FLORIDA TO BAHAMAS KITEBOARDING RACE - What it's about!

[ricki]

Originally Posted by surferjd

I would love to do this but I am not that experienced yet...

FYI Gulfstream flows north at about 2-3kts. There fore, Miami would be the best takeoff spot

I mentioned that to Neil, some guys are going to have to do the course plotting allowing for the set of the current and leeway with a Northeast wind to select the launching point.

Let's say the crossing takes 4 hours, that will result in about 12 nm of drift north. Neil is planning on something close to a beam reach, which for wind out of the NE or say 45 degrees True, will mean a course of about 225 degrees. That is a bit too far south and I suspect will make the crossing quite a bit longer than 4 hours. So, they'll have to ride closer hauled than that with a NE wind.

Christoph Ribot miamikiteboarding.com did an unusual crossing of his own via catamaran documented at:

http://www.miamicatamarans.com/events.htm

He also navigated one of the boats during the Key West to Cuba world record kiteboarding crossing. I wonder what Christophe would advise?