Wet and Wild Steeplechase

Key Largo, Florida, Dec. 9-10, 2006
A cold front blasted through the Florida Keys the day before the 22nd Annual Key Largo Steeplechase, a 110-mile trek around the beautiful islands, leaving behind a huge high pressure area that funneled tons of wind off its southeastern edge. This produced winds in the 25 to 30 knots area on Saturday.

These are the survivors of the 22nd Annual Key Largo Steeplechase. Holding the "Olde Lawn Chair" is Kenny Pierce and the Rick White Perpetual Trophy is being held by John Casey, both of Team Tybee Island

The weather must have scared a lot of the sailors away, as there were only eighteen boats registered for the race. Usually this race draws well over 40 boats. On Saturday morning there were a lot of sailors sitting around listening intently to their weather radios.., and not much liking what they were hearing – northeast winds of 25and 30 knots and gusty.
Finally, when it came to push and shove and get to the start line, only twelve boats departed. The tribulations for the day happened even before the start. The fleet had to get through Jewfish Creek Bridge to get to the starting line in Barnes Sound. The wind was on the nose and the current was running stronger than anyone had every seen before – the current had to be close to 5 knots.
Finally all the boats made it to the starting line. There was a postponement for the second time in the history of the race. And when the final gun sounded for the start only 10 boats headed north toward Angelfish Creek, the way to the ocean side of the island.
Team Tybee Island with John Casey and Kenny Pierce were behind on the first day, but had a great start on the second leg and won all the marbles.

The bay side of the course still had pretty flat waters despite the blasting winds. Most of the boats had very little trouble navigating the easy side of the islands. But, after they crossed over to the Atlantic side of the islands and headed down Hawks Channel they found the winds stronger and the waves steep and close together. Every boat capsized at least once. The Hobie 16 claimed the record at five pitchpoles.
There were lots of problems and only seven of the ten starters made it to the finish line at Anne’s Beach in Islamorada. One boat broke a mast, but the worse situation was when Olli Jason got separated from his boat. The crew, Patrick Gilles, could not keep the boat righted to get back to the sailor in the water. Luckily, they were directly off shore of a very populated area of the island and someone noticed the problems. They sent out a boat and rescued Jason and returned him to his boat. They dropped out at that point.
In a comedy of errors, the Coast Guard and the Fish and Wildlife Department had choppers and powerboats out trying to locate what we were led to believe was one of our boats. Team Cat in a Hat, with Larry Ferber and Dale Larkin aboard, had accidently activated their EPIRB. The device was in a supposed drybag, but they discovered upon arrival at the finish line that the drybag was full of water. And the EPIRB was water-activated. The scary part is the USCG did not find them.
Meanwhile, these government agencies were harassing Mary Wells on the phone about the boats being on the water in the first place. After the fact it seems all the search and rescue they blamed on us was not really true. They were really looking for a boat that was offshore and sinking.
The first boat to the finish line was Eric Roberts and Dave Wier on the ARC 22, with a reefed main and storm jib. Even reefed they managed to capsize and broke most of their battens. The trap wires were a tangle mess, looking more like a tangle of coat hangers.

Eric Roberts and Dave Wier skippered the ARC 22 to line honors on the first day, but were dismasted on the second day.

Team Tybee Island was the second boat in with John Casey and Kenny Pierce, followed by Chris and Nate Titcomb, then Jake Kohl and Frank Moore.

Chris and Nate Titcomb of Accelerated Chaos drove to 3rd place overall

The next boat was two kids sailing a Hobie 16, Michael Siau and Lindsay Young. With their handicap they took the lead by 45 minutes. The conditions seemed to be pretty good for this young team and the surfing type boat.

Two youngster, who had previously won the US Sailing Youth Championships, sailing a Hobie 16 for the event had a 45-minute lead after the first day of sailing.

Mike Krantz and Dave Lennard were sailing a Nacra F18 and after several flips decided to just drop the main and sail under jib. Dave Lennard said, “We just got tired and needed to rest.”

Team Seacats with Jake Kohl and Frank Moore were right there all the time and finished up in 5th place overall.

Cat in the Hat was the last of the fleet to hit the beach and had a phone call awaiting him from the Coast Guard. At that time Ferber thought he had left his EPIRB on the beach when they left for the race and assumed someone had found it and decided to try it out. By the next day, however, he discovered that he indeed did have the device aboard and it had auto-activated, sending out an alert to the world the he was in distress.

The Second Day
The winds subsided somewhat for the final leg on Sunday to around 20 to 25 knots, but it was still a handful for the sailors. It was clean start off the beach as the fleet head south to Channel Five Bridge and made their way up the back side of the islands, where the water was flatter and sailing was much easier on them.
Team Tybee got off to a great start and had already developed a pretty substantial lead by the time they to through the bridge. The ARC 22 was next but shortly after the headed north up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the rig came down. No one was injured and the team managed to get to shore.
Tybee held their lead to the finish line and took line honors for the best time overall. They were able to lay claim to the “Olde Lawn Chair,” a perpetual that has the history of the event on it. The team then watched and waited to see if the kids on the Hobie 16 would finish in time to take the handicap victory.
Too much time passed and then after the Hobie 16 popped out of the mangrove creek and into the final Sound, they managed to overstand the finish line by a huge distance. The finally spotted the finish area and reached back down, but too much time was lost and victory went to Team Tybee Island.
Siau and Young had to settle for 2nd place overall. The Titcomb brothers rounded out the trophy winners. Trophies were supplied by Caribbean Watersports located at the Key Largo Grande Resort; beer was supplied by Calvert Sails of Islamorada; the event was hosted by Key Largo Boating and Watersports Club (adjacent to the Caribbean Club) on their great beach.
Steve Lohmayer again hosted a super feast of Lasagna and Turkey on Saturday night and Mary Wells cooked up a batch of Sloppy Joes for the finish line. Chip Short supplied the start boat.

Be sure to pencil in the event for next year’s 23rd Annual Key Largo Steeplechase for the second weekend in December. That would be December 8-9, 2007. For more information call 305-451-3287, or email rick@catsailor.com

Results:
1. John Casey, Kenny Pierce N20
2. Michael Siau, Lindsay Young H16
3. Chris Titcomb, Nate Titcomb N20
4. Mike Krantz, David Lennard Nacra F18
5. Jake Kohl, Frank Moore N20
6. Larry Ferber, Dale Larkin N20