After working for about
32 months on Bandana's refit, we decided she was ready enough
to do the 160 mile race to Key West. Skip and I, Bonnie, Dan,
Frank, Mike, Tony and Norm gathered up our stuff and provisioned
the boat and headed to the start line.
In NE winds of 18kts,
we tried hoisting the #2 thinking since it was off the wind that
we could carry it but no such luck. It ripped before we could
even trim it properly, so there we were, before the start and
doing a sail change! Got the #3 up and filled and had a great
start on the line on time and fast and powering past other boats
pretty easily.
With 2 watch
teams of 3 crew, Frank navigating and Skip as a floater, we did
3 hour shifts. The quartering seas made for pretty tough driving
so the helm shifts were trimmed to 1 hour each. The chilly temps
during the day were deceptive, as I thought we were going to have
a very cold night but it actually got warmer after the sun went
down...go figure!
We had fun passing
boats and saw some double digits on occasion on the 'fun meter'
and as we turned the corner at the KW sea buoy to head up the
ship channel to the finish, we popped the kite. We saw 11.6kts
on a wave and to surf a 33,000 pound boat on a wave is always
a fun surprise!
All in all, it was
one of the easier Fort Lauderdale to Key West races for me, as
there were no crazy sail changes in the night and no screams for
'all hands on deck' either and though we had a few waves crashing
over the bow, we also had the dodger up and so were relatively
dry. We saw the people on some of the other boats looking very
wet and not so 'comfy'!! I talked to my friends on DragonFly Plus,
the new Swan 53, and they said it was the wettest boat they'd
ever sailed on! I was happy to be on Bandana!!!
And of course, the
really cool part...the race results!! Skip had raced to Key West
many times over the years, and often finished 2nd or 3rd but never
won his class....until NOW!! We crossed the line at 07:51:03am
for an elapsed time of 18:36:03 hours and a corrected time of
14:44:03hours which gave us not only a First in class, but a Third
in Fleet, as well as a trophy for being the best finish for a
GSC boat (although there were only 2 of us).
There are of
course, the usual happenings in Key West...You just can't go down
there without a trip to watch Will on the high wire at Sunset.....
And of course...a
few of the quirky things you see.....
and some of
the happy faces.....
But for the
Bandana crew...This moment tells it all.....
Skip (current
owner), accepting the trophy from Buck (prior owner).