Key West Feeder Race – Overview

We finished last night around 1 am the Key West Feeder Race.
It was not as windy and cold as promised but it was still a good work session. We started in Ft. Lauderdale with the A2 in about 12 knots of breeze. In the first hour, the breeze built to 18 knots and with a few gusts to over 20 so we changed to the A4. We held that sail for quite some time into the night. As we started to round the keys and harden up, we went to the A3, which is a heavier kite made to sail the higher angles. We deploy it in a zipper sock, which adds a little bit of safety as to when the sail will fill. The set up went well besides us getting wet on the bow and head lamps shorting out. We struggled a little to get the sock to open up properly but a good strong pull with 3 of us (Snowflake, Mickey, and myself) was enough to release whatever was keeping it from opening. After some time, we went from the A3 to the Fro, a sail which served us very well in Sardinia, and it didn’t fail us again. It allowed us to get up to 130- 125 true wind angle and hauling ass. For the boys on the handles, it was a grind fest. By the time the race was over, most of them had been grinding for 9 or more hours.
With the FRO on, and a genoa staysail, we put reefs in and out a few times depending on the wind strength. Most of them went well except when the backstay bunjees broke and caused some problems getting the main back on the lock. It meant a trip of the rig for me, which I don’t particularly enjoy. Once sorted, we were able to reef back and forth again.
We had to put up the A3 again after getting lifted a little and then back to the FRO before changing down to the J4 for the last little beat up to Key West.
One of the challenges for us on the front last night was that there was so much water and spray; the visibility to see what we were doing was a challenge.
We were first to finish and won corrected so all the hard work was rewarded. We learned a lot last year doing this race and were able to improve quite a bit.
Today was for some rest and re-moding the boat to inshore mode. Tomorrow we start our inshore practice and there will be a few more crew onboard for this racing.
Later,
Doogie