When my friend Per (Norweigian for Peter) told me his boat was DQed I immediately offered up to come down with the SJ21. I probably should have checked the weather first but I knew I didn't want to miss this opportunity. As the race got closer it became apparent that we would be sailing north into a NE wind. If we were lucky we might be able to sail a single tack close hauled but it was going to get more complicated because of ocean currents. Near shore the NE wind would make water along the coast travel south but off shore there was the Gulf Stream and a 2 -4 knot current pushing north.
Per put together a crew for us. Me, the boat owner, ex-ocean lifeguard, racer/cruiser crew experience in offshore boats. Per, very experienced sailor, expert small boat sailor, owner of a Sea Pearl 21 and Lightning. Both of us had recently completed the Everglades Challenge together and finished 2nd in the mono hull division. Doug, who did the race last year with Per in the Sea Pearl 21 last year and won, also lots of off shore cruising experience including 3 years of sailing the south pacific. And finally John who is an accomplished Finn sailor from the Palm Beach Sailing Club.
The night prior to the race many of the sailboat rafted up at a house in Lighthouse Point for a pre race party. The host Ken Voss was serving his famous rum punch with nutmeg and Angostura Bitters which was amazing. Lots of fun with other sailor. We got lots of questions about the SJ21 since we were the smallest boat in the fleet. We ended up making friends with the crew of a Beneteau 235 (23 ft) called Hot Tuna. They had some Lightning experience too and were sailing the same class as us which was Corinthian (Racer/Cruiser w/ spinnaker) . Their rating was a little better than ours. Heck everyone's was better than ours
but we knew after talking with them that they may be the right boat to chase to the finish. Winds were scheduled to pick up during the day. At the start it was around 10 MPH out of the NNE. We made the decision to immediately go out into the Gulf Stream which was about 3-4 miles off shore. We were behind Hot Tuna the Beneteau 235 but they were pointing a little bit higher than us and sailing into a squall. Being my first off shore race in the SJ21 I made the decision to tack and head up the coast hoping that we could get north of the storm since the front that brought this weather in was passing to the south. That worked fine and we made multiple tacks up the coast each time trying to stay in the gulf stream but not so far out that we had to deal with the thunderstorms further off shore.
As the winds picked up so did the seas in the Gulf Stream.
The forecast was around 18 MPH and it was blowing around that. Blackjack was sailing well but taking a beating in the process. The swells were well over head. I estimated the seas at were 8-10 ft in the stream but considerably less inshore. Out in the stream going up the faces of the waves wasn't a problem. We were fast enough to be plowing into them. Only the occasional wave would send a spray across the crew. The backs of the waves were another story. Most waves were nice rollers that you would climb up the face and slide down the back but others were more treacherous. Some were like walking down a stair case with the last two steps missing making you come slamming down. Some were worse. Almost like driving the boat off a loading dock. 
The flat hull of the SJ21 didn't like that so much. It was nerve racking each time the hull took a beating. As a lake sailor I never really worried about my swing keel. In fact it was better that it kicked up if we were to hit something but out in the ocean and the rough seas I realized that I never put a pin in the keel. Each time we came slamming down off the back of a wave the boat would make some ugly pounding sounds. There was plenty of stuff in the hull to contribute to the noise like the cooler, the hatch cover, outboard motor, spinnaker pole, etc but I was worried that the swing keel was going to snap the cable, break the stopping bolt or just come out of the bottom of the boat. As we got about 10 miles from the finish we decided to to try and stay out in the Gulf Steam any longer and set a course strait for the finish. A little beat up and very tired we crossed the finish line in a time of 4 hrs 54 minutes. We were the 13th boat to cross the finish out of 38 boats. With the wind out of the east we sailed into the Palm Beach Inlet and over to the club. It was around 4:30 and the awards ceremony wasn't until 7 PM. The club has a little beach launch for the small boats. We grabbed a 10