Great job organizers and racers! Glad you got the race off.
Just found this on Garry Menk's site,
http://kiteracing.com/
The course and way points
and times:
Garry provided some valuable insight on interaction of deep skegged course race boards with floating weeds. I can recall needing weed fins a lot in the Keys and sometimes in Biscayne Bay back in the day for windsurfing. Good stuff to think about in future kite races. Thanks Garry!
"Well after getting up at 3am, and driving 5 hours we finally made it to Clearwater Beach for the start of the gulf coast downwind race. Wind was due west at about 12. The course boards looked really promising. Wind switched due North so the comity decided to postpone until 1:30 for a bit more breeze and a better direction. They made a great call wind jumped up to 18 with enough side shore in it to work for the twin tips. As for me, the course board did not work. It was like riding in a bowl of seaweed soup for the first 15 miles. Yes 15!!! The weeds parted and the course board made some ground. I managed to scream by 10 or so. Overall a super fun event with great friends. Thanks to the organizers!!"
I can recall spinning out on windsurfers striking weed but on a much lighter, less penetrating kiteboard at 30 mph, hitting a nasty weed snag could be a totally different sensation!