It's been quite a journey working my way up the South Florida coast from Islamorada to now waking up at Vero Beach, Florida. The first two days were picture postcard "chamber of commerce" days and yesterday was much the same except for the little detail of much more wind and a storm cell that crossed the race path.
The Flying Phantom is out of the race after having an unsuccessful beach landing at the Vero Beach finish. John Tomko, skipper of Lupe Tortilla and many times winner of the Great Texas 300 and other endurance races, successfully rounded up into the heavy surf and was just moments away from landing safely as all the ground crews rushed to grab the boat. Unfortunately they were in just a bit too deep water for the help to get hold of the boat so they had to stay in the surf backing in "one wave too many" and that wave fllipped the boat over in the surf snapping the mast. All the ground help wrestled the turtled Flying Phantom onto the beach, it's high tech foils and t-rudders sticking up in the air.
Pictures from the landing are in the Day 3 album here.
http://www.thebeachcats.c…ictures?g2_itemId=113761
It took some hard work in the surf to get enough of the mast, sails, and rigging cut away from the boat so it could be dragged/carried out of the water. I've got a bunch of pictures in the Florida 300 photo albums showing the sequence. It's a shame photos can't show the height and steepness of the surf very well. We had been standing on the beach all day watching it build. Every third or fourth set of waves piled up into a steep 6-8 foot wall/roller and that's the kind that got them.
The other drama of the day that was happening at the same time was that team Cat In The Hat with Larry Ferber and Jackson Smith demasted about 7 miles short of the finish when they broke a shroud. Luckily for them they weren't injured in the resulting mess and were able to make it to shore. Jackson was able to text the ground crew that they were alright and drifting towards shore, and the Kattack locator gave their position. Ground crew and volunteer helpers were able to locate them and retrieve the boat and the Key Sailing team provided parts and assistance repairing the boat. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cat In The Hat back on the line this morning.
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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Day 3 Florida 300 One Foiler is Out
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Posted: May 16, 2015 - 09:06 AM
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Posted: May 16, 2015 - 10:06 AM
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http://www.thebeachcats.c…2015-florida-300-report/
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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Posted: May 16, 2015 - 10:12 AM
Just terrible. Be careful out there. Is there a support motorized boat following or available etc.
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