Tanzer 16 -- 70 Miles of Open Water in Florida

Tanzer 16 -- 70 Miles of Open Water in Florida  --  Letter from Brian -- May 7, 2015  Received the following email from Brian who has participated in two 70-mile open water races down in Florida. Reprinted with his permission and his photographs.

Jim,

We were best in class this year on the 70 mile.  We were very lucky.   The wind was at our back 15-20kts and the tide was coming in from the opposite direction.  That made for a lot of jibing, knock downs  and pitch poleing.  Six boats total had to be rescued by the coast guard two class 4  (monohull sailboats).  I was not as adventurous as others and reefed in at the start.  Once out, I was able to go full sail on a beam reach.  The Tanzer handles the seas well for a little boat.

Next year I am signing up for the 300 mile.  With all the boats having problems, they are going to make sure you can reef, heave to, right, etc.  They are also going to make sure you do not overload the boat. I expect they will be tough.  Looks like capsizing and MOB drills this summer!

Do you know the capacity of the Tanzers? I don’t have any plates on mine that would show me.

They have the race to Alaska around your neck of the woods.  You should try it!

Thanks and hope all is well

Sincerely,

Brian Mrachek

I know that Brian has a very nice spinnaker launching chute and his jib
roller furling.