That was some good sailing. Tight racing for us mid fleeters back there.

Saturday started with a 4-6 knot breeze out of the NE. We sailed through Jewfish Creek but they had to delay the start for a few minutes so that everyone could get there. We started about 9:25 I'd guess. The start was severly starboard favored and everyone piled up at that end. I don't know how no boats were called over early but they weren't.

We got a terrible start and tacked off. JC's start was even worst but he could tack immediately because his start was so bad. JC pushed it hard into the right corner. We followed but quite a bit to windward. Took forever to get to the bridge in a foggy haze. We reached the bridge in good shape. I think we were the Fourth I20 through the bridge after JC. The 3 high tech boats and JC were in front of us. We were feeling pretty good. We got height on the boats that came through after us. And we got distance on a few to windward so that we were sitting in 2nd of the I20's. Then the bottom fell out. About a third of the way to Pumpkin key we got in a hole. We had a streak to windward and a streak to leeward. Four I20's passed us in that mess.

We were soon trading tacks with Runge toward Pumpkin Key. The wind seemed to really die on the inside so we went to the left of the Key. Unfortunately we should have cut a little closer to the key as we ended up reaching at the end to Angelfish Creek. We closed on some boats but were still well behind.

The Creek was a reach straight out with little or no current (yeah!!). Once out of the creek the leaders were out of sight. The black boat and Castrol were out of sight too. We chased Runge and the blue boat forever. Trading back and forth for a long time up the coast staying in toward shore. I wish I would have had a compass with me it would have helped with the lifts and headers. Then we saw Wick and Titcomb get into sight after we got by Runge and the blue boat. We ran Wick down pretty quick but Titcomb was tough and we traded back and forth depending on wind condition. When the wind was up a little he would get into the middle of the tramp and fly a hull and extend on us. When it got light we would run them back down.

Right at dark about 5:30pm we were still right with Titcomb. On the last tack we saw them as they crossed with us going into shore. We started staying out more later. We gybed out to get some wind and when the waves started to kill us we would gybe back toward shore.

Around 5pm Noodle pulled out the ham and cheese sandwiches and they were delicious. We were both wondering how many Martini's the finishers had had by this time?

We continued to sail on thinking we were in around 4th of the I20's. So we finally get about 5 miles from the finish line and I'm starting to question if my GPS has the right point in it as it is getting pretty late. Finally we see Indian Key and I know it isn't much further. Then at about 2 miles out we saw the blinking lights. I'm like "There's the finish!!!". Noodle wasn't so sure but I convinced him. So we lined up the final gybe for the finish and coast in pretty good until the last 20 feet. I get my rudder up and get off and we walk the boat up to the finish at around 9:30pm.

JC tells me I'm the second I20 to the finish. I really didn't believe him. He said he'd been there for about 45 minutes. After we walked the boat up I finally started believing JC. Titcomb finished not too long after us. We were shocked as the black boat and Castrol were never seen by us all day. I don't know which way they went but it must have been the wrong way. Castrol was right with JC when they went into the creek. Anyway our spirits were much brighter after seeing that we actually finished decently. The other boats came in about a 1/2 hour after us. There were others that came in a lot later but we didn't hang around forever. We were flat tired.

As we drove back to Gilberts I was all over the road like a drunk. Couldn't hardly drive after all that time on the water.

The next day we get back and head out at 9AM off the beach. We ended up picking a pretty good middle lane and ended up the 2nd I20 through the bridge right behind the SC22. Man that thing has some dirty air behind it. Titcomb is pretty close behind us as we go upwind to the first cut. Then everyone starts going toward the sandbar. We finally get through in a little cut with Titcomb following right on our transom. After we get through the cut Titcomb takes off to leeward and gets by us being much lighter they were able to single trap and go a little faster.

The next run we have the black boat and Castrol and some others get right on our heels. We picked a bad spot to cross a bank and 4 I20's go right by us as we are dragging the boat. They really get a nice head start on us at that point. After that we worked hard to close the gap. We ended up making some good moves and closing the gap some through the creeks. The last run out of Grouper Creek to Gilberts was a really fun double trap chute run. We were smoking fast on that run. We ended up the 3rd I20 behind JC and Titcomb. Not a bad finish for us.

My thanks to JC for the boat, and to Noodle for sailing with me.

It was a fun weekend. The Steeplechase will always be my favorite distance race no matter how much I hate it when I'm on the boat sometimes. There are some great distance racing venues in South Florida.

Luckily no boats tried it without a chute this year or they might not have finished until the next day sometime.

Keep One Hull Flying,
Mike Hill