Last week my PocketShip participated in the Florida 120. This year was grueling and out of the 49 boats registered for the event only 4 made the entire trip. I'm happy to say my PocketShip was one of them. My crew and myself are battered and bruised and my boat has a couple of battle scars. But the worst of it was a slightly cracked rub rail. This event tested PocketShip with many different sailing conditions.
The third day is a 15 mile trek across Pensacola bay. That morning the crew and I had a discussion on if we should stay at anchor or try to finish. We decided to press on. The winds were forecast for 15-20kts so we set out with a reef in the sail. As we started to cross the bay we were greeted by confused seas that required an active hand on the tiller to keep from being spun around. We buried the bowsprit once and a couple of times we were knocked down so far that the portholes were partially submerged. We made it in about 4 hours of the scariest sailing I've ever done. This is where a majority of the fleet gave up. We arrived at the 3rd nights anchorage with just 11 other boats. Most of those chose to bail out at a marina 3 miles north rather than trying to recross the bay.
The next day the forecast for the bay seemed better and it was. Fine easy sailing in stark contrast to the day before.
PocketShip sailed well and showed how rugged she is. You do start to wonder about all those fillets when the seas become like a washing machine. My hats off to the designer and a call out to the only other home built to finish the event, a Bolger micro named 'Pete'.
