As usual i went down on friday to see the boats rig and talk with the racers. fund day, great event and great "tribe" of people - all very friendly





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Anybody recognize these 2 guys talking in the picture directly above?

The Coast Guard had to cancel the event today after being called to rescue several people. They were not happy with the OA. This event has grown too big to fly under the radar.

Is the guy on the left, back to camera, Randy Smyth? Not sure who the guy facing the camera is.

Thanks for all the great photos. What is the location of the start? And why did so many have to be rescued? At my house about 150 miles north of the Keys, it was only blowing NE at 10-15, dying to 5-10 by 4pm. Should have been flat water with a downwind push for them on in the Everglades? Or was the wind down there a lot different? Other side of the front?

There is some great creativity displayed in some of those boats!

Sounds like a couple of kayakers got into trouble for brief period of time. Seems that the wind never broke 17 or 18 knots but for some reason there was cause for some people to get rescues. Seems the EO didn't have a permit for the event.

At the start the winds were NE 19-23 knots blowing against an strong incoming tide which created a reported 4' chop. One boat reported helping a capsized tandem kayak. When that kayak capsized a second time the CG was called. That started a chain of events. Few more people needed help. Then the people on the beach started worrying about their people on the water and called the CG to find out if their people were alright. Of course to confuse things further everyone uses a tribe name. I think you get the picture.

I'm not sure how many boats but news this morning reported about 135 boats. Some have complained about the CG reaction but you can hardly blame them. To put that many boats on the water crossing shipping channels without at least sending a letter of intent to them is, well you can decide that for yourself.

They set up and launch from Ft. Desoto Park, a county park. I wouldn't be surprised if the CG had a talk with the park.

One other thing. The Spot tracking sucks. Whether it's the units or the site it's not something you can count on.

I didn't realize they were starting up north of Tampa Bay and had to cross the mouth of the bay, heading south. I can see where that would create some pretty big chop with the wind blowing out at 20kts against a strong full moon tide coming in.

So did most of the boats continue heading south for the Everglades?

Thanks for the updates.

There was a major ship crossing right in front of the start last year through that fairly active shipping channel right in front of the start. Only two boats made it clear ahead - a few others caused a bunch of horn blasts from the boat. Alan and I were one of the ones that were well clear ahead of it. I was surprised that didn't cause more fuss then.

I hope they can figure out how to work the event safely and coordinate with the coasties. I don't blame the CG for their reaction either but it does suck when you prepare that hard for something to have the plug pulled on it.

Alan and his dad do appear to be continuing on down the coast...the CG probably didn't shut it down early enough at that checkpoint to get the faster (and more seasoned) boats.

errrr....edit that. Alan and his dad are headed north and appear to be in Lemon Bay around Englewood. Looks like they turned and sailed north a fair distance to get there...so they must be pulling out of the water.

yes...appears so. They're at Marina at Cape Haze according to their tracker....which was checkpoint 1

Why not just move the start to the south side of the bay, not have to cross the shipping channel and continue on down the coast? Seems it would be a lot less hassle, especially with the Coasties.

There must be a place to launch somewhere on the south side of Tampa Bay, why not use Anna Maria Island or someplace in that area?

The same situation occurred one year during the Round the Island Race out of Ft. Walton. Bud Schumann and I were the 3rd team across the deserted finish line - behind John Suares (<a boat length.) in a Viva 27, and the Roberts on their Roberts 30. We were on Bud's NACRA 5.8. The Roberts were the only team to Finish before the USCG made their move.

The seasoned gentleman who Randy is speaking with in the photo a few posts ago, is Mead Gougeon, I believe.

There is a city beach/park on the north end of Holmes beach/Longboat. It's pretty small, but could give at least the kayakers a good place to start (and either route to the Gulf or down the intercoastal depending on whether they head left or right).

Beach access on Longboat is difficult for boats, but the "sand Bar" has a street on the south side that I believe you are able to walk on to the beach from. Perhaps a fat beach wheeled boat could roll on the beach from there.

Don't the rules require you to be able to push your boat into the water? In that case I would presume most of the craft can be rolled out to the waterline (somehow) and might be able to get launched.

From the photos, it looks like a good multihull turnout. Was that red trimaran a Trailer-Tri (circa 1987)?

There is an advantage to crossing a tough patch of water right at the start...you can weed out some of the bad apples right there. It's hard to police skill level and wisdom but if given the choice of having the fleet struggle within 3 miles of the start or 100 miles into the Everglades, the start is probably a good place for a tough patch of water to cross.

Regardless, this is going to be a pretty big black eye for this kind of event and they'll probably have to change something or the Coast Guard will probably prevent them from running in the future. One of the better ideas I've seen is for the organizer to have chase boats at the start. Everyone keeps talking about some sort of skill filter too - but that would be a tough one to define and manage.

Correct Smyth and the other guy is Gougeon of West System

Nice drone work! Thanks for posting.

In that second video, at about 1:19, was that a Hobie Adventure Island? Looks like the two of them are pedaling pretty good in addition to the sail. I've often thought about getting one of those but haven't ever seen one under sail!

so was it crossing the shipping lane (which is probably the busiest outside of maybe Miami or Jacksonville), or having to rescue the kyakers that pissed CG off the most?

Isn't Skyway park almost caddy-corner to Desoto Park? They could cross under the Skyway bridge and the shipping lane a little more spread-out than the current mass exodus from the beach right into the channel.

Also, there is some sort of park right at the west end of Manatee River (two, actually.. one on each side.) The north one could be a good launch point, giving competitors a good jaunt across Tampa Bay while remaining south of the shipping channels entirely

But yes, this could make for major changes to the EC (or drive it underground)...

My money would be on not having a permit is what pissed them off them most.