2008 Steeplechase - Getting there

Upon our arrival and opening of the trailer, Trevor getting really excited about riging!

Better late than never! I decided to write a detail story about this year's steeplechase and never got to finishing it until now. Stay tuned for Part 2 and 3

We were extremely excited about this year's Key Largo Steeplechase. Knowing we were more prepared than the previous year gave us the confidence to know we would actually be competitive this year rather than just trying to complete the race.

However, my excitment was soon halted when 6 hours before our flight I found out that the plane was already delayed, not because of bad weather in the Northeast, but because of snow in New Orleans! The airline informed me that we might not be able to make our connecting flight and all scenarios didn't place us in Key Largo until noon or later on Friday. With already a full day of boat work planned I knew this was going to be a huge problem.

Despite the grim situation, we decided to go to the airport and just go with the flow. Our flight was infact delayed 3 hours but this gave us plenty of time to run our tab (exactly what we didn't need to be doing!) up at the T.G.I. Fridays at the airport. During this time we were joined by many other delayed travelers including a local Newport Laser sailor we know. Many interesting topics can be brought up at an aiport bar, but my favorite was that this was truly a conspiracy by the airlines to meet a quota set by the bars in the terminal to sell alcoholic beverages.

Finally after the long delay we got on the plane to be greeted by 3 heavily intoxicated middle-aged mothers who insisted on not letting us catch any rest during the flight. Luckily, 21 people from our Providence to Orlando flight were connecting to our flight to Fort Lauderdale so they held the plane 2 and a half hours. Needless to say, the people that were sitting on the plane were not happy campers when we all got there. We were not bothered by this as we were just glad to be getting to Lauderdale that night!

Upon arriving in Lauderdale, a friend picked us up and arranged for us to stay at a mutual friend's house. Thanks to Jeff and Nick for this!

At 7AM, it seemed like we had just gone to bed (probably because we just had) when I got a text message from Chris Titcomb of Team Accelerated Chaos saying him and his crew, Trevor Burd, were on their way. We struggled of the couch and into the car to head down to Key Largo. On our way down, I cannot fail to mention our finding an Ihop and stopping for breakfast as no real trip can be complete without a huge breakfast!

After stuffing our stomachs, we finished our trip to Key Largo, picked up a fellow catamaran sailor's truck (Thanks Jack!) to move our box trailer from Tiki Watersports to the Carribean Club to start setting up our boats.

Our list of boat work for the day consisted of removing our existing self-tacker and replacing it with the current style, removing and replacing our tramp lacing slugs, putting new lines (courtesy of Paraloc Rope) and blocks (courtesy of Ronstan), and much more. Our boats were also completely disassembled in the trailer! We had to watch as everyone went sailing all day while our mast was not ready to go up until around 5PM. By 5:30 the sun had gone down and we no longer had any light to work on the boat and knew we would have to be up early in the morning to finish the work.

As always, registration and the skipper's meeting were held at 6PM at Rick White and Mary Well's house. After attending that, we went out to dinner then retired to the hotel from last minute GPS and chart review then much needed quality time with our pillows.

New Sponsors: Paraloc, Ronstan, Magic Marine, Murrays, Hall Spars, and H20 Audio

We have begun our sponsorship quest for the Tybee and with that has come the donation of many products that will help us tremenously in our quest.
All these companies have treated us very well... please check out their websites by clicking the logos on the right of our blog.

Paraloc Swiss Rope:
Paraloc has donated new line to outfit our whole boat and more! This line is really cool stuff! Throughout the line, the cover is stiched to the core to prevent slippage or wear. R&W Rope, of New Bedford, MA is the U.S. Distributor and really has gone out of their way to outfit our boat with all the proper lines. They even gave us a spool of NovaTec shockcord... we are confident to say this is the best shockcord!

Ronstan:
We can't thank Ronstan enough for how much they are helping us out! They gave us everything we asked for! From their amazing wetsuits and gloves (which already were our favorites) to their new Orbit Series blocks for our spinnaker. They also gave us their new Racing Trapeze Harness which we are excited to try out. All of this will make us and our hardware fully capable of withstanding anything mother nature can throw at us!

Magic Marine:

Magic Marine also has provided us with gear that will make it much more comfortable for us to compete in our upcoming endevours. We are well aware of the reputation of Magic Marine gear and expect it to be perfectly suited for this type of sailing.

Murrays Marine:
As always, Murrays came through for us... they provided us with excellent deals on Barz Goggles, storage bags, and etc. I personally am excited for the Barz as last year by eyes had a tough time in reaction to the salt concentration of the water in the Keys. Steve Murray has treated me extremely well ever since my days sailing Hobie 16s... he and his company are a true supporter of the sport!

Hall Spars and Rigging:
Hall Spars in Bristol, RI has been nice enough to extend us a substantial discount on rigging and lines. This was extremely helpful as we were in dire need of new standing rigging. Hall made us some really fine rigging and in only a couple days! In addition to custom rigging services, they also splicing, and much more! These guys really know there stuff! I think we can trust the guys who built the mast for the BMWOracle DoG boat to build our rigging!

H20Audio:
H20 Audio was nice enough to contribute their waterproof armbands and headsets for our Ipods. While this might seem a bit odd, we are Team Adrenalin and what better way to add to our adrenalin than to listen to some "pump me up" music?!

24th Annual Key Largo Steeplechase

Tomorrow night, Team Adrenalin flies down to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to compete in the the 2008 Key Largo Steeplechase. This will mark the second time our team has sailed this race.
This race is run with a low key demeanor, however it is not forgotten that it is indeed an extreme endurance race. Race committee, legendary Rick White recommends that only experienced catamaran sailors participate. Racing over 110 miles on a 20 foot catamaran is no easy task no matter how you look at it. Over the years, teams have endured various conditions, from gail force winds to calm conditions. Either can be equally as tolling on sailors. High winds test sailors and boats, while calm conditions can lead to a long day on the water possibly even a finish after dark.
This race is a true gem of catamaran sailing, it is the favorite event of the year for many competitors. Where else can you race in the clear blue waters of the jet stream on day and the mangroves of the Florida Everglades the next?
We are extremely excited about this year's race. We hope that we can use our experience last year to improve our results this year. This is a race that you really need to be familiarized with the course to do well!
Stay tuned for updates over and after the weekend on Adrenalinsailing.com!
Also, checkout Catsailor.com for updates from the race organizers.

Late wrap up of Nacra North Americans

Well we made it all the way out to Michigan for Nacra North Americans. 

I apologize for not updating the blog while we were there... for all of those who have been to Caseville, MI, which is likely nobody, you would have known we would not have had internet access.  There was NOTHING there, this included internet access, I think there was spot in the corner of the booth in one bar the the town that if you sat in exactly the right spot you might pick up a weak signal but that was it.  

It was quite the trip, about 28 hours round trip.

The sailing conditions at this event were great.  Almost every race we were double trapezing.  

We had our ups and downs throughout the week.  We did very well in light to moderate air which included leading 2 races.  However, we the lightest team there at exactly minimum weight and had a tough time keeping the boat going fast in the heavy stuff.

We ended up 10th but we learned a lot!  It was great to hold our own with guys who have been on the boat for years in our first Nacra North Americans.

I think the highlight of our week was the last race, when we were over early and Kirk Newkirk was nice enough to yell to us about 2 minutes after the start that we were over so we turned around and went back to restart.  We decided to sail the hardest we had all week and try to catch back up to the fleet with a few minute late start.  We ended up at the windward mark ahead of two boats and right on the tails of the lead pack.  This felt really amazing as it confirmed that we had improved our boatspeed over the course of the week.

Going to the Nacra North Americans was much more about sailing for us.  It was a great opportunity to pick the brains of great sailors such as Nigel Pitt, Alex Shafer, Captain Kirk Newkirk, and etc.  These guys are all awesome as they are more than willing to help out and offer their advice, this is what sailing is all about!  

We can't wait until next year's NA's in Fort Walton Beach, FL.

We're in for the 2009 Tybee 500

Adventure Online TV - Tybee 500 Catamaran Highlights 2006

Well after lots of consideration... we have decided that we are officially going to compete in the 2009 Tybee 500, to be held in May.  The Tybee 500 is a  500 mile race from Key Largo, FL to Tybee Island, GA in 6 days.  We will sail a Nacra 20 catamaran which is extremely fast but also very physically demanding.  This is the premier small boat endurance distance sailing race in the world. 

This race takes a lot of time, commitment, planning, financing, and preparation.  We have decided 7 months ahead of time that we are going to compete so that we can make sure we are 110% fully prepared to take whatever this race can throw at us.

We still need help though!  Anyway you can help, whether it be monetary donations, product donations, or etc. we would greatly appreciate it!

Please email us at TeamAdrenalin@AdrenalinSailing.com for more information.

We have a sponsorship proposal and other material to give you a better understanding of what we are looking for.

Stay tuned for periodic updates on our progress.