I am going to try to report so here goes:
I arrived at the keys Thursday around noonish local time. After around an hour of chatting and mingling with a good amount of F18 sailors, I noticed a boat coming to shore. It was a Nacra F18 with a broken mast. They broke their mast just above the hounds. Winds were gustier on Thursday than any other day. They informed that the mast already was kinked from prior racing.

Friday the winds were still very gusty, very early in the day. I arrived at Founders Park around 10am. No one was there yet. I parked my boat and went for a bite to eat. Once I returned there were a few boats already there and starting to get setup. I was all setup by 3pm. At 330pm EST I went out for a test sail. On our way out to the bay, two trapeze wire swedges gave way and my crew went swimming. This was totally my fault for either using wrong swedges (they were stainless steal, I figured stainless steal on stainless steal is not good enough and does not hold) or not swedging them good enough. I had shortened them by six inches each. In my opinion, my trapeze wires were too long from the factory. The swedges I did slipped causing my crew to fall overboard. She fell once on SB and the other on Port tacks. OK so now two trapeze wires are down. I decided to call it an afternoon and went back to the beach. I hustled and bustled to get them repaired at the local marine/boat shop.

Saturday morning I got to the boat, to install my repaired trapeze wires. I had to cut another two to three inches off the already shorter trap wires, making them even shorter. After going out and starting the first race, my crew went swimming again. This time the line had chaffed against the trapeze eye causing a week point and splash again for my crew. She was separated and The Chuck picked her up out of the water.

On our downwind leg on port tack heading towards the C mark, we had a VIOLENT pitch pole. We were smacked really badly by a huge puff causing me to crash against my crew pinning her against the side stay wire. We stuffed the bows and over we went. It was so violent I barely remember it, all I remember is seeing her face in pain and her screams. I was seriously concerned for her. Therefore, what I did was tell her to hold on to me and forget about the boat. We sat in the water for a good three to four minutes. I had to make sure she was not seriously injured. After she felt a little better, I started to do my thing to right the boat. Once I righted the boat off we went to finish the race. To make matters worst, I finished the race, no gun went off, and no one was paying attention. I was so far behind the RC assumed I had called it quits. I had to inform them I was not throwing out that race. It was the ONE and ONLY race I finished.

After we finished our first and only race, I notice my crew was not doing so well. I asked if she wanted me to go drop her off the beach. She felt kind of pressured and said no. I noticed she was not feeling too good, so I said, no way! And that I was going to drop her off at the beach. She had/has a good-sized bruise behind her right leg and could barely move it.

After I dropped her off, I made it back out to the racecourse and waited a few minutes for the third start. I started ok and completed the first triangle. SABC after rounding C and heading upwind, my trap broke. Remember the chaffing I was talking about? Well I went swimming this time. I had the mainsheet, but I was pulled so hard that I hurt my wrist good. The mainsheet somehow got wrapped around my arm when going over and the boat gave me a good squeeze. After I righted the boat and finally started to feel the pain in the wrist I decided ok, enough is enough and returned to shore.

Sunday morning I installed some micro blocks to avoid chaffing and removed the excess trapeze wires. I went out solo. The winds were still as strong as Saturday. The puffs were still there. The first race I had an awesome start. I noticed the McDonalds and Terry heading towards the line. I headed off and got a good position under Terry. I was starting to luff him on the line, when I noticed I had a lot of boat speed. If I maintained my course, I was going to be over early. Therefore, I found a hole further down the line so I started heading down. This caused me to gain good speed, once I heard the gun go off, I was sure I was the first over the line for that race. Everything was feeling good. Boat trim was good, rudders felt great. I was feeling good. I held on to my position for a good amount of time. Half way down to A mark, Seth passed me to Windward, as if I was standing still. WOW can he make that taipan move. By then I new the McDonalds were already in front. I was in third place, with Seth and McDonalds in front. I still had The Chuck, Terry and Pete behind, but hot on my heels. UNTIL I TACKED! Remember the shortened trap lines? Well when I was getting ready to tack, I could NOT reach my handle. I thought to myself, great. NOW WHAT! I had to let go of something, but what? The mainsheet or the TILLER! Which one is worst? All I could remember was Rick White yelling at me over the bullhorn as of why I did not have the mainsheet in my hand, and well I cannot really let go of the tiller! Therefore, I cleated the mainsheet and threw line onto the tramp. Not the best decision, but I could not do anything else. Once I tried to get onto the boat, I lost my footing, remember I am trapping extremely low now. I was in the water and I thought I was going to bring the boat over. I lost all my speed and heading. By then Chuck already passed me. Terry was sailing too low so I still had some room with him. Pete I thought had already called it quits, not sure. After I managed to dime tack, I started making way again. By then Terry was right on me, he was probably only 10 yards behind. After rounding A we both started reaching. I had good speed, but was sailing a bit higher. I was reeling in The Chuck and Terry was hot on my heels. After rounding B Mark we both hoisted our spinnakers and headed towards C mark. We traded gibes with no more than 10 yards between us. At one point Terry had passed me. I was in front of Terry at the C mark; we started doing our upwind sailing. He was sailing lower I was pinching darn well. I had good boat speed, but not enough to catch the sloops by now. My main concern was not to flip. After rounding A mark I hoisted the spinnaker and I am trucking along darn good, until a huge puff hit me and over I went. I was holding onto the rear beam and I fell on top of the main. ¾ of the mainsail popped out of the mast track and when I went to retrieve the spinnaker, my snuffer hoop shattered into two pieces. That was the end of it for me. I headed back to the beach early.

What I learned about this Tradewinds event?
NEVER EVER do too much to your boat without prior sailing testing. I did not have a chance to test the boat before going down to this event. I changed the traps, downhaul, mast rotation controls and some other stuff. Practice practice practice. It has been close to a month and half since I last sailed my boat. It felt like I was on the boat again for the first time. Don’t know why, but that is how I felt. “Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance”

Questions? Feel free to ask.