It's History and What a Ride! What do you remember?
 

Congratulations, amazing performance for a first win. He was up against some very experienced talent, high winds and good sized seas and still pulled it off. His time, 2 hr. 17 min. equates to an average speed of about 25 mph. To keep that up through gust cycles, zones of seas up to perhaps nine feet in isolated areas is quite an accomplishment. I took a quick look and other than some fuzzy video shot at the finish I don't seem to have any shots. I think there is likely lots of high quality video and stills shot by Dasher from the helicopter and others at the awards ceremony which I unfortunately had to miss. So, stay tuned, more good stuff to come.

Well done to everyone that came out for this great event! A huge thanks to Neil and troops for pulling it off one more time.

Whether you went the full distance or not, were just watching or came in hard and furious for the finish, what do you remember? There have to be some incredible stories out there, so let's hear 'em.

Neil,

thanks again for putting on a great event. you couldn't have asked for better conditions. i know that all of us truely appreciate your efforts and always look forward to attending future events. Thanks again Neil.

Kent

I second that, Neil you are the man for conceiving and bringing these complex, unique events into being time and time again. THANK YOU!

OK, I was well up the coast cruising along on my 13 m near the zenith (sigh), dodging the odd big wave, shooting pictures and missed out on what was going on in the race further south. Gebi gave me an eye full on video of his radical experiences on the way down. Kent, what do you remember? Your gear let you down but I bet you have a great story.

Not much of a story from my side. I was very happy with my equipment selection (Crossbow3 10.5 and my 5'2 DC directional). My goal was to finish in the top 3 and not worse than 5th. I was sticking to my plan and riding pretty easy bouncing between 4th and 6th ususally. I was runing down the coast and currently riding in 5th with I went flying over the bars. I quickly got up and crashed again. I flipped my board over and noticed that my bottom had ripped off. I had earler repaired my board by adding to additional stringers, but I did the job incorrectly and didn't place an extra layer of glass over the stringers. I thought that my test from Saturday's race was sufficient, but apparantly not.

It was a disappointment for sure, but I was runing about as expected and had to bail out at the Deerfield Pier. It's funny, just as I was limping into the beach Gebi passed me. I'm sure that we would have finished at the hip again. I think that he was looking for a bit of revenge after Saturday's loss to me by about 10 seconds after 25 miles. I guess that I'll just have to live on that one until we get to Tampa. I can't wait to see you there.

Tough break but then again that board did well in quite a few comps including Naples day before yesterday. The challenge goes on between Kent and Gebi, years in the running but still going real strong.

Stacey was also in both the Naples and Jupiter races like us, Stacey what do you remember from the run to Ft. Lauderdale?

sore ribs and one leg bigger than the other
 

Yeah, another good one, Neill.

The water start was MUCH better than the shore Chaos from the first Jup-Tiki race. It also made for a level playing field.

What I'm learning is that even with 60 miles and more than 2 hours to make up ground, you never have a moment to waste. As the group moves at over 20mph, when you look up after falling off the board, you feel like you just fell off a train that's heading off in the distance.

The other thing I'm learning is the old rabbit and turtle philosophy. I chose the fastest board I own, but not the most comfortable. When I needed to, I could shoot past someone. My GPS even showed a max speed of 42mph after outrunning one of those big swells. But the constant chatter and lack of board traction kept me from really keeping up those high speeds, and probably caused me to fall more than I should have. And then, all the people I had zipped past, just cruised comfortably by me in my down times. So, a comfortable steady pace on the right gear is definitely the way to go next time for me.

More than a few people hugged the shore for very long distances. That sucked because the shallower water definitely had its advantages. Did any lifeguards report anyone?

I saw one shark eating something on the surface, several Men-o-war (plural?), and took one jelly fish to the face.

Looking forward to more...races; not jellyfish.

Thanks for the response. I look forward to seeing the pics.

We have a hard enough time staging cars for large events, I can't imagine the nightmare of almost 100 people dependent on wind and a non-stable surface all starting at the same time.

It had to be a site for sure!

An amazing race for sure. Things I remember and heard:

Sean Reyngoudt, loosing his prospetic leg half way, body dragged after it and came in and put it back on to finish 23rd
Chan Anschuetz riding the whole way strapless and finishing 20th with no wax left on his board.
Billy Parker finishing 3rd on a broken board.
Hamish Macdonald kept coming to the beach, on his surboard, to re-inflate his leading edge by mouth until Gary Menk giving him his kite at the check point to finish.

It was an amazing sight to see that many kiters leaving Jupiter in those conditions followed by the helicopter with Paul and Dasher hanging out the side.
1st rider coming in 10 mins faster than last years winner Andy Hurdman.
At 2.14 pm marking off the last person from my list having accounted for all 62 people, then having a beer.

Cheers all Neil

Ken,

I didn't even finish, but I totally agree with your comments about riding on the shore. Many racers clearly rode the shore for tens of miles at a time, including before and after the check point. Independent of wining or losing the race, this clearly puts us at risk for having future events. I do know that riders mentioned the fact that many people rode on the beach the entire way. The advantage was huge in more ways than one. Rules actually make events more fun as long as everyone follows them.

i don't think that the lifeguards really knew much about the race. At Deerfield, the head guy didn't know anything. It is best to police these events just like any other sailing event. It is policed by the riders. In this case a few riders did report indiscressions as requested by race management, but I'm not sure if anything happened. I was riding with big Damien T. on the outside for quite some time, it was bouncy and slow as hell. I'm sure that he would have liked to ride the flats on the inside with that 14 meter of his! In short, if you want rules taken seriously, enforce them, if not, let them run.

The DVD will surely be interesting... it's going to need some careful editing to take out the lifeguard stands, buoys, and add another 80 yards of water. ha ha ha!!!

At any rate it was a great event, but probably needs to get tightened up a bit. Congrats to all and see you in Tampa.

Kent

I also totally agree with the swim area rule. The last thing we want is to turn a very positive thing into something negative and for sure I do not want to play a part in any closing of beaches.
I did not get any calls from life guards and they all had my cell phone #. But I did hear a couple of complaints about people riding in swim areas by other riders. I did not get any actual names but did hear some of the top few riders may have gone in but also heard from some of the later part of the top few that no one ahead of them went in.
We will have to find a way of clearing this up for next year, maybe no one is allowed in the break the entire way after the start.