KEYS - Alligator Light Kite Roundwinder Race?

[ricki]

Originally Posted by kent

i really like the round the alligator race as well. i have raced windsurfers around the light house at least 6 times. i think that i have more second place finishes than any other windsurfer! actually Gebi beat me about 4 years ago in a very close race. he actually blew out his back in the race and then went to the world down under and had to withdraw from the event. kind of made me feel good!

on kites the race would be awesome! i would assume that if you had 3 days in jan that you would get the right conditions at some point. what do you think?

Kent

I think I've been there five or six times by kite over the years. I tried with a windsurfer in the 1998 and 2001 Proams and didn't come close. Not enough wind the last time and probably not good enough the first time with the wind speed and direction. More about two of the times by kite at: http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=657

I would think it is a good bet we would have a number of useable wind days in January. Where would you want to run it from, Holiday Isle (if they let us), Whale Harbor, the Moorings or ???

So, what wind directions would you want to run this in? I've done it on a variety of directions ranging from almost ENE to just a little south of E I think. The closer to north it gets the tougher the northbound return tack. That is the one that I think took over 30 miles + to make it back to the Ragged Edge with a ridiculous number of flat tacks. That distance is closer to 8 miles and more upwind than the odd 6 to Holiday Isle closer to the beam on that wind.

The runs I've done were impromptu. Laura would go to lunch, all that flat water would start to make me fall asleep and I would say OK, lets do a roundwinder to Alligator Light. To do a race though it would be more involved as you know from all the races you've run out there.

What do you think?