The Island Race used to be called “Around the Island Race.” That was back in the day when we used to race around Key Biscayne, Virginia Key and Fisher Island. The course went around Cape Florida, through Government Cut, then turning near the mouth of the Miami River before heading south through Rickenbacker Causeway to finish just east of Key Biscayne Yacht Club. Nowadays the racecourse has a turning marker just east of Bear Cut. The race then returns back into the Bay, rounding the same marks as on the way out.
The Island Race has become an annual, reoccurring event for Team Paradise. It’s a lot of fun because we sail on the ocean side of Key Biscayne, a bit different than sailing around in the Bay. The big trick is to observe the current and wind, and try not to run aground. Anyone who would like to join us and start preparing for next year, please let me know.
Too much wind
It was a windy day for sure! It was so windy that that racing was cancelled even for the much bigger boats. We knew that there was a great potential for strong wind, but we decided to sail and made the starting line on time. The race was postponed and boats started to sail back in. Then came the announcement that the race was cancelled! This is when we said, “Let’s go reaching instead!” Given the time stamp of the video and the computerized anemometer reading from nearby Biscayne Bay Light ’20’, we had gusts hovering around 40 Kt. That’s a lot of wind and I’m so proud of my team for being able to handle such tough conditions. Let’s hope that there is a re-sail of the event, but knowing how busy everything is, we might have to wait for September 2020.
Weekly Veterans Sailing
Thursday’s weekly Veterans Sailing turned into spinnaker practice for our Veterans who were planning on racing in the Island Race. It turned out to be the nicest day with comfortable temperatures and a perfect breeze for what we wanted to accomplish. We had enough people to make it a two-boat practice, which is always more fun and more worthwhile from a training perspective. Bob Hurst, our retired Coastguard Captain had just returned for the season and we are so fortunate to have him working with us.
Yours truly was the onboard coach on the other Sonar with Duane on the helm and Julio on mainsheet/spinnaker trim. Duane has come a long way! He graduated Basic Keelboat and Performance Sailing & Spinnaker Endorsement and is now well underway with competitive racing. The Island Race would have been his 3rd regatta in less than a month. We did a bunch of spinnaker gybes with me on the foredeck. Julio showed good talent for flying the spinnaker and crewing in general. I felt encouraged going into the Island Race on Saturday. Unfortunately the race was cancelled, but we had some major fun and we learned a lot.
Let’s go sailing soon,
Magnus | Executive Director, Team Paradise Sailing