Florida 300 Race Updates

The forecast has been changing quite a bit for today but the best I can tell is that the trapeze harness soreness isn't going to get much of a break today. Soreness is going to be moving out of the way to make room for more soreness as I would expect teams to continue the double trapeze work as they make their way to Vero Beach. At this point, sailors will feel the harness straps every time the boat comes off a wave and staying focused on boat speed and in rhythm with the wind and waves will be just a little bit harder. We will probably see the more experienced distance racing veterans have a little edge in this regard today but I guarantee you that they are grumbling about the upwind work as much as anyone.

Food and water, food and water - even though it's difficult to eat and drink from the wire, it's so critically important to keep to a food and water regimen when you are trapping repeatedly so you can enhance your body's ability to physically recover. The hand swelling is probably kicking in pretty good this morning for the folks that have the mainsheet in their hands during the day. The combination of the persistent sheet loads and constant salt water soaking is taking a toll on the muscles, tendons, and skin. They're probably sitting a breakfast right now noting how they are unable to make a closed fist due to the swelling. You always think that the condition of your hands will be a big deal during the day but once you punch through the surf and make that left turn, you never think about it again until the next morning. Note to ground crews; an ice bucket from the room filled with icy water is good on the hands at the finish line each day and helps keep the swelling down a little.

It initially appeared as if the wind would start to become a little more southerly today perhaps giving an opportunity for the spinnakers to come out for some of today's trip. As we zoom into the forecast this morning, the southerly angle is gone and it looks very similar to what we've seen the last two days with ~maybe~ a little more easterly. As was the case yesterday, there probably won't be enough wind angle start thinking about spinnakers today. I've got my fingers crossed that they get a little more angle on the breeze allowing the teams to get the kites out and change their positions around on the boats a little but it's a pretty slim chance. The teams will likely start in a moderate 10mph breeze that will increase as a little sea breeze starts to circulate between 11am and 4pm. Because the humidity is relatively low, there won't be a huge sea breeze but there will be enough that the teams will continue to stick close to shore to take advantage of another click or two of breeze and just a little better wind angle. Wave height should be a manageable 3 feet but still making the crew work on the main sheet ever important to keep the boat on it's toes.

The surf on the beach is decent but they will have enough wind to punch through and it should be a tidy and pretty start to watch. Hopefully Team Solar Wind will post some additional video of the start - they had a great video of a little calamity of yesterday's start at http://www.solarwind.solar/ David pointed out yesterday that the cracked off angle let the Nacra 20s start to stretch their legs. We'll see more of that again today - perhaps even a little more. Finishing order should be the Marstrom/Nacra Carbon20, Nacra20s, F18s but it's still up to the sailors to keep the bows down and boats hauling.

On a personal note, I'm really missing not partaking in this event. It hasn't been an

ideal

wind angle so far in this race but they've certainly had wind. I remember a Tybee I raced in (no idea which one) where the spinnaker came out of the bag once for about 10 minutes during the entire 500 mile trip and we got kinda sick of looking at the snuffer with the kite still in it after days of upwind and reaching work. This looks like it will be a very similar event and the teams will universally share a great sense of accomplishment when they slide into Cocoa Beach tomorrow evening (and boat owners will rejoice at the lack of wear and tear on their kites).

The more I look at the forecast, I'm starting to really question how/when/if the sea breeze will get going today. They could have spots of lightish 10mph wind during the day or it could be breezy the whole way to Vero Beach. My best guess is 10 at the start building to 14 for a short while between 12 and 2pm and probably dropping back to 10 as they approach Vero. If it does get to the lighter end of the forecast, it might pay to keep an eye out for patterns in the breeze near the shore because the sea breeze may sputter. They're going to be right on shore anyway so it's not going to be a game of big breaking decisions but I would look for any difference in the breeze strength and angle right at the surf line, 100, 200, and 300 yards off the beach to make sure you are positioned for the best wind. When the seabreeze is getting started, it usually starts right in the surf line but it can sometimes do weird things and start affecting the surface wind for a short streak 100 yards or more off the beach and not make it to the surf. Also watch the position of any other team that looks like they may have hold of a better line of wind. Always keep in mind who has the most experience in those conditions and watch them closely - but don't always assume that they have the best plan.

Sails are going up. (you'll have to click on the link and zoom in)
http://video-monitoring.com/beachcams/lakeworthinlet/pics/s4/may2114a/y210853e.jpg

Here's what Wind Alert has to say about it, put in Vero Beach, then click on any reported spot and then click 'forecast'. Vero Beach looks like east at 10 building to 13 later today, but tomorrow looks really light.

http://www.windalert.com/

Trackers are active. Looks like they're lined up.

Me too my friend. Me too.

