Team Seacats

We’re traveling that well-beaten path due south to Key Largo, FL to compete in the Key Largo Steeplechase.  Chris Zander and I competed in this race two years ago and although we relished the 18knot conditions, we had some bad luck & decisions that put us back in the fleet.  Then again, this is a race for which experience plays largely.  This year, Frank Moore and I will be sailing the blue Nacra 20 while Chris has teamed up with another local sailor, David Strickland.  Chris and David will be sailing in the Tybee 500 this year so this will be a bit of a shakedown for them.  We’ve got two Nacra 20′s double stacked on the trailer behind us and are making decent progress toward Cape Canaveral – where a shuttle launch was scrubbed this evening due to weather.  We’ll probably shut down for the night before too much longer and get an early start to hopefully arrive in the Keys around lunch time to start setting up.

The weather forecast has been…well…pretty intimidating.  NOAA had been calling for us to be pinched between a low and a high resulting in 20 to 28 knot breeze – these kind of conditions don’t leave you with a high degree of control of these 20 foot boats that weigh only 400lbs but have a mast over three stories tall.  Fortunately, the forecast has recently dropped somewhat to a more reasonable 18 knots.  This gets back into terrific racing conditions where we have a choice to push the boat or not!  It’s shaping up to be a great 110 mile race around Key Largo.