Palm Beach Regatta 2021

Let's get real - We're Not Racers! Eximius probably has several hundred pounds of tools and spares onboard, plus we carry 10 gallons of Diesel on deck as well as 10 gallons of Gas and 24 gallons of fresh water, that's roughly 44 gallons of fluid, guestimate about 8lbs per gallon = 352 lbs, equivalent of 2 additional crew but they just sit there on the rail. So, as stated, we're not racers. However the Palm Beach Regatta is such a fun event we couldn't resist.

To be fair, we did race in 2019 and scored a trophy - we didn't finish, same as everyone in our class, but we did tell the best story and scored the 1st place trophy.

This year there are 15 boats in five different classes, only two of us in Gunkhole, us and another Catalina but at 36, just a bit bigger than our 34. Only one of us will get a trophy this year as it requires at least 3 boats in a class to result in trophies going to 1st, 2nd and third. So the challenge is on!

Preparation. 

Most of the preparation has been in getting the race setup, the pre-race party and skippers meeting, there's not much for us to do to our boat, it's going as is, but we are doing a bit or normal servicing and trip preparation:

• Oil Change
• Water tank flush and fill
• Non-perishables
• Drinks
• Bedding (we'll be staying aboard while anchored in Lake Boca on Friday, West Palm Beach Saturday and Sunrise Bay Sunday)
• Our serviced PFD's (we service them every year)
• Charting our anticipated course (we're expecting very light winds, so we'll head ENE from the start line until we feel the Gulf Stream pushing us North.)
• Loading all of our Electronics on board - including our inReach (here's the link) satellite tracking service.
• Clothing for 5 days, including attire for the Awards Party at the Palm Beach Sailing Club on Saturday evening.

Ok, that's easily done, we do have one other thing to do:

We'll be mounting Rail Boards to the Stanchions on both sides of the boat forward of the Shrouds in order to attach the fuel/gas/water cans. The boards will be 4" White UV Plastic boards from Lowes and Stainless Steel U-bolts. The cans will get secured to the rail boards with Webbing Straps and Buckles.

Of course, we'll need some fresh baked bread, but no time on Thursday, so here's today's results

Two Loaves of Wholemeal Bread

So, the boat will be ready by Thursday afternoon.

Friday morning we'll take the perishables down to the boat and put them in the fridge. Stow our clothing, get the boat set for sailing and then pull away from the dock around 10am and head out to Port Everglades. Heading East we'll go for the 3 mile limit and pump out, then head up to Hillsboro Inlet. We hope to get some practice on setting up for the start line before going inside the Inlet and up to Lake Boca where we'll anchor overnight. We'll leave the anchorage at 6:50 in the morning so that we can catch the 7am Camino Real Bridge, the 7:30 Hillsboro Blvd Bridge and get out of the inlet around 8:45 and head up to the start line about 1.5nm North of the Inlet.

That's the plan!

See you on the water.