[ricki]

Originally Posted by The Kite House

i think that could be the fun part.....having maps and gps points ahead of time....setting some markers....but then besides being fast you need to be smart and have to make some choices or follow a gps.

Make it more of a well rounded navigation run instead of a balls to the wall chase. Makes sense. This would be a paradigm shift for some riders though. It would be good to talk about sensible tactics and precautions ahead of time. I can recall guys not knowing where way points were in last years distance races costing them in some cases. As long as folks don't clothesline sailboats with tangled kite lines going through narrow cuts. Sounds like fun and a different kind of challenge from the traditional "go fast" approach in the past. I wonder if we would have adequate wind throughout with land shear considerations in the channel? You've spent a lot more time among the cays in Florida Bay than I have. I had a few sessions in Florida Bay around Islamorada in strong cold fronts nearshore. As a rule there was adequate wind with some pinching down in wind speed at points from land effects in fairly strong frontal winds.