29 seconds elapsed between the first and second F18 yesterday after 6+ hours of racing.

It can be crazy how tight it can be. We had a leg into Cocoa several years ago that went from 10am to 3am the next day. The night sky was completely overcast and we sailed all that darkness only seeing a boat once at around midnight. It was Jamie Livingston and we almost collided 1 mile offshore with our kites up as he flashed across our bow out of the complete blackness (not a good time for us to own a dark blue boat). As we were about an hour away from the finish, a hole in the clouds opened up and the moon allowed us to see FOUR boats right with us. We crossed into the surf line overlapped with Team Tygart at about 2:30am after 16.5 hours of racing.

That was also the finish where one of the ground crew members was in the surf to

help

the boats in (it was blowing 12 and we were sailing in with kites up...no help needed). Someone on the beach, obviously concerned for that person's well being, lit up the person with a spot light but also hit me in my very dark adjusted eyes with the beam. Blinded (and a bit confused at what just happened) I lost my bearings with the waves and let one accelerate under the stern driving the bow hard into the sand. Frank and I both were thrown from the boat but our sharp (and sober) ground crew caught the boat before it flipped.

We've also seen an entire race win come down to 10 seconds after 500 miles.

Whats the story on the Tiger? Were they able to piece things back together? Tracker seems to have been turned off yesterday PM.

Just wanted Brother Ding's livestream feed. First wave of boat left on starboard tack and some struggled through the surf. Ding opted to let the stragglers go past and go out on port on a much better angle. They punched out rather easily and turned just outside the surf while others in the first tier launch struggled mightly in the surf on starboard tack.

Port was definitely the right call.

Marspeed is way back in the fleet according the tracker - that lightweight Marstrom probably had intertia issues trying to get through that surf on starboard.

Excellent vids by brother Bob! Really miss Bonnie and Rick, Im sure Craig is probably a little too busy to report every 2 minutes like we need it...
Jakes investigative work on the RC tracker is impressive, hope they pull into the Asian massage parlor on 95, not that I would know anything about that

Capt Kirk still rocking it out, his liver and his sailing is legendary!

I still don't know how science can explain Capt Kirk's liver.

Ha! I just noticed they put the boat type in the spotter name. Yay RC!

I bet something broke in the surf. That area has ninja sand bars that can sneak up on an unwary banana board.

Last data shows 13.2kts. Doubt anything is broken.

the newest data shows everyone at 11knts or better, Capt Kirk 15 kts, they must be cracked off a fuzz and trucking!

I saw that this morning and thought I had just missed it before. That's handy.

Am I missing the distance legend on the tracker map or is there none?

Looks like a couple guys are heading out a bit further offshore - perhaps in hopes of riding the chute in? How does that work out on a combined VMG?

rehumbo: In my experience it rarely works and its a good way of wearing out your crew. Only if the angle is awesome can it really pay off.

As for marspeed breaking something... they could have fixed it yaknow 😛

Duct tape and bubblegum

Following this thread is great - I have no experience with this kind of long distance offnear-shore sailing. I'm in full-on learning mode for the future <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Looks like Newkirk either figured something out or brought a crew whip with him this morning. It's a little hard to tell but I don't think Marspeed is closing on them at all.

Yeah, some guys are pointed offshore - I get the thought but I agree with Tad that it is probably not going to give them any advantage. If it was flat water, maybe...but even with the kite up in that breeze, the waves are going to keep them from going much faster than they would be if they just cracked off onto the same reach as everyone else. Couple that with the fact that there will start to be a 1 to 2 knot difference in the breeze on the beach vs. 1/4 or 1/2 mile out, it's a play that has a LOT of risk for very little reward.

Dave, yeah, I've been lamenting the lack of a scale on that map. I'll sometimes overlay a google map with a similar zoom so I can get some sort of sense of scale.

A dumb question but, is the race scored on elapsed time or points won? The Florida 300 web site shows both time and points won. I thought I read that the races was on ET.

The port start was a smart call. It helped to be in the second start to see the trouble that the first starters were having getting through the surf.

Key sailing is currently 2.2 miles ahead of Royal yellow - so still in sight but getting smaller.

Key Sailing also appears to be 5 miles ahead of Marspeed - so JC and Bret have a big hill to climb today if they want to finish in the number 1 spot. From Bret's point of view, Key Sailing is a small stick on the horizon.

The tracker time stamps are pretty similar between these boats so you can count on the leaderboard distances.

That's a good question - I wondered that last night. The NOR has this to say so it sounds like it's all on elapsed.

The SI's have this to say:

So there is a first to finish race, Open Fleet (handicap), F18 fleet (finish position), and presumably a Nacra 20 fleet?

I was doing the same thing but I did it because I wanted to see where they were sailing in relation to the reef/drop-off.