SubscribeJason: To all the runners in Nassau: Good luck and have fun (even though you are all nuts!) To all the sailors at Key West Race Week: Make way for the Balamena II (we are also nuts!)
That was the post before the Sunday marathon and plane to Key West that evening to begin Race Week. The Balamena II had already arrived from FLL during the race down, which I could not do due to the half marathon. The flight over was alright as I passed out in the airplanes, airports, standing up, etc, due to drinking after the half and before my flight, in the typical quadrathlete way! I was lucky in the my luggage arrived with me, unlike the early arrivals who had to wait an extra day for theirs!
We head home, except for Jason and Jen who decided a good solid night of drinking the day before the races would be good idea.
Up early, head to the boat, and get going. The rest of the crew participated in a practice run the day before, I was probably at a bar in Nassau still…Peter, Tony, Veg, Jason, Jen, Lee and Angela are the lucky sailors aboard the Balamena for this regatta. Regatta rules mandate the same people on the boat for the whole regatta, so we couldn’t technically throw Jen overboard.
There were 3 race courses with several fleets on each race course. Our #3 course had J-24’s, J-80’s, PHRF, and some others. We did two races a day, except the day of the fog where we only got one in.
The Mount Gay sponsored after party’s were similar to RTIA…free booze! We did our best to consume alcohol, at least Jason and I did, and to represent the Bahamas. It definitely seemed like a circuit crowd where people new each other, more so than we did, as we knew no one! Angela mingled more than the rest of us combined.
Unfortunately we did not get to get up on the podium for a trophy. Our best finishes were 5th out of 7th, but on our last race the difference between 2nd and 7th was 2.5 minutes, corrected time.
Between the drinking and sailing, I did not get much time in for anything else, but did get a swim in at the condo. The sailing and moving about I think helped to stretch out the legs from the half, and I wasn’t too sore by about Wednesday! I did try to stretch a bit in the mornings. That’s about all I got for now, a picture is worth a thousand words see my essay below! Also, the link to the results if you’re really interested…
More Key West Race Week 2011 Photos
Leave a comment