at the next stopover, given I broke 1/2 my boat in conditions that were <25 kts of breeze the entire week.

What about something like Tampa to Sarasota or something on the west coast. The logistics of going to Key West make for a lot of expense. This coast north of Naples and south of Dunedin has many possibilities. The water is generally more cat friendly (less broken boats).

Tampa to Marco Island and back. Easiest logistics. Maybe a stop in Venice? Depends on how long you want to be on the water. I would suspect average 10-12 knot seabreeze