So we left civilization somewhere around Marco Island and couldn’t send out updates due to poor coverage. The short version is we finished this morning at 5:23 AM.
Now more details…..
We left Estero Bay Monday morning around 7:30 AM. An unusually late start for the race but it was brutal cold and we were trying to stay warm. Once up we headed off shore and picked up a nice north west wind which allowed us to fly symmetrical spinnaker we passed several boats including Lugnut and Chuck the Duck.
We had scouted Marco a couple weeks beforehand and that knowledge gave us a great run throug this shortcut. Hopefully some good GoPro of this part show us jibing the spinnaker in the pass!!!!
All the way down the coast we crunched the numbers trying to figure out if we could make favorable winds and tides at Indian Key Pass and Chokoloskee. The alternatives like going in Rabbit Key Pass and back tracking to CP2 we’re risky. We got there about an our after high tide at the pass and made a decision to go the traditional route of Indian Key Pass. Somehow the tide was still flowing in. Maybe it was the wind from the north west but it turned out perfect. We sailed in to CP2 and rode the outgoing tide in Rabbit Key Pass to the outside. On the outside We hit the gulf and were headed to CP3 by around 10 PM only to find no winds for about an hour or two. We got to the gulf about 10 PM only to find no winds for about an hour or two. After that we had 8-10 knots through the night and we took shifts to get sleep.
CP3 was a quick turn around with a check of the weather and quick stop at the store.
We made the decision to go through FL Bay. About 1 hour in the conditions changed. The wind went dead calm. We had 25 mile to go and our only option was to ROW the sailboat! Per and I rowed 90% of the distance from Flamingo to Key Largo over night! This is what my hands look like today with fresh caluses. (They are worse than they look in the pic)
We did get a brief amount of wind that let us rest for about 4 miles but it was a row into the finish. You can see the tired look on my face here.
We are happy to have finished. Last year we busted a rudder and dropped out. This year we made repairs and resupplied. We lost our chance at a class victory and a part of the record times posted by other teams but that’s ok. Redemption is ours and overcoming adversity feels like a personal victory.
Us with the damaged rudder discussing the trip.
One last comment. Need to say thank you to several people. Simon Lew for being our shore contact. Our wives for supporting us. Will for coming to get us in Key Largo. Watertribe for putting on this awesome event. Thanks to everyone who did anything that helped get us to the finish.