2014 Steeplechase headcount.

Just got off of the phone with Steve Lohmayer and he needs to know how many turkeys to buy, to be fried up for the party.
Who's onboard?

Is there a date and confirmed course?

Rick has it on his schedule. December 12-14:
http://www.catsailor.com/cs_schedules.html#Long

Online Registration Link:
http://www.catsailor.com/registration/

Depends, yes just like the adult diaper.

Got no soccer - lacrosse or wrestling the weekend of the DEC. 12-13 in Pittsburgh baby. NICE!!!!

Getting the band back together for a reunion regatta - I just booked my ticket. I'll be Jake's front end ballast for the weekend -

I vote we stay at the Islander -

I will be bringing many bottles of Mt. Gay -

Frank

Frank why don't you tell me these things sooner?!?! I already made up my mind not to go this year and it actually can't happen now.
Next year I'd like to discuss starting out of the Islander so that us Northeners can leave our boats rigged from Steeplechase to Tradewinds. Having to rig for both (from the boats being completely apart) is a real pain.

I'm available to crew if anyone is looking.

I sent the following message to Rick:

Rick,

There has been some discussion about the Steeplechase venue and the difficulties the current venue presents. Anne's beach has become increasingly more difficult for the sailors and ground crews and with the permitting issue we are keen to find a better solution than what the current course offers. The option that seemed to be accepted by the interested teams was to start and finish at the Islander Resort with the Saturday stop over at UKSC. We would sail north on day one reversing the current course. I've been in contact with Ginette Hughes at UKSC and they are onboard with a couple minor conditions. There is a $15 per head fee to keep the boats at UKSC overnight this covers insurance and temporary club membership (Ginette please correct me if I got that wrong). We cannot bring our own alcohol onsite but the club bar will be open and available to us. I haven't spoken to the Islander but if this is something you'd be willing to get behind I suspect the Islander would be happy to have us.

Please let us know as soon as possible what you decide.

David Ingram

I like that idea both for the ease of logistics as well as giving you inside/outside sailing on each day..

And you'll be shooting Angelfish creek the wrong way

I can't think of a single time that the current was outgoing as we went through Angel fish creek...of course, this year will be the exception

As you all may know I started this race 30 years ago, with start out of the Caribbean Club. At that time the bar and boats got along just fine. After I bought Rick's Place Motel, we then had two friendly launching sites. I never dreamed that after selling the motel the Caribbean Club would be managed by radically crazy people.
That left Gilberts where at first they were very friendly. That is one year. Then the next year they were not. Then nice, then nasty. It has indeed been perplexing to all of us.
I do disagree with how bad Ann's Beach is. Boats go afloat only when they are not secured properly. We have been lucky the Village has not harrassed us about its use.
As you all might recall I suggest this new venue that David pointed out almost two years ago and pretty much was told it would not work. Now you want it. Fine. From my standpoint it is a lot easier to operate and much more comfortable than sitting on a sandy beach all day. And I don't have to clean my house for a Friday night meeting.
I am however not comfortable on how this was handled without conference with me. I would have thought I would be the first person you would have talked to about the change. Enough said!

If there are no objections, I will make the necessary changes to the NOR and SI's
Good sailing,
Rick
Rick White, Publisher/Editor/Webmaster
Catsailor Magazine's OnLine Marine Store
PO Box 2060, Key Largo, FL 33037
305-451-3287, rick@catsailor.com
www.OnLineMarineStore.com

Can/will you make the arrangements with the Islander? They should at least know we are coming.

Rick,

Regarding Friday - 12-12-2014 - Mandatory Rum and Pizza party at the Islander Resort - sponsored by Mansmann & Moore, LLP and Mt. Gay Rum!!!!!

Time: Late afternoon start time - Have my first drink around then - sit and watch everyone rig their boats - it's best for me to stay out of Tim and Jake's space - I hear rigging the boat is a big deal......

Pizza, Mt. Gay Rum and beer - please bring your favorite mixer.

All welcome - no charge.

Rick,

I'd like to personally thank you for all the effort to keep this really great race alive despite all the challenges. Each of the few times I participated it has been an adventure of one sort or another, and I always wanted to come back once the bruises cleared up...

As to Anne's beach, I don't think you're allowed to tie off on Mangroves, which tends to make it dicey (get in trouble or go looking for your boat). Having someone like UKSC offer to allow the boats overnight at their facility is huge.

The bar facility can't hurt either, and I'm sure they'll make a small mint on those folks that night. How far is the club from Lomeyer's house?

I do recall spirited discussion about changing the start/route a few years ago, and the overall opposition at the time. I presume the bi-polar attitude at Gilbert's may have swayed those opinions over time..

So, if the locations eventually DO change to Islander/UKSC, could this possibly open up the event to boats slightly larger than beachcats?

It would give me an excuse to ride the coat-tails of you hotshots...

Rick,

Rather than a mutiny, I believe this is the conclusion of the conversation you originally started. You started the ball rolling and the great debate began. But the debate itself really needed to happen at the sailor's level. The good news is, it appears we have majority support for this venue. The race is evolving without being forced to change. Also, a connection between the Steeplechase and Tradewinds now has an opportunity to form.

Personally, I hope the roots and spirit of the Steeplechase remain intact and this requires your full support of the race. Therefore, if you don't hang out with us at the Islander we may come trash your house again anyway.

Dick Macdonald
Cirrus F18

Funny, Dick.
Just texted Dennis. Should not be a problem, but will advise as soon as I hear back.
Rick

Dennis just replied.., no problem there.
It is a go.., will change the NOR and SI's

Thank you Rick.

Four boats inluding Jake and Frank, are there any other takers?

Where are the perennials? Sonneklar, Casey (probably busy on his world tour), Livingston...?

I'm trying to make it happen. Need to get one of my hulls from Jill's to the keys. Looking at maybe renting a minivan or something but drop fees are pricey.
Might be able to pay the guy moving our trailer to stop there, looking at options.
Scott Rathburn says he might be in.
Islander website says no rooms available. I'll call tomorrow.

Is the hull in the Tampa area? I am heading there tomorrow night and might be able to bring a trailer.

If your hull is in Tampa, my time is limited tomorrow so I PM'ed you my cell phone number.

We are trying to make it down there for the first time this year as well.We probably will not know until a few weeks before the race. My wife and skipper is a teacher and may or may not be able to take those days off.

I called there are rooms available.

Do we have a block name or group code for the Islander rooms for weekend of Steeplechase?

Is there an event rate? They're apparently quoting $200/night.

Rick, are you taking point on this or no?

Dennis is the contact person. And he has been tied up running a windsurfer regatta. Best to contact him on the prices.That sounds pretty high. Dennis Green is the owner of Islander Watersports and the go to guy.
Rick

Ouch!

Rick,

Are you saying we (the participants) need to work with Dennis to get a rate? Are you going to collect the UKSC fees and make the arrangements with Ginette or are we (the participants) on the hook for that too?

Have not talked to Ginette.., you did. Whatever you arranged.
What I was saying is Dennis is talking to the reservations people today or tomorrow to see what kind of deal we can get.

So, you might check with Dennis to see if he could arrange anything.

Have the new NOR on the site
http://www.catsailor.com/Steeplechase.html

So, Rick, I want to call to make a reservation. What should I expect if I say I'm with the 'Steeplechase Race'?

Thanks,

As I understand it. Should they say they don't know anything, you might say that Dennis Green was supposed to have set something up.

Rick, based on your responses above I get the feeling you are not interested in managing or being the OA for this race. If so, have you conisdered turning over the event to Warren Green and/or Craig VanEaton? They have done a great job with the FL 300.

Sorry if you guys discussed this already. I see in the NOR it's a Le Mans start at the Islander. Is this okay? From what I remember, it can be a little dicey in there with coral heads etc.

It's not great but Anne's beach has the same issue. For the first time last year we had a southeast breaze Sunday morning so the only option was to sail directly offshore to deep water and there be hard spots out there. Just like Anne's beach it's how brave or fool hardy you are determines how aggressive you get with your boards. I also suspect getting a support boat ocean side is not an option.

I don't think there is any real "beach" at the Islander so it would be an ankle deep water start like Anne's beach has been lately. The only time I've seen someone hit something is a concrete block just inside the swim rope...but we'll have to be careful about when to get the boards down. It should be doable or, if nothing else, entertaining.

What about the swim rope, though? I guess it would be removed for the start or are we starting on the south side of the pier?

Actually it's not that bad depending on tides and breeze. The coral heads are out at the reef 1.25 miles out. If all sailors want to do a deep water start I have the vessels to set a start line and we can put rick out on the boat to do a start sequence. I sail my 6.0 without much problem at all. The problem flat is out from the Cheeca lodge, 3 blocks south. So the place you want to be careful of is at the finish. And there we can set a mark out 1 mile or so from the dock and finish when the you cross between the dock and the mark.

I submitted a request for a rate reduction for a group at the islander, it was pretty busy with the Kona Worlds this week. It finished Wednesday and clean-up was today, it was short notice and I checked to see if there were rooms and there are, will probably hear about rates tomorrow, the front desk won't know anything about it till it is pushed through channels. I am working on it, and will know soon. I am happy to be trying this race from our Resort and even if you don't stay here, we will have plenty of room for boat rigging,

The rate I got back was : Thursday $125.00, Friday $169.00,
Saturday $ 169.00, Sunday $125.00. The final day to reserve is11-24-14
Only 10 rooms available.

I set-up the Kattack Live feed:
http://kws.kattack.com/GEPlayer/GMPosDisplay.aspx?FeedID=1384

Kattack is a free app to downlaoad and works on iPhones, Android phones, SPOT Trackers and InReach tracking enabled GPS'. If you are racing in Steeplechase, you can go ahead and set it up on your device and test it out and figure how you will store the phone on the boat.

The race feed is "2014 Steeplechase"
Below are steps in setting it up:

• Download and open the "KattackMobile" app
  
• Choose "My Boats" on top right
  
• Click "+" to add a new boat or click ">" to edit existing boat
  
• Type Boat Name then click Done
  
• Click Race Feed
  
• Click "All Races" on top right
  
• Choose "2014 Steeplechase"
  
• No password is needed
  
• Click "Save"
  
• Click "Home" button to put the app in the background to save battery

If you are using a SPOT unit, send me a link to your shared page so I can add it to the event device list.

If you have any questions or issues, feel free to contact me.

In an effort to make things as easy for Ginette as possible we will handle the UKSC fees as follows (Ginette has approved this plan):

- Jake and I will collect a $15 per boat fee for the overnight boat storage at UKSC. We will be collecting the UKSC fees at the Islander. Have exact change I don't carry a bunch of fives either and have your fees ready don't make us chase you down.

- Kathy (my wife and ground crew) will deliver the fees to Ginette at UKSC Saturday.

- The fees are non refundable.


Thank you in advance,
David Ingram

yes, do not make Dave track you down. Usually makes him grumpy which leads to unwelcome frisks for cash.

don't ask me how i know this

If you really piss him off you'll get the full cavity search. Just be weary of both hands on your shoulders.

Uh huh, you two clearly didn't mind. And for f@*$ sake recognize it for what it was and stop calling me.

I thought you wanted me to call you "darling". dang now I'm really confused

OK so what do we have for final count?
myself
Ingram/Muma?
Jake/Frank
Dick MacDonald
Scott Rathburn
Seth Herzon
Bach Wilson?
Brett Moss
John Casey
Guessing Roberts?
Any Sarasota guys? I'll call Zelmer

Anyone I'm missing?

Looks like out of the 4 boats on my trailer I'm the only one sailing but I think 3 of us are doing Tradewinds.

Charles and Dalton will be there they have a plan b if their boat doesn't make it back in time.

Looking less and less likely that we can make it happen this year...

Just called they said they only have suite upgraded rooms left.
Bummer Bach... hope we can see you!

Nevermind, I'm all set! Dennis had me speak to Connie at the hotel and she found a room. But I doubt there are many rooms left.

Updated list:
Ingram/Muma
Jake/Frank
Dick MacDonald
Scott Rathburn
Seth Herzon - needs a crew or good skipper
Brett Moss
John Casey
Silent Jay and Steve Lohmayer
Jared Sonneklar & Colin Page

Bach Wilson?
Charles Tomeo?
Guessing Roberts?
Doesn't look like any Sarasota guys, no Zelmer.

All these guys posting stuff from St. Barth are getting to me. I'm going to spend a week in the Keys for this one.

No kidding. Too damn cold, too early, here.

My mast post on the trailer is getting an extension so my mast will clear my kayak and my sailboard on the roof-rack on the truck and I'm going to bum around for a few days with no schedule. I'm not sure that I can handle that but we'll see.

Probably need to add a bike to get full points on the recreational equipment, and so you can get back from the bar!

Will the lovely Mrs. be joining you?

She's not a fan of the 12 hour ride.

Hmmm...Hwy 1 probably sucks for a mountain bike. I'll leave that at home but probably pack the snorkel gear... I'll also be packing OPs paddle boards.

Jake,

There is a nice running/bike lane for most of Islamorada and other parts of the keys.

Additionally, there are mooring balls off many of the shallow reefs. Case in point the light pole about 2 miles offshore from the Islander.

You can sail your boat there and tie off to a mooring ball and snorkel around the light sturcture.

T.

Yeah there's a bike lane, but too what from what and why? It's flat as a pancake.

Don't forget your tervis. Having to hammer down rum drinks to beat the ice melting is great, but not before brunch.

I must have missed that memo.... why, pray tell, not before brunch?

Speaking of ice melting, are you up there in that snow-belt crap Karl?

It's Muma/Ingram Mr Chairman :-)

Hammering drinks down before ten, doesn't make for a very functional afternoon in my experience.




We're in the ice box right now. It is way colder than it should be, it should be about 20º warmer than it is. We haven't gotten squat for snow though. Enough to be annoying, and that is about it. Buffalo NY got hammered though! I'm glad we don't have to deal with lake effect stuff here, just brutal, horrible, life sucking cold. It'll warm up in no time though. This shouldn't last much more than four or five more months...

[thread hijack]

Holy cow was what Buffalo just went through amazing or what!? I once lived in Cleveland and a 10 degree shift in the wind coming across the lake (while it was not frozen over) usually meant the difference between 3 feet or 3 inches. I can't imagine what 6' of snow is like to deal with. I read a report that the Buffalo Bill's stadium is planning to try and remove 220,000 tons of snow so they can host their game on Sunday. That is a LOT of dump trucks.

[/thread hijack]

I was in Chicago for the "blizzard of (I believe)'78". Being a yoot at the time, they sent my scrawny butt up to the roof to clean the heater exhaust so carbon monoxide wouldn't back up into the house.

I'm sure it was "lake effect" snow too. It was half-way up the front door.

I'm so glad I presently don't have to know what a storm door/window is or how to use it...

but wouldn't the hot exhaust from the heater take care of melting the snow that might block it?

Or it melts just enough to make a dome/cap of ice.

WHERE THE "F" WERE YOU WHEN I COULD HAVE USED THAT INFORMATION???

now I feel like a total dumbass... They were probably sending me up there just to see what kind of idiot I could become flopping/sliding all over the roof (thank GOD it wasn't a steep pitch).

Ahh to be 14 again...

Really!? I go out of town for a couple of days and you whiney b!tches start crying about the weather? Steeplechase is only weeks away princesses do what you gotta do, Ricky thinks he owns this one, it's gonna sting a little when you guys get beat by a skinny Yankee white girl and and old fat man... maybe that's why the Karl's won't come and play! It makes sense now.

Lucky it was just that.... you could have been nominated for something while you weren't paying attention...

Just got an email from Eric, the Roberts are in on their ARC 22. Eric had trouble getting his iPhone 4 to track. Could someone with an iPhone 4 try it out? Make sure you have the latest version. Below is a link:
http://kws.kattack.com/GEPlayer/GMPosDisplay.aspx?FeedID=1384

Kattack had an issue with one of their updates but they resolved it. If there are any other issues, I would like to resolve them before the event.

Laura had the same problem with her iPhone at Corpus. We never got it working, even the supplied phone wouldn't work.

What was the date of the Corpus race? Was it an iPhone 4?

Both my iPhone 3GS & iPhone 5 work fine.

I think the new OS on the iPhone 6 was the issue and didn't work with the app.

That was the understanding but Laura hadn't updated yet...she was doing everything right - it just wouldn't work.

It worked fine with my Android phone (I'm not making an endorsement...I hate my phone).

I kinda like my android :-) Gramps is tracking, my house is doing .8 knots.

I absolutely love my Android phone - its superior to any Apple product in every way shape and form - and it works just fine for displaying these tracking pages :P

Problem Solved! Turned out that once Eric updated his phone to the latest IOS version it worked.

And it's less filling....

To each their own. Part of my problem is probably that Samsung does their own thing with the Android OS. My Bluetooth pops and skips when playing music in my truck (the current Android update is supposed to address that but Samsung is still f'in with their version of it and won't release it until next year sometime). The phone will occasionally ring and if I happened to be doing something at the same time the call came in, the screen freezes up and I'm stuck listening to a ringing phone and no way to answer it. Same thing happens sometimes when trying to hang up a call and I can't hang up. When I hit the back button inside the messaging app, it acts like the master back button on the face of the phone and will take me completely out of the messaging app instead of up a level inside the app. Yeah, I know, jailbreak it, load other messaging apps, etc. etc. ...but I want my smart phone to be a smart phone - not another hobby.

And then I proof read that and scare myself with how much that sounds like something Gramps would post.

+1

+2

Even though the droids had better tech, my iPhones run much better than my droids ever did.

I used to have to yank a battery on the droid once a week, sometimes more. The iPhone has required that exactly zero times in 3 years.

Great, thanks for the help. I deleted the tracks. If anyone else wants to set up their phones, let me know when you want me to clear the tracks.

One of my clients needs me to work on Saturday and I might have to miss the Steeplechase. The more we get set up in advance, the less issues raceday.

We all have technology horror stories.

My iPhone 5 that I have to use at work (it sits on a dock on a desk and it has exactly one app installed) has to be rebooted every 24 hours or else my bluetooth headset refuses to connect when receiving a phone call (placing a phone call is fine mind you). The stupid pop up windows on it are directly over top of the "End call" button so if you manage to be a half second late hitting "hide" then it hangs up on the call instead.

Anyways. Your back button complaint is a common one - the functionality isn't properly implemented by app developers everywhere. There are literally 10,000 messaging apps on the play store that you don't need to root your device for..

Sorry for the topic divergence. I'll go back to playing with my Moto 360 smartwatch now (that I'm developing sailing apps for) :P

I just turned my tracker on for Steeplechase (on an app that works quite well on the Samsung).

-3
. . . . because you can't.
:P

lol, wait... what!?

1 week away b!tches! Beat downs coming! Yep, looking squarely at you Ricky. No particular reason, just because.

Not the specific subject matter...I know you are an Android fan...just the tone.

I never drank the Apple cool-aide, but my wife sure did. I think she is currently looking for "i-husband".

I'm far from a power-user on the android platform. I want to call, receive calls, possibly text. The S5 seems to be doing that just fine, but I'm sure the i-phone would do just as well. Verizon has a good network here.

She did admit the S5 screen was nicer than her 6.

Did they ever get Apple and Adobe to play nice together? It is nice that i can open .pdf files (seem to be the dominant player in my biz) on my phone so I can fake being in the office while I'm cleaning the boat...

Oh I got it...

here's the problem that she hopes the "i-husband" will fix (from a recent conversation - you can figure out who the speakers are)

idiot walks into room, lovliness reclined on sofa staring at phone

lovliness: "Hey, can you put that over there?"

idiot (looking baffled): "uhhhhh... what?"

lovliness: "Put it over there!"

idiot: "Put what over where?"

lovliness: "Are you [explitave] deaf? PUT IT OVER THERE!"

idiot: "yeah, that's not helping..."

lovliness: "[referring to various religious dieties] you are an idiot"

Ok that's it, you're flicked from this thread.

idiot leaving thread

Shiza, that was the best story I've read in a while.

If I ever get the time to write it, you'll enjoy my Holiday drive story. Bucket-potty, sliding doors, and a van load of mexicans.

~sigh~, tomorrow we start the packing to make the trek down the Islander for the start of the Steeplechase. I'm packing so many toys (kayak, sailboard, paddleboards), it might even require two trips. I'm particularly worried about the traffic... this trip might take several minutes each way and given that we are now nearly out of liquor, we may even need to make an extra stop along the way.

That was not nice Mr. Kohl!

;=)

Rum party tonight at Mansion & Moore / Green Room Graphics Room 241 at back porch at the Islander. There will be pizza, rum (Mount Gay) coke, ginger, etc... Bring your own mixer if you have a particular taste. Fire pit provided by Turtle Mojo!

Oh.. 6:30pm tonight

In!

Can I do the registration there as well?

Lake Lanier is sending one F18 Team. Jacob and Grace.

I had a job conflict. Can someone make an announcement about the Kattack tracking? Both Jake and Dave have been able to connect. If ya'll could help walk the others through the setup process, that would be great.

You can call me at 561.371.2663 if you have questions or issues.

In!

Already met them and they are setting up now!

Good luck to everyone racing today! Have fun, stay safe, and give Riccardi a hard time for me!