Last week was action packed! It was a busy weekend for sailing in Miami. Team Paradise main event of the week was to provide six Sonar with skippers for a corporate team building event at Castle Harbor Sailing School in Matheson Hammock Park. Shake-A-Leg and Coconut Grove Sailing Club hosted about 40 Melges 20s, Biscayne Bay Yacht Club hosted a 40 boat Etchells regatta and both the Coral Reef Yacht Club and the Sailing Center had their regular activities going on. Shake-A-Leg prepared three boats for the Winter-fest Parade in Ft. Lauderdale, you get the idea?
The good news was that eight volunteers/coaches came to help and get the job done. We launched one Sonar for the sailing school on Tuesday, then two more on Wednesday morning. I had made an arrangement with the City of Miami to store three boats on the municipal anchorage at Dinner Key. My buddy, Kevin Burnham, help us tow them out there so that we could launch another three boats and still fit at the dock.
There was zero wind on Wednesday, so we decided to tow the three boats on the anchorage down to Matheson Hammock, where Cai Svendsen and reserved dock space for us. Cai had asked me for an E.T.A. and I remember answering "about 4.15pm". We tied up at the dock at about 4.14pm, which was pretty cool. Our event started at noon on Thursday. We left Shake-A-Leg around 10.30am and sailed the remaining three boats down to Matheson. We tied the boats up next to the other Sonar, leaving the mains hoisted. We then rigged and hoisted the main on the other three boats, finishing just in time for our noon commitment. On time again!
Cai Svendsen has perfected the corporate team building event. We had three races on a beam-reach/short beat/reach to finnish course. No gybing allowed! Each boat had an instructor, but not holding the tiller other than in an emergency. The novice crew operated the boats, trimming main, jib and steering.
After a short de-brief and awards ceremony, we towed four boats back and returned to Shake-A-Leg just before dark. The next day we hauled the four boats, then returned to Matheson and picked up the remaining two boats. We hauled all boats except for one, just in time before all the racers returned to the docks. The timing was near perfect and the event was a success!
Can't believe that some people ask me why I moved to Miami. Many of the visiting sailors are people that I know for a long time. By living in Miami I get to meet them every year as they come here to sail in Miami. Karl Anderson is one of them. We share a lot of history together and I couldn't help myself from taking a picture of him as he came to the trailer every morning to get taped-up like any other athlete may need from time-to-time.
I went sailing in a brand new P-Star with Miami's Augie Diaz on Sunday. Augie, who is the best sailor in Miami, takes every opportunity to practise. His favorite boats are Snipe, 505 and Star boat. He probably sails a s much as anyone in Miami, part of the reason he is so good. We sailed around for a couple of hours in 15-18mph breeze. Unbelievable reaching and running. Upwind the boat tracks like nothing else and we easily beat the Melges 20. Augie, You are the MAN!