Is the guy on the left, back to camera, Randy Smyth? Not sure who the guy facing the camera is.
Thanks for all the great photos. What is the location of the start? And why did so many have to be rescued? At my house about 150 miles north of the Keys, it was only blowing NE at 10-15, dying to 5-10 by 4pm. Should have been flat water with a downwind push for them on in the Everglades? Or was the wind down there a lot different? Other side of the front?
There is some great creativity displayed in some of those boats!
At the start the winds were NE 19-23 knots blowing against an strong incoming tide which created a reported 4' chop. One boat reported helping a capsized tandem kayak. When that kayak capsized a second time the CG was called. That started a chain of events. Few more people needed help. Then the people on the beach started worrying about their people on the water and called the CG to find out if their people were alright. Of course to confuse things further everyone uses a tribe name. I think you get the picture.
I'm not sure how many boats but news this morning reported about 135 boats. Some have complained about the CG reaction but you can hardly blame them. To put that many boats on the water crossing shipping channels without at least sending a letter of intent to them is, well you can decide that for yourself.
They set up and launch from Ft. Desoto Park, a county park. I wouldn't be surprised if the CG had a talk with the park.
One other thing. The Spot tracking sucks. Whether it's the units or the site it's not something you can count on.
