Steeplechase , Whazup?

Mate is it still only 1:30 pm saterday afternoon in Florida, they are still sailing and the RC just had their second cup of coffee. Will be a few more hours before the first news comes in !

And more than 36 hours before the final result is in.

Wouter

Unusually small turnout for the Steeplechase -- only 21 boats. But I think all are veterans of the race except for Matt McDonald on the Blade F16 -- it is his first time around.

The race started in light air, about 7 mph, out of the north-northeast, so it was right on the nose and a beat all the way up Barnes and Card Sounds to Angelfish Creek. For part of that time the wind died to almost nothing.

After getting through the creek, they popped their spinnakers and headed a little offshore. The wind has now shifted around more to the east, so they are running pretty much down the shoreline on the Atlantic side of Key Largo, with wind up to 5-6 mph.

We don't expect the first arrivals at Anne's Beach until around 5 p.m.

I'll try to keep you posted if I hear anything. I'm manning the phone at home in case anybody has problems or comes ashore before the finish.

I forgot to tell you -- first to Angelfish Creek was a Marstrom 20 sailed by Mike Phillips and Steve Lohmayer. Big lead.

Got a call a little before 4:00 p.m. EST that boats were seen passing Rodriguez Key, which is about Mile Marker 96, which is about 23 miles north of the first-day finish line. Don't know if they were front-runners or stragglers.

Rick is on his way by car to the finish line at Anne's Beach and he has not seen any boats out on the water down as far as Holiday Isle.

Looks like the Saturday night dinner party put on by Team Tybee might be starting a lot later than usual. This will be one of the first Steeplechases in a long time to finish after dark -- just like the old days.

This is uni-rig / tall mast weather. I pray that the winds stay turbulent even when approaching 5-6 mph. If it transitions to laminair winds then we can predict the results to be in the order of the height of the masts. Highest mast first, lowest mast last.

That is not good news for the McDonalds (Matt and Gina). If they can get a good size spinnaker run in then the damage can be contained. Racing upwind against 9.5 mtr tall masted I-20's and 10.5 mtr and over masted M20's and ARC21's in lamminair winds (4-6 knots) is not what you want on an F16. The 1 to 2 mtr difference in mast height results easily in an additional 20 to 30 % difference in saildrive per square meter when the winds are laminair. In turbulants winds the saildrive per sq.mtr. are about the same.

So I know what the Blade F16 crew is praying for. Turbulant winds at any given speed available or massive spinnaker runs.

Wouter

Gina is not sailing with Matt. Crew is Dan Jarrett. At least they have two paddles with them.

Chris Titcomb (Nacra 20) just called Rick at the beach and said his GPS is telling him the finish is still 2.5 hours away. They are making about 3 knots headway. Grim.

Hey Mary,
Thanks a ton for the updates, just what I needed. At least it's sorta light that makes me feel a little better that I couldn't make it. Probably be a perfect day tomorrow, I hope so. Tell everybody "Hey" for me.

Hey Woot
There's more to this race than just finishes, ya oughta try it sometime.

Keep up the good work Mary.
Thanks again,
Todd A. Hart

Eric Arbogast (crewing on ARC 21 with Craig Van Eaton) just called me and said they are passing Rodriguez Key at Silver Shores. Says Matt McDonald's F16 is ahead of him, as is Team Morada (Nacra 6.0), and a Nacra 20.

Starting to look like some midnight arrivals.

Eric took heart and hope from the fact that nobody had finished yet.

Ditto MARY on the update. I know beer is being rationed heavily........many miles to go!

First boat just finished, a little before 7:30 p.m. It is Eric and Bill Roberts on an ARC 22.

Is that the one with the 38 foot mast?

Yeah, indeed, Mary thanks for the updates.

Yes, I know. I may indeed consider it some time in the future.

Wouter

The last boat finished at about midnight. (I don't think people were working hard enough with their paddles.)

I guess I don't need to go into detail about the agony endured by the sailors on the water and the race committee and ground crews waiting at the beach.

Amazingly, only four boats dropped out along the way, so 17 boats will continue the journey on Sunday in hopes of sailing back to their trailers instead of their trailers having to come to them.

This is only the second time the fleet has been stricken by such light air in the 21 years of this race.

It does not look much better for Sunday morning's start. Light and variable winds until the cold front comes through, and that is currently predicted to happen in the afternoon, when the wind will switch to the north or northwest -- but still only at about 10 knots. At least there is hope.

Mary If you pull out of the first leg are you able to trailer if posible to begin the second day's course.? Who else pulled out ? And is there enough wind to get under the bridge this mourning, day 2? thanks Bob G. DSYC. P.S you and Rick need to get the dial on the weather machine set correctly, you can't have all the the wind last year and no wind this year.Let's try to even it out for next year's race please. "That would make 2 years in a row I would not finish, had I entered this that is".

Bob,
The ones who pulled out are Alex LeFur, Wick Smith, Craig Van Eaton and Garrett Norton.

They could trailer down to Anne's Beach and race the second half if they wanted to, but nobody ever does that. I suppose you could win even if you didn't get scored for the first day if you sail the second day and all the other boats sink and you have a faster time than anybody had the first day (the latter wouldn't be difficult this year).

Too much wind last year and too little this year? That means next year will be exactly right.

I'm jonsin' too here in S.C. ... but the light air combined with the cold, flu, or strep throat settling in on me are making me feel better...well...err....about not going.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Sebring, 3hrs. north of Key Largo, for anything but sailing! 78 degrees and not a hint of wind, all day. Today, more of the same, and the Orlando news guy just said the cold front won't be through until tonight, so I doubt they will get much wind today. That's gotta suck.

Hey, it's 10:20 am and I just looked out the window at the lake...looks like about 5-8 out of the NW, maybe it will get to them in time! I hope they don't have to suffer through another drifter.

Looks like Eric and Bill are on a 22 this year NOT the 20. All 22's have 38 foot sticks.

Well not exactly nobody Mary. The first year Bob and I did the race on a Hobie 18 with spin we pulled out the first day because of light air. We trailered the boat to Anne's beach set it up and watched the rest of the fleet drift it. A bit a pain but the second day was great plus we gained some back country experience.

Good times!

Think Tradewinds Brother! F18 MidWinters East!

Eric and Bill Roberts just finished at 3 minutes after 1:00. There is a very nice breeze here. Bunch of other boats crossing Blackwater Sound.

Hey, Dave, we missed you guys. What happened? You were pre-registered, weren't you?

I could give you a lot excuses but none that would get me off the hook. Needless to say Bob is NOT happy with me right now.

Keep it coming Mary! Great stuff.

See you in January.

Dave

I'll be there (although there were doubts)!

The Sunday leg of the race started at 9:00 a.m. and all but one of the boats finished between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m.
Only 13 of the original 21 boats completed the entire course.
In addition to the four that succumbed to boredom and dropped out Saturday due to lack of wind, another four who DID finish Saturday night did not start Sunday's leg. Non-starters were John McLaughlin, Nacra 20; Matt McDonald, Blade F16; Marc Newlyn, Nacra 6.0; and Clive Mayo, A-Class.

Don't even ask me why Clive was in there with a singlehander. For years it has been an unwritten rule about this race that singlehanders are not allowed, for safety reasons. I thought it WAS in writing, but apparently not. Needless to say, the rule WILL be in writing for next year's race.

Check our home page tomorrow for Rick's story, results, and photos.

Thanks to Rick and Mary for once again organizing this classic race. This race is a nationwide favorite with boats coming from all over the east coast (MA, NC, MO, CT, FL, DC, ....). I talked to Rick and even though Gilberts will be gone next year he has plans for an alternate launch site for Steeplechase 2006.

This year was the 2nd slowest race since the race started running. I guess thats what we get after probably the fastest race in history last year.

The wind on Saturday was 5-6 knots out of the NE. This made for an upwind beat up to Angelfish creek and then a dead downwind run on the outside. I don't know how many miles I sailed but it was at least 150 by the time we finished.

The Supercat 22 sailed by Bill and Eric Roberts won first to finish and Portsmouth trophies. Team Tybee was the first of the I20's.

Way to keep the faith, Mike. Thanks for the update. Although I originally wish I were there, that light air slog on day one would have spelled the end for Captain Slaughter's patience (and most likely our lives).

A 38 foot stick on the ARC22? Yikes...

whats the ARC 22 rate? 80 something?

57.0