Ft. Lauderdale to Key West start

Conditions were optimal today a mile off the Ft. Lauderdale coast. With 20 knots from the East, the only imperfect part of the scenario was a variably cloudy sky. When the light did punch through it highligted the spray coming off the boats and it made the cloudy moments worthwhile.

Approximately 50 boats- from R/Ps to trimarans to Bavarias to Js- started the 160-mile race today just outside of the Port Everglades inlet. After he finished photographing, Allen found himself half-way to the Baker's Haulover Inlet in Miami Beach. It's a long trip home in a dinghy in 6 foot seas. I was not surprised to get the call with his coordinates and a request that I find a boat ramp close by, but no luck.

It will be a quick one for the group beam-reaching to the Keys and lets hope the wind stays up for Key West Race Week.

See more dramatic photos here:
http://www.photoboatgallery.com/lightbox/index.php?category=gallery/Ft%20Lauderdale%20to%20Key%20West&start=0

SPYC Multiclass 08 Day 2

Today the St. Petersburg Yacht Club race committee showed me why they have such a good reputation for race management. The course I covered had five different classes on it and they were all racing multi-lap courses, some W/L, some triangle. It made my job tougher because every time one fleet was rounding the windward mark, another fleet was finishing just to windward of it.

The above shot shows A Cat, 505, Contender on the layline.

The RC got in two long races (and 3 for A Cats because they are that fast) despite a long postponement in the AM.

With A Cats and Ultima 20s (and all of the five fleets) meeting in right-of-way situations and a big bang from a collision between an FD and a U20, I barely had time to complain about light breeze. There was a lot going on. I didn't get catch the collision on "film" but maybe it can be seen on Kattack's race tracking at http://www.kattack.com/ . Let's hope the sound was worse than the damage.

See the results at the SPYC website http://www.spyc.org/club/scripts/view/view_clubannouncement.asp?pg=PR&GRP=5564&AID=38838&NS=PR&APP=58

St. Pete YC Multiclass Regatta day 1

The breeze was gusty close to shore today but the Southwesterly dropped to between 5 and 8 knots by the time it reached the race course in Tampa Bay.

Still, the Contender and FD sailors put in an impressively long day with 4 multi-leg races. I survived the slow day in the dinghy by playing with our newest photo/sailing-geek toy- a GPS receiver for our cameras. Today's photos are our first ones tagged with coordinates. Is this a useless gimmick or will we rely on it one day?

See more photos and today's results here: http://www.thephotoboat.com/SPYC_MultiClassRegatta.htm