2015 Andrews Institute Pensacola a la Habana Race – Day 6

by Talbot Wilson on 6 Nov 2015 At 8:41AM Thursday morning Past Pensacola Yacht Club (PYC) Commodore Larry Bowyer sent the following message to Commodore Escrich of Hemingway International Yacht Club on behalf of the Andrews Institute Pensacola a la Habana Race. “All but two of the yachts should finish within the next two to three hours. 'La Gazelle' is approximately eight hours from the finish and 'Surf Rider' is 160 miles north of the finish line making just over five knots, making their arrival time over 30 hours away.”

“Thank you Commodore Escrich for hosting this inaugural regatta for Pensacola Club! We look to many more events in the years ahead,” Bowyer added.

PYC hopes this race will, along with the Regata al Sol from Pensacola to Isla Mujeres, MX, become one of the leading ocean races in the south. The two would be sailed in alternating years, if all goes well.

Family and friends can review the course taken by all the boats in the Andrews Institute Pensacola a la Habana Race. Look on the event website and click on the boat tracking tab.

To review the courses of the yachts, activate the slider bar across the bottom on the map page below the Elapsed Time window.

Looking at the map of the tracks of the two last yachts on the course, it must have been quite a trip for them. Out in the Gulf of Mexico, ‘Surf Rider’ turned back to Pensacola Bay about four hours and forty-five minutes after their start. She was back in the Bay some two hours later. From there she went all the way through the Intracoastal Waterway and re-entered the Gulf of Mexico at Apalachicola. Since than she has been making steady progress.

According to family reports, the crew of the little cat says they are still racing. They will have quite a tale to tell. Did they stop for those world famous Apalachicola oysters?

‘La Gazelle’ took a detour from the Gulf and went to Marco Island four days into the trip, according to Kattack tracking. She came back into the Gulf some four hours later to continue on her way to Cuba. They will have a tale to tell, too.

The crew of 'Trasea' (x 'Midnight Sun II') made a boat change in Pensacola after loosing the rig off the first boat. They arrived in Hemingway Marina at 9:45 Thursday morning. They had predicted they would be in Cuba in time for the prizegiving and have made that promise good.

All this is interesting, but now the sailors are waiting for results. They will be coming soon, but the calculations may be complex since there are motoring penalty adjustments to be made and maybe protests to be heard. The times on the Kattack Leaderboard are not official finish times, close... but not exact. Also yachts in different classes started at different times. Be patient, please.

Castillo del Morro Race

Sailing is scheduled to pick up again Friday morning. The Castillo del Morro Race is a friendly competition sailed between Havana Harbour and the Castle El Morro at the mouth of Hemingway Marina. Locals and Pensacola racers will compete.

One important goal of the new Andrews Institute Pensacola a la Habana Cuba race is to establish friendly, amateur athletic competition between the US sailors and the people of Cuba. The Pensacola a la Habana racers will be joined by local racers and other boats mooring in the Hemingway Marina in The Castillo del Morro Race.

The race will have a course that will be from the Almendares River mouth – entry buoy to Havana Harbor- Hemingway Marina. This course is spectator friendly for the Cuban people and US spectators traveling to Cuba. The boats will leave the Hemingway Marina for the starting line at 9:00AM and the start will be approximately 11:00AM local time.

The trophy presentations for the Andrews Institute Pensacola a la Habana Race and the Castillo del Morro Race will be at 7:00PM at the Hemingway International Yacht Club.

The original Havana Race was sailed from St. Petersburg, FL when 11 boats hit the starting line on March 30, 1930.The competition grew in size and stature to be a favorite of Gulf Coast sailors. It became a preliminary to the famous Southern Ocean Racing Circuit and attracted top yachts from the Americas and the international scene. Then bullets started flying at masts, and Castro overthrew the Cuban government, so the race was discontinued after 1959.