Tanzer 16 -- 300 miles of Open Water -- Day 1 results, Day 2 begins

Tanzer 16 -- 300 miles of Open Water -- Day 1 results, Day 2 begins -- March 6, 2016  Spent the day watching grandchildren and tracking Brian Mracheck (Tanzer 1460) on the first day of the 300-mile race called the Everglades Challenge.

Update:  Brian did get moving at 0953 EST Sunday. As of 1053 EST he is sailing a SSW course.

They left St. Pete's Beach (at the mouth of Tampa Bay) at 0800 EST.  The weather was sunny varying to mostly sunny.  The winds varied during the day 3 to 7 knots from the NW and NE so presumably he got to use a spinnaker much of the day.  He sailed a pretty straight course to the SSW.

In 12 hours they made 43 nautical miles of the challenge's 300-mile course to Key Largo.  They stopped for the night at the northern end of Don Pedro Island.

He has seven more days to complete the course.  As of 0845 EST he has not moved from his overnight position.  From the chart, it looks as though he will head down a narrow channel and continue south.  I will track Brian and his crew and they continue.  Sunday's weather is supposed to be sunny (0% rain).  Temperatures should be in the 70's.  Most importantly the wind is predicted to come from the NNE at 12 mph.  If all that is true, Brian should have another good day.

As Brian proceeds south the channel gets even more narrow.  The
race circular wars that contestants may have to pull their boats over
sand bars.