the home stretch

With just 12 miles to the finish line Paul called from the Dawn Patrol.  He described a beautiful evening on Florida Bay.  The sun was just going down, the sky unbelievable with blue, purple and orange colors.

The stay in Flamingo was brief, to say the least.  Alan and Paul hopped up on the dock to take a photograph, jumped back on the CS20 and continued on their way.  This was typical for their trip, their plan was always to keep on sailing.  In fact they only stop they had to make was after CP 2 when, after hitting an oyster bar, they had to anchor for a few minutes to repair the broken rudder down haul.

They haven't seen any of their class competitors since CP 2.  Not bad for a boat that got a late start.

Paul said the new spinnaker has had a lot of use, plus they have found about three new uses for the staysail.  He says the trip has, for him, been a sailing tutorial, a chance to learn about sailing from teammate SOS (his son Alan).  I suspect there is some truth in that, but I can tell you from experience that Paul is a pretty good sailor himself.

Paul did not have an eta, but when pushed a little bit he said maybe they would be in Key Largo at 9 or 10 tonight.  It depends on the wind.  They might sail, they might need to row.  And once they get on shore, hot showers and some sleep.

DanceswithSandyBottom said he would try to send some photos tomorrow.

You can see them approach the finish line at Dawn Patrol's tracking page.

steve