The 51st annual Miami to Key Largo distance race was held April 22, 2006. This race is sponsored by the Miami Yacht Club. Each year I ask the CABB members and friends to write about their adventure in this classic beach cat race. Each year there are interesting stories. Here are the first stories that have come in. If you sailed the race, and would like to share your adventure, we would like to hear about it. It is always interesting to read another perspective of the race. If you send in your story, please title it with the type of boat you sailed and who the crew was. It doesn’t have to be the skipper who writes the story. Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to write down you story and share it with us. John McKnight.
1. ARC 21, Eric Arborgast and Tom Wilson
Wow! This is why we live in Florida! Picture perfect day, warm sun, cool water, steady breeze and a spectacular drag race down the bay!
It was particularly nice not having to wear any extra gear, just shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt. The last few years were down right cold in the morning.
Well, we missed the starting line by almost a minute, no excuse. Things got better from then on. We were double trapped almost immediately and stayed that way for the duration of the trip with almost no exception except to retrieve a stray sheet or adjust harness straps etc... Again, we found the ARC 21 to be over powered, traveled all the way out, max down haul and still having to head up to avoid capsize then drive it hard down again. We did this dance all the way down the bay to the finish.
It seemed that we were in back of the fast pack, we settled into a group of boats and they were our competition the whole day. The Reynolds 33 was in front of us most of the trip until for some reason they decided to go down to the low side of the course. We held our direction and speed and were able to pass them and add quite a bit of distance between them and hung on to the finish. John McKnight on the other hand, sailing his Hobie 20, got out in front and stayed in front, we just couldn't catch him. We got close to him near the Arsenicker but he escaped again. Brett Moss and Wilder Robles were right there as well. I can't imagine doing this race in those conditions on an A-Cat; you must be very strong and mentally focused.
Our GPS gave us a top speed of 17.8 mph and an average of 12.4.
Thank you, Miami Yacht Club for another fine race.
Eric Arbogast
MYC
CABB
ARC 21 #2101
2. Tornado, skipper, Enrique Rodriquez and crew
I tried to look around at the start, but I was with a brand new crew and it was her third day on a catamaran and I was quite busy. We had an OK start tangled up with the RC 30 and ARC 24. Once they figured out how to get their boats moving we started to go also. At the West Featherbeds we were in third overall. After that we had to sail close to the wind to make it to the next channel and a couple more of the big boats moved ahead. The M20 took a shorter route and caught up around Pumpkin Key. After the Bridge the weather turned upwind and the M20 took off. It was quite an exciting race for us. We came off the starting line and I told my crew she would have to drive. So I handed her the tiller in the crew position on a tornado going around 20 knots on a reach and told her push pull push pull for the next couple of hours. Se did very well only a couple of near capsizes. I would take the tiller and when she had regained her composure I would hand it back. We were the first Tornado and I think 6th overall.
I think the finishes were the RC-30, ARC-22, some other boat?, RC-27, M-20, then us. Not too bad considering my boat is a 1990 with sails left over from 2001.
3. Inter 20, Terry Greene and Chris Runge.
Miami to Key Largo Race 2006
Team Castrol set up at MYC, It’s important to have all the necessities at hand, good food and cold beer. This also gave us time for a nice shakedown cruise.
The wind at the start, 8 AM, was SE at 17, a very beautiful thing when you have 43 miles of SSW to tear up. This race starts way to early for the average cat sailor but this year it turned out for the best, as the wind died as the day went on. Also with so many boats in this race, the first rule is to have a good start, don’t be over early and get in clean air fast. A minute after the gun, Team Castrol’s three I 20’s had accomplished rule one. But so had a lot of good sailors, we found ourselves in the lead pack moving fast. We started with a double trap, jib reach and found that we couldn’t lock off the main sheet because of all the pumping that we needed to do, to manage the gusts. We were down the bay and even with Stiltsville before we knew it. I took a second to look around and John McKnight was on our tail looking very fast. Mr. Roberts was well out in front along with Carla Schiefer and Clive Mayo. With such good sailors around us we didn’t have to navigate too much, so we just went for speed. Our GPS had a max speed of 26.5 mph, (I guess I’ll have to get it fixed). We continued down the middle of the bay, through the feather beds pumping the main sheet all the way for the first 90 minutes. When the Arsenicker Islands came into view the wind started to get a little lighter and the gusts started hitting from slightly different angles but over all still a good 15 out of the SE. We were constantly making adjustments and had closed ground on some of the lead I-20s. We decided to stay in the middle of the race track, as a lot of sailors went closer to Turkey Point. But it was low tide now and we were happy with our speed. In the middle of Card Sound even with Card Point we reached our overall high speed of 18mph at 10:30.
The second rule for long distance racing is, eat drink and be happy. So after a 2 and a half hour good vigorous work out I need some food. We had just passed one I-20 and the wind was getting lighter so we were able to finally drink and get a bite. I started to pump the traveler now as Chris Runge made small adjustments to the main sheet. We made a bee line for Card Sound Bridge, climbing a little higher as the wind shifted. Rick White and the Castrol ground crew were on the bridge taking pictures as the temperature climbed and the wind dropped to 12 mph. We were covered with salt from our nice ride. But we still had some work to do in the lighter air. The day was so clear we could see the finish line right after we cleared the bridge. We were able to dodge most of the holes and keep anyone from passing but we just couldn’t gain any ground on the dozen or so boats in front of us. We finished at 11:07:38 just minutes behind Castrol-1 and 2. We were very glad to see our ground crew at Gilberts with PBJs and beer ready for the next ten miles to our starting spot for the Hogsbreath. The third rule is keep your ground crew happy, so we took them to Hobo’s for burgers and let them sleep on the drive home.
Terry Greene
Castrol – 3
4. Marstrom 20, Mike Phillips and Fred Moffat
I was sailing the yellow Marstrom 20 with Mike Phillips. About 4 minutes after the gun the carbon fiber butt of our mast gave out with a loud pop/crack and shudder (Mike and I are getting very used to the sound of breaking carbon). We were forced to stop and drop our sail lest the breeze whip the mast out of its precarious little hold. Thankfully, we were assisted by some Miami Yacht Club patrons (I recognize their faces however do not know their names) in getting a tow to Hobie Beach.
This left Mike and I marooned with all of our equipment at MYC and no way to get there - which is still a good deal better than being stuck afloat in the middle of Biscayne Bay, but not without logistical hurdles. I requisitioned the cell phone of a friendly triathlete on Hobie beach, and got my dad to drive out there and pick me up. He then dropped me off at Coconut Grove Sailing Club where I head the University of Miami's sailing program; were it not for this little connection Mike and I might still be smelling the churrasco and listening to reggaeton on Virginia Key. I took out one of their motorboats with the aid of one of the CGSC dock masters and we promptly towed the m20 to MYC.
I'm very happy that we broke down so promptly after the start; not that I don't enjoy paddling, but having the mast blow out in a less developed area would have been so much more aggravating and difficult. The generosity of many people contributed to our timely recovery.
Not quite sure how Mike's truck ended up back here in Dade county but I thank the responsible parties. All in all this was a bully day for magnanimity and the victory of the philanthropic impulses of human nature.
Fred Moffat
5. F-16 Blade, Wilder Robles and crew
We got to the beach around 7am, we scrambled to get the boat ready and the sails hoisted. We pushed off the beach with 15 minutes to start. Luckily everything was setup correctly. At the starting line, we did start within the fleet, pretty much dead smack in the middle. Seeing how I was being shadowed by such bigger boats and sails, I had to get out of there quick. We decided to foot our course. We bared off in pursuit of speed. It paid off tremendously. At about Turkey Point we had a lead on various boats that were in front of us at the starting line. Not having any local knowledge of the area, we were faced with a huge question/challenge; WHICH way to go around the small islands. Our course had set up on a collision path with an island and shallow water. We pulled our boards up and started pinching. We dropped speed and got stuck in a bad, NO WIND hole. At this point this is where all the boats we had a good lead on, passed right by us. A few errors on our behalf and a low wind situation equals a slow F16. This was our case. We were NOT going anywhere any time soon. Slowly all the other boats were zipping by. We did some minor changes on the boat and we started getting better speed. At this point it was too late in the race. We passed under card sound bridge and headed straight to the finish line.
Fun race plus awesome winds equals the sail of a lifetime. Those who missed this race missed an excellent opportunity to go out and see FL from a different perspective.
v/r
Wilder S. Robles
www.wildergfx.com6. Prindle 19, Rafael Corral and Ramon Alonso
The sail went well for me except after I passed the bridge. I took a heading that brought me too far from my mark and loss time getting back too it.
In general the sail was awesome. Great weather, the wind was good (a lot better than expected) and the waves were minimal. It was a fun day sailing the bay.
Rafael
