2008 Race Recap by Peter Ifju

When I arrived at the race around 9:00 am the wind was blowing around 10mph and a little offshore. It finally clocked side-on from the NE and picked up around noon. Not knowing what to rig, my strategy was to follow Ron Kern’s lead and rig the exact combination as his. So 10.0 sail and 67 fin were the call. Just before 1:00 pm the wind picked up a notch, so we were all considering going to 9.0 sails, but eventually decided to stick with our current setups. Getting out through the break was a challenge and 10 of the 19 managed. It wasn’t pretty but I managed to get out only to find my watch had stopped. So, I hovered around the starting line and followed the leaders through. I figured that a few seconds on a long distance race wasn’t going to matter much. So I got off about 100 meters behind Fernando and Alex.

It took me about fifteen 15 minutes to get dialed in, and used to the swell. In the meantime Fernando, Ron and I were battling it out for first. About halfway up the course, I adjusted my technique and found some good angle and speed. My 67 fin and the rest of my setup felt great and when I was on the same tack as Ron and Fernando, I was making better progress up wind then them. I only fell once and luckily got a quick restart. If not for misjudging the upwind mark and overlaying it (actually sailing downwind to it), I would have been first to the mark. As is turned out Ron got me by about 100 yards. I was still pretty fresh and ready to the downwind leg.

This is where I made a huge tactical mistake. Instead of following Ron in towards the shore, I jibed off and headed straight for the Port Everglades marker. I sailed about one and a half miles offshore (parallel to the shore) in 6 foot voodoo seas in 20-30 mph conditions. Ron’s choice was much smarter and he was blasting in well organized 4 foot sets also parallel to the shore, but about half mile off. I was making good progress, but was rapidly tiring, since I was out of the harness much of the time. I had to take two five minute breaks on the way to the Port Everglades mark. Some more TOW would have also helped. Occasionally, I saw Fernando upwind of me about 3 miles off shore. The seas must have been 8 feet out there.

After rounding the mark, I sailed the last leg (about 2 miles) back to the beach out of the harness. The beach crew helped me with my rig and I was finished, literally, in second though, my best yet for this event.

All in all it was the most challenging race I’d ever completed. I made a few crazy decisions along the way, some that worked out well and others that didn’t. This was the first race on my new homemade boom (sounds like a crazy thing to do) and I was a little nervous about it self-destructing 3 miles off shore. It survived and now has the “I to I tested” label on it. I should have stuck to my plan and followed Ron’s every move. It would have made all the difference on the long downwind leg. Ron was blazing, so I don’t think I would have beaten him, but I think it would have made a 10 minute difference and I wouldn’t have had to stop and recover from all that sailing out of the harness.

I want to thank Ron and the race committee for an excellent event.