The Miami-Key Largo Race finishes at the south end of Barnes Sound, and after they finish most of the boats continue on through the mangrove-lined channel called Jewfish Creek and wait for the Jewfish Creek lift bridge to open to let them through into Blackwater Sound. Just on the east side of the bridge is a more open pond area. When the current is going toward the bridge, all the boats congregate around the sides of the pond, holding onto mangroves so as to not get swept through the bridge before it opens.
One year, according to spectators, the horn blew announcing that the bridge was going to open, and a Hobie 21 apparently did not allow for the current. The boat started through when the bascule was only partway up, and the top of the mast got caught in the undercarriage of the bridge. The cat was lifted clear off the water and dangled there for a few seconds until it broke loose.