Phillips and Rodriguez Capture the Olde Lawn Chair at Key Largo Steeplechase

The 23rd Annual Key Largo Steeplechase held December 8-9 was blessed with perfect sailing conditions: winds 15-20 mph, temperatures in the 80s, water temperature in the upper 70s, and seas not overwhelming – in fact flat on the bay side and bit choppy on the ocean side.
The race is a 110-mile trek around Key Largo and Islamorada in the fabulous Florida Keys on high-speed, high-tech catamaran sailboats. The fleet of eighteen boats launched at Gilberts Resort and Marina and started at the mouth of Jewfish Creek in Barnes Sound.
The course goes north to Angelfish Creek, then it is a drag race down Hawk Channel to Anne’s Beach in Islamorada. On the second day they do a LaManz start off the beach and head south to Channel Five Bridge, then north up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to finish at Gilberts. On the back side of the islands on the second day the fleet has to navigate through mangrove channels, skim over mud/sand banks, or do whatever it takes to get ahead and stay ahead. Thus the name Steeplechase as in Merry Olde England, where the horse racing was cross country to the Steeple anyway you could get there – jumping fences and creeks, or whatever.
Mike Phillips and Enrique Rodriguez teamed up on a Marstrom 20 and led from start to finish, making the 110 miles in just seven hours and thirteen minutes, although the record for the event was around five and one half hours total.

Mike Phillips and Enrique Rodrigues driving the Marstrom 20 hard through the Card Sound Bridge. They led the race most of the way and won by 13 minutes.

Robert Onsgard and Jamie Livingston sailed a Tornado and had a so-so first day race, but got it together on the second day and was first to finish, but were not able to make up the time to take the Olde Lawn Chair Perpetual Trophy for the best time.

Robert Onsgard and Jamie Livingston did not have a great first leg, but led all the way on the second day to finish just 13-minutes behind Phillips and Rodriguez.
Also in the running was Steve Lohmayer of Tavernier sailing for Tiki Watersports (the local Hobie and Hunter sailboat dealer). Lohmayer has won the event in the past, but this year had to settle for 3rd place overall. He teamed up with Miamian, Jay Sonnenklar.

Steve Lohmayer and Jay Sonnenklar piloted Tiki Watersports to 3rd place overall on an Inter20
So, south Florida did extremely well against a star-studded group of world-class sailors in this great event.
Team Tybee was the defending champions of the race, but on the first day broke the leeward side rudder. Now they had only the windward hull rudder working while they were flying their spinnaker. The hull began flying too high, the rudder came out of the water totally and they had no steerage. Over they went. And then they struggled the rest of the way to the first day’s finish. They still managed to hang on to 4th place overall.

Team Tybee Island, with John Casey and Kenny Pierce were the defending champions of this race, but rudder problems dropped them to 4th overall this year.
Midwesterners Mike Hill and Holly Conklin had a great race and finished in 6th place overall behind Eric and Bill Roberts on an ARC22.

Eric and Bill Roberts sailed their ARC22 to 2nd place on the first day, but had a so-so second day and had to settle for 5th place overall

Three pictures above are of Team Seacats from the Carolinas whi ended up 9th place overall.

Larry Ferber and Lee Wicklund on Cat in a Hat had their best finish ever in a distance race

This race is sponsored by Caribbean Watersports located at the Grande Hotel, www.OnLineMarineStore.com, Calvert Sails, Catamaran Sailor Magazine (www.catsailor.com), Rick White’s Sailing Seminars (www.sailingseminars.com), and H20 Watersports located at Gilberts Resort.

History of the Race
The first race was simply a bunch of catamaran folks that got together and sailed the course to see if it could be done. Local sailor and Hall of Famer, Rick White, won that particular race. There were no entry fees, no trophies . . , nothing! But one of the ground crew had found an old, beat-up lawnchair at Anne’s Beach and presented it to White as a joke.
White immediately pronounced this lawnchair as the Perpetual Trophy for the Key Largo Steeplechase. It is now considered one of the most esteemed accomplishments in sailing to win this trophy.
Every year the winners names, boat make, and elapsed time is hand-scribbled on the material and now contains a complete record of the event.

Left to right: John Casey, Jamie Livingston, Kenny Pierce, Robert Onsgard, Mike Phillips and Enrique Rodriguez.

For complete Results, click here!
Next year’s event is scheduled for December 13-14, 2008. For more information see www.catsailor.com. This is definitely a MUST race for any distance-racing sailor.