Okay, Steeplechase sailors and fans, it is official! The new launch site and finish area for the Key Largo Steeplechase will be hosted by Key Largo Boating and Watersports Club adjacent to the Caribbean Club.

It is not really “new.” It is actually the old site that we used for many years. It was taken out of commission for sailboats for years because of lawsuits involving a Hobie 16 mast coming into contact with powerlines and causing injuries.

Yesterday Rick and I talked to Joe Donahue, owner of Key Largo Watersports, and he is very excited about hosting the Steeplechase at his place.

Joe has dramatically improved the beach area, so you will be rigging your boats on a very large area of soft, white, sand. When you leave the beach on Saturday morning you will sail north to get to the Jewfish Creek Liftbridge for an 8:30 a.m. opening. It is about 1.5 miles as the crow flies. The race start is on Barnes Sound, at the north end of Jewfish Creek.

There will be a fee of $20 per boat paid to Key Largo Watersports.

There will not be room to store your trailers at the launch site, but we have that covered. If you do not have any other place to leave your trailer and if you plan to keep it up in Key Largo for the duration, you can keep it at what used to be the Italian Fisherman, a couple doors south of the Caribbean Club) for a one-time fee of $10. They have a HUGE parking lot.

For those of you not familiar with the area, the launch site is at mile marker 104 on the bay side. The Caribbean Club is a landmark historic bar, and Key Largo Watersports is immediately adjacent on the north side. I will try post a diagram of the launch area on this thread before the race.

The finish of the race will be off the end of the dock at Key Largo Watersports, and we hope most of the boats will be pulling out there, because we will be having a barbecue party immediately following the race, and, of course, trophy presentations.

This is shaping up to be the best Steeplechase ever, in terms of logistics.

If you still want to stay at Gilbert’s and pay the $40 a night for your boat and/or trailer for the duration, go for it. Personally, I hope I never have to deal with them again. We can’t burn bridges, but it seems obvious that they don’t want us there.

There is a big list of Accommodations in the NOR. The launch site is at mile marker 104, which translates to 104000 in terms of actual addresses on U.S. 1 (Overseas Highway). So you can tell which are closest to the site.

I would humbly suggest that you book your rooms for both Friday and Saturday night in Key Largo, rather than spending Saturday night down by the overnight stop. Reason is that we were able to get TDC (Tourist Development Council) funding this year for advertising for the event, but it came out of the Key Largo TDC fund. So it would be nice to be able to show evidence that the advertising dollars generated more income for businesses in Key Largo specifically. Like stay there, eat there, shop there, if you can.

In the old days it made more sense to book a room down in Lower Matecumbe for Saturday night, because the cats were a lot slower and often came in after dark. But these days, the cats in the race are faster and usually finish in early afternoon. So it’s usually no big deal to drive the 40 minutes back to your room in Key Largo. Plus, it is a heck of a lot more convenient if you plan to stay Sunday night, too, and leave on Monday.

PLUS, it will also be a lot more convenient to be staying up at the Key Largo end if you plan to go to the great party and dinner Saturday night at Steve Lohmayer's house in Tavernier.

P.S.
For people from afar who want to sail the Steeplechase and leave their boats here for the Tradewinds in January, I am thinking that maybe the Italian Fisherman lot might be a place to leave them. I will check that out.

P.P.S. At this point I think the skippers meeting and party and final registration and payment is still going to be at our house. Stay tuned.