Tanzer 16 -- 300 miles of Open Water -- Day 3 --out of the inland waterway

Tanzer 16 -- 300 miles of Open Water -- Day 3 --out of the inland waterway  --  March 7, 2016 

Brian got an early start on Monday.  His position checks started at 07:20 EST.  The wind is predicted to be ENE at 6 mph.  It should be mostly sunny or sunny all day.  The temperature should be in the mid 70's.  Brian began the morning tacking across a small bay to get an angle for the channel under a bridge. If the wind holds, he should be able to beam or broad reach most of the day.  Like most boats, reaching is the Tanzer's best point of sail. Weight could be an issue; it is hard to imagine how much the boat weighs.  The hull and rigging are over 500 pounds.  Brian and his crew are two big guys (let's guess about 200 pounds each), and they have to carry their camping gear and provisions.  Total has gotta be well north of 1100 pounds.

Here is Brian's progress this morning from 07:20 to 08:20:

The Tanzer is not exactly a boat that points high to windward.

Brian cleared the bridge on the Sandibel Causeway at 09:49 EST.  The
distance between checkpoints increased markedly as soon as he made the
turn to the south.

Brian and his crew put in a brutally long day on Monday.  They broke their camp on the beach and made their first satellite check in at 07:20 EST.  They stuck with it for 15 hours--a long time on a fully loaded 16-foot boat.  For some reason they made two major tracks to the north during the day.  The weather report says the wind picked up to 16 mph during the day.  Speculation:  Maybe they were trying to get into the lee of the land.  We will ask Brian when he finishes.

At 22:21 EST they beached the boat in a some kind of sanctuary--with a bunch of houses just beyond the vegetation by the beach.  Today's progress was 36 nautical miles.  In three days they have completed 105 miles of the 300 miles in the race.  They have five days to go.  They will need to average 35 miles per day for the next five days to finish.

Custom Message	1 Hour ago ( 7:36 PM )	BubbaKoosh
Your Local Time:  3/7/2016, 7:36:58 PM  Coordinates: (WGS84) 25.97355 , -81.7345  Message Detail:  Camping on the Hook  (time stamp is PST)