Everyone,

Fort Walton Yacht Club wants to host the Round the Island Race the last weekend in September 2016. Our greatest worry is the safety of all racing in the event first and foremost. I am personally asking for help from the community to join me in planning this event. I can be contacted by cell phone 850-305-9653 or email Patssun@yahoo.com

Thanks in advance for your help!

V/R

John D. Farris
2015 Fleet Captain
Fort Walton Yacht Club
~~/)~~~/)~~/)~~~~/)~~/)~~/)~~~/)~~/)~~~~/)
Doing whatever it takes to get more people sailing
and more boats on starting lines in Choctawhatchee Bay!

So, here’s a suggestion from Randy Smyth: Rename the event the 50/50 ‘round the Island Race.

1. Keep it 100 miles but break it into two days of 50 miles each.
2. Start in Fort Walton with a Bermuda start: Slowest boats at 7 am and various starts during the morning based on their handicap. So, the first boat at the finish is the first boat overall etc. No handicaps are figured after the finish.
3. In good weather on Saturday we race from Fort Walton out Destin pass in the Gulf to Pensacola Pass to Chicken Bone Beach in Pensacola (after Fort Pickens but before the first condo in Gulf Breeze). In bad weather on Saturday we race from Fort Walton inside the Intercostal to Chicken Bone Beach.
4. We host a BBQ on the beach ‘tail gate style’ Saturday at sunset.
5. Sunday we normally race home in the intercostal from Chicken Bone Beach to Fort Walton. However, if we went inside Saturday we would sail back to Fort Walton Sunday via the Gulf if the weather cooperate.

What do y'all think?

There is a great conversation about the RTI on the Gulf Coast Cat Sailors Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1496578133915979/

V/R

John D. Farris
2015 Fleet Captain
Fort Walton Yacht Club
~~/)~~~/)~~/)~~~~/)~~/)~~/)~~~/)~~/)~~~~/)
Doing whatever it takes to get more people sailing
and more boats on starting lines in Choctawhatchee Bay!

John,

I like the ideas, however the stop will add real burden to those of us who will travel. It so hard to find shore crew willing to re-locate your shore gear. It would save many headaches if FWYC could assist with this in the form of a trailer of some sort.

The same issue is being raised in the forum over at Catsailor.com and I'll repeat it here too. Y'all worry about the racing. We'll get your personal items and equipment moved, staged and positioned as part of the race weekend. Its just something we will have to plan for ahead of time. We have to have all the race committee equipment and event support stuff like tables, chairs, coolers and like items there too. The way I see it y'all are going to help load the truck twice and race committee will unload the truck twice. Not a big deal. And if there are so many boats we have to have two or three trucks then that's a good problem to have!

V/R

John D. Farris
2015 Fleet Captain
Fort Walton Yacht Club
~~/)~~~/)~~/)~~~~/)~~/)~~/)~~~/)~~/)~~~~/)
Doing whatever it takes to get more people sailing
and more boats on starting lines in Choctawhatchee Bay!

I like the idea of making it 2 days. Much better in the event of light air, not having to do the intercoastal portion in the dark. I would be coming from Jacksonville, which makes 2 days a lot more worth the effort. When traveling from out of town, the logistics may be a little more, but I think the event split into 2 days makes a lot more sense to me.
Cheers

Bruiser,

From a race management standpoint lots of moving parts but easier to account for all the racers and have a good time too! Developing sponsorship for this event too. Stay tuned for updates.

Anyone wanting to provide us input directly contact us at Patssun@yahoo.com or 850-305-9653.

V/R

John D. Farris
2015 Fleet Captain
Fort Walton Yacht Club
~~/)~~~/)~~/)~~~~/)~~/)~~/)~~~/)~~/)~~~~/)
Doing whatever it takes to get more people sailing
and more boats on starting lines in Choctawhatchee Bay!