and when they hit the stream, it will make the apparent wind feel all weird.

That looks like a serious "horizon job" going on there.

I am enjoying watching this race! It's good to see teams racing up the Florida coast again.

Steve

Maybe I spoke too soon. Marspeed doesn't seem to be setting the world on fire at the moment. Catfever in the F18 is right on their hip.

Having raced against Brett and JC at Tradewinds on a C2, that Marstrom is amazing how fast it is.

Remember that Marstrom is a unirig. If they're in tight reaching conditions it may explain something.

incoming wind, with cross current made for an interesting start. All boats got off. Marspeed had a rough time getting out of the surf because the boat is designed to run without a jib. They have managed to come back into second place but Key Sailing has a substantial lead over the rest of the pack who are running close. This could cut down Marspeeds lead overall by a bit.

All boats are tracking well. Check it out:
http://kws.kattack.com/GEPlayer/GMPosDisplay.aspx?FeedID=1234

It looks like the tiger never made it back to the water, is that correct?

Anybody watching the live stream?
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/8447390/events/2994520

I love how he is posting so quickly after the live stream. Great coverage considering this is the first running.

Was that a broken spin halyard on the last boat in?

well...at least it looks like a spin run tomorrow. As per the forecast I'm seeing now, it's going to be a bit light but they should be able to keep moving. The day should start with a straight spin shot down the coast and evolve into gybing down the coast as the wind veers more south.

I'd like to see the results of today so we can see what the delta is for tomorrows' lead horse race!

I heard Marspeed broke a rudder on the launch. Apparently they were advocating for port start which really paid today.

Brett voted starboard.

Watch Solar Wind FL 300 on Livestream: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/8447390/events/2994520/videos/51568888

The link above is today's start brought to by SolaWind

Great move on the port start, David!!! Awesome to see on video.

Great move, Ding. You made that look too easy!

Mike

Definitely...people yelling at you and stuff. Cool Calm, nope! That was awesome.

The forecast changed pretty wildly again this morning. It's going to be a LIGHT start likely with wind from the south at around 4 knots. The good news is that the surf probably laid down a good bit and the southerly direction will be good for a spinnaker set off the beach to have plenty of power to get through the waves. We shouldn't see any discussion about port/starboard start - expect the fleet to start on starboard. Sometimes the fleet will hesitate to launch their kites before the start for some reason and this will occasionally give a couple of teams teams an opportunity to pounce on their competition with a surprise kite launch at T-10 seconds. I don't think the spinnaker launch will be much of a question this morning, however. We'll probably see all kites go up with about a minute to go.

Later in the day, expect the wind to turn more east and pick up a ~little~ strength as a very light sea breeze will setup with the sun heating up the land. Humidity is still low, so there is practically no chance for the seabreeze to kick into high gear. Wind will probably peak around noon-1pm at 7 to 8 knots. With the easterly shift, crews should be able to leave the kites out all day. They'll be gybing back and forth early but should be able to settle into a nice long gybe up the coast later today.

Playing near shore again will be the order for the day - any seabreeze effect will be tight to the beach. Expect teams to run the kites just outside the surf and sandbars. Teams battling early today may find themselves in a game of surf chicken. This is a lot of fun and you can sometimes get a little boost of speed by using the waves as they stand up just before the surf line - get too close, however, and a sandbar that sticks out just a little further will kick up a wave that catches you by surprise and will break turning them toward shore causing them to lose some position. Fun stuff!