Wow! I saw this on the Hobie Forum and didn't want to get into it 'cause I was tied up with Tawd.

I do have more than a passing interest in this since in an earlier life I organized the "Key West to Cuba Race" in 1979 and 1980. We sailed from Key West Harbor to Varadero which is 45 miles east of Havana and has a wonderful harbor. The Cubans welcomed us and our US dollars, although we were greeted at the finish line by gunboats with manned machine guns. Nobody told the Navy we were coming! After a short delay, they covered the guns and happily escorted us into the harbor.

It was just done for two years and cancelled in 1981 because of the Mariel boat lift, and the Carter Administartion cut off all travel to Cuba again.

In 1979 we had made contact with the Cuban tourism bureau (INTUR) about the possibility of doing a race to Cuba. Several Key West Conchs had relatives that were in touch with the head of INTUR, Vincente de la Guardia. The short of it was, I was put in charge and we did the race twice.

The first year (1979) we had about 70 boats including the maxi-boat Desparado out of Boston. We had many current top IOR boats, a MORC class, and several PHRF cruising classes. The smallest boat was a Lindenburg 22. There were about ten J/24s.

Although only about 90 miles, this is a very arduous passage, not to be taken lightly. We went at night so as to make navigation easier, this being before GPS and Loran on smaller boats.

I'm not saying it would be fool-hardy on beach cats, but certainly someone else will. With a good weather window and proper chase boats, it would be an awsome adventure. However, it would consume a lot of resources to do it safely.

Props to the organizers and anyone who participates.