Miami, Florida, June 17, 2006

CABB's 32nd annual Around the Key /Lighthouse Race had good weather, good competition, and good fun. Nine boats showed up to contest this circumnavigation of Key Biscayne and Virginia Key. During the race, we had to deal with shallow shoals, shifty winds, and salty sea spray. There was also a strong flood tide in two separate cuts. It was a good day though; no one flipped, no one broke down, and no one got lost. All those things have happened in previous races.

Up for grabs was bragging rights and the infamous lamp trophy. The trophy was created by Mark Herendeen in 1999. The trophy is a wooden lamp with space for plaques with the winner's names. The lamp shade is covered with a map of the race course. The trophy is awarded to the first place boat based on corrected time using the Portsmouth rating system.

The race started at the Rickenbacker Causeway in a 10 to 12 knot easterly breeze. It was low tide, so all the boats gave the shoals along the west shore of Key Biscayne a wide berth. Several of the spinnaker equipped boats attempted to use their chutes on this leg, but they found the sailing angle was too high for the spins to be effective. After passing the second shoal area, most of the boats cut up along the southwestern shore of Key Biscayne, near No Name Harbor. The next obstacle was Biscayne Channel. There was a powerful flood tide in the channel and it was ripping against us. I would think we were on the layline to get around the cape, only to find the swift current had sucked our boat back west towards the bay. After several tacks, we were able to sneak past the treacherous rock strewn cape. We slipped by the glistening white historic Cape Florida Lighthouse and emerged on the ocean side of Key Biscayne. Now the real fun began. This was a beautiful close reach just off the pearly white sandy beaches of picturesque Key Biscayne. The winds were humming. The water was an alluring aqua green. We were single and double trapping in relatively flat water. This is what cat sailing is all about. Terry and Evan Greene, on their Inter 20, were in the lead and stretching it out. Oriol and I, on My Hobie 20, were in hot pursuit. Jay Sonnenklar and Keith Proctor, on Jay's Inter 20, were behind us but gaining constantly. Katie Wilson, Karen Lurz, and Kenny Pierce were hanging in there on the big Stiletto 23. The other 5 boats were also enjoying the perfect ride up the coast. We passed the swim beach at Bill Baggs State Park and waved to the tourists. We passed the condo enclave hugging the beach. We passed Crandon Park Beach. We zipped past Bear Cut and the swim beach at Virginia Key. We reentered the bay through Norris Cut. If you looked over your left shoulder, as you entered Norris Cut, you could see the small lagoon where they used to film the TV show Flipper back in the day. We had turned to a westerly heading and were now heading downwind. The spinnaker boats finally got to use their kites. They were handicapped because they could use them so little during the race. We jibed back and forth across the cut in front of the high end condos on Fisher Island. We skimmed over the shallows across from the Port of Miami. We slipped past the spoil island and headed for the finish line near the Rusty Pelican Restaurant. Jay passed us flying the chute downwind, but we knew we had him on corrected time. The finish line was at the end of the refueling dock opposite the manatee warning sign. Terry and Evan took line honors. They sailed very well. Jay and Keith crossed the line second, but corrected out in fourth place. Oriol and I crossed in third, but we corrected out in first place. So we get the funky lamp trophy for the coming year. Our names will be added to the trophy lamp. This is the first time we have won this race. We were very happy. Kenny and the ladies crossed in fourth, but finished in third place. John Esquivel and Ivan Loya, on a Tornado, came in fifth.

It was a great race. The weather was perfect. Everyone had a good time. What more could you ask for? If you would like a shot at getting your name on the trophy, come out next June for the 33 annual Around the Key/Lighthouse Distance race.

The sailors:---------The Boats-------The ratings

Dave Tardif----------H-16-------------76.1
Barbara Tardif

Wally Sullivan-------H-16-------------76.1

Fermin de la Camara--P-19-------------66.4
Bill Adkins

Rafael Corral--------P19--------------66.4
Xavier Rubio

John McKnight--------H-20-------------65.0
Oriol Cruzeta

Terry Greene---------I-20-------------59.3
Evan Greene

Jay Sonnenklar-------I-20-------------59.3
Keith Proctor

John Esquivel--------Tornado----------59.0
Ivan Loya

Katie Wilson---------Stiletto 23------65.0
Kenny Pierce
Karen Lurz

Terry Greene sent this information about their race. "Evan and I had a great time. According to our GPS our elapsed time was 1:48:50, we reached a top speed of 15mph and had an average speed of 9mph and went 16.9 miles."

See you next time,

John McKnight
305 251-7600