The time has come to leave the beach and set sail.
The winds have turned to a favorable direction clocking 15 knots (17.26 mph) from the north.
This is good news for Team RAF.
The Everglades Challenge begins at 7:00am on Saturday on a beach beside historic Ft. De Soto in the middle of Tampa Bay. Here is the wind forecast for 7am.
VanMan wrote on the WaterTribe forum today, "The weather forecast on the course looks like the best ever and we may see new course records if it holds. Consistent, but moderate, northerly winds all down the course through Monday, with strong NW winds on FL bay on Sunday night. Blasting down Tin Can and through Twisty Mile under a full moon in 20 knots. That should keep em awake! The racers just have to keep moving. There are some fast multihulls, which we may see ahead early, but I
think the boats that can keep moving consistently will get there first. Roo has the course record from last year at 2 days, 18 hrs. I think that will fall. I maintain that 2 days is possible, but I think it will take a multihull to do it. Matt has the single handed record at 3 days, 5 hours in Enigma last year. I don't think Sand Flea will beat that, being so much shorter. There are alot of singlehanded multihulls and the single class 3 boats. The key will be to keep moving. This is going to be exciting. Look for 1st boats at CP1 mid-late afternoon. "[DancesWithSandyBottom reporting.]
