The Great Texas starts tomorrow at 10:00 am central. Follow the race at www.gt300.com. We will have live tracking on all the boats. You can get the latest news from Facebook at www.facebook.com/greattexas300!

Steve

Thank you and have a great race. Great to see two Florida 300 teams joining your race! Tell Larry I said hi...

Leg 1 of the Great Texas kicks off today at 10 am. Check it out at www.gt300.com or facebook.com/greattexas300. The forecast calls for a good, stiff breeze at 15-20 knots all day out of the south south east. Under these conditions, the fleet should be moving fast. The race starts at 10 am from South Padre. Expect boats to be arriving in Mustang Island between 4-6 pm today. Enjoy!

Steve Piche, skipper of Team Great Texas 300!

Good luck, Steve. I will be sharing your Facebook post to Catamaran Sailor Magazine Facebook Page as well, where we have nearly 3000 LIKES.
Should be some good exposure
Rick

It looks like Lee Wicklund and David Cerdas on the NACRA 20 are about to hit the beach first in front of the Tornado with Brian Lambert and Will Roddering

Nice! Way to go Lee and David

Good for Lee and David.... how does that orange boat look?

Wow, incredible first day of drama! Great aerial pics too.

Steve, thank you for the sportsmanship and awesome Top 10 list.

Results:
http://www.gt300.com/race_results_2016

Mike

I got the live tracking, where are the aerial pics?

Facebook site. They also have some great drone coverage of the Day 1 start.

https://m.facebook.com/greattexas300

Kudos to the OA for not locking this for FB-user-only fans.

Mike

And I have shared almost all of the stuff to Catamaran Sailor Magazine's Facebook page as well
Rick

Thanks for following us at gt300.com!

Another great day on the water as we did a 100 mile spin reach. Sailing at its ultimate best.

Congrats to Brian Lambert and Will Rottgering as they now are in first but Shannon and I are working on keeping them honest and looking for opportunites.

Follow live tracking tomorrow starting at 10 am central at gt300.com

Check out the day 2 video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP2DKoWLON4

Day 3 of the Great Texas covers 60 miles from Matagorda to Surfside. After excellent breeze the first two days, the forecast calls for lighter winds today (5-8 knots). The fleet should start out downwind and then shift to a spinnaker reach as the wind shifts to the southeast from the southwest. Once again, you can follow the fleet live with our tracking service at www.gt300.com

Good luck Steve!

Mike

How have the weeds been this year?

How are you doing with that boatless thing Karl?

How are you doing with that boatless thing Karl?

Day 2 with more breakdown drama, but no towing required by the sounds of it.

https://m.facebook.com/GreatTexas30...08551/?type=3&source=48&__tn__=E

I'm not a metallurgist, but that rust spot inside the break makes me think there was at least a hairline fracture there, ultimately leading to the failure of the component (albeit with disastrous timing for your quest for regatta glory).

Great job on the at-sea MacGyver-ing!

Mike

I'm not a metallurgist either...got some of it in school though; no question it was fatigue related...lots of factors there contributing. Weld looks like it was partial on both sides and was trapping moisture inside (more rust there). Then you have hardening of the material from the weld heat (making it more brittle). Hard to tell from the angle of the photo but the weld may have also undercut the structure of the shackle slightly and weakened it on the far side where the fatigue looks to have started. Introduce the repeat cycle stress of the downhaul, wind, and waves...snap.

Which reminds me that it's probably time to inspect all of mine!