Absolutely nothing on this course needs to be changed ( as long as the day one finish is in the water) it is perfect the way it is, and always has been.

Yes... for the rest of 2009, I cannot take any vacation time nor can anyone in my department. Sucks but we have a lot of work to do and we keeping getting more and more as the Pharmas keep laying people off.

Did y'all see Randy Smyth is pre registered on an ALP 15. I am pretty sure that is his trimaran.

who's coming >>>

What's it rate?

Yep, that's it. How cool will that be?

Where exactly is the finish? I thought last year was at Key Largo Water Sports and they had launching from there? The info posted does not say...

Finish will be a the Caribbean Club
Rick

Damn, that eliminates Grouper Creek and Dusenbury Creek and the run across the bay.

I am thinking of setting up and staying at Gilbert's and tearing down at Caribbean Club. Would that be a possibility?

Launching at Caribbean would mean doing Grouper, Dusenbury and Angelfish creeks before you even get to the starting line. That is about 10 miles, if the wind is light or current running the wrong way, could be a long morning.

It's a straight shot to Gilberts from the Carribean Club. About 5 miles is my guess. No creeks before Gilberts. Then it's the typical run through the creek at Gilberts.

Grouper is still on Day 2 of the race.

Great. I never launched from Carribean and I did a mapquest and it showed being just south of Grouper Creek. Anyone got a Waypoint for Caribbean?

Do you where Rick and Mary's Hotel was? It's about 200 yards south.

If you are looking for crew I'm interested. I sail H-20 ,but I don't have a crew for the race . I can also work a spinaker. My e-mail is fairwindsboatrepairs@comcast.net
Thanks.
Arnis

I just heard through the grapevine that my tybee crew from last year is looking to do steeplechase. If anyone needs a rockstar crew, let me know. The dude is good!

How about some food for thought for next year.
Warren Green, who took over what used to be the Hogsbreath 100, made a suggestion on changing the venue, since the hardshiop of launching in the Key Largo area.

And this is my response to him:
On the Steeplechase, when the bridge opened it certainly gave us a reason to reanalyze things, plus the boat launching problems in Key Largo. However, none of us can figure out how to make it work anywhere else -- seems when we first did it, we did it right!
Problems with Founders: If you go clockwise, you only have a few miles before first Steeplechase features (mangrove, canals, or flats), and not much later, the worst of them, short run across Blackwater and more, and finally open water. Don't think the sailors would like that course very much. Then we would need a stop shorter than Anne's Beach. Hard to find.
Going Counter Clockwise: There would be no place to land after a long first day (need to have the second day shorter -- due to getting sailors there, have food, awards, and pack up to go home). There is just no where to land north of Rodriguez and Key Largo area.
From Islander: Clockwise there would again be no place to land on Saturday, However, you might have something if you go Counter clockwise. Start at the Islander and finish the first day at Founders Park, or maybe the UKSC. Then Founders to Islander on Sunday.
This would make the first leg around 80 miles and the second leg around 32, which is about the same as we have now.
One drawback may be the leg up Hawks Channel will more than likely be a beat, rather than a spinnaker reach (which the sailors really like). The spin runs would be down the back side of the Keys -- it would be flat water and lots of mangrove creeks, which might be hectic with spin.
Good food for thought!

Definitely too late for this year. But something we could discuss with the regulars to see. Guess folks could stay at the Islander for two days also, since Founders Park is only a short distance away from the Islander. It would make for easier logistics.

Let me know if you have any feedback on this in a couple of weeks.

I haven't done steeplechase in a while - but a spin run through the creeks would actually be fun...won't have to mess with boards so much and the flats will be much easier to skid across...let her eat and pop the rudder back down occasionally.

Next weekend! Saw my first solid ice the other day, it's been an unusually warm fall so far but I still can't wait to spend some time in the keys!

We'll be arriving at the CC at noon Friday for setup and a shake down cruise. Bring on the chase!

No Tad, W-T-F

Yeah.

I'm currently getting yelled at by a client. Makes me want to quit and go bum it in the Keys.

As plan B's go you could do worse :-)

We're hoping to get there around 11 Friday morning.
Chris Tittycomb, Tripp Burd, and my crew Brendon are driving the trailer down and picking me up at Lauderdale airport at 9:30...
If anyone's driving by Lauderdale around that time and wouldn't mind giving me a ride down i'm sure the guys wouldn't mind getting a little earlier start as they are overnighting in Palm Beach Thursday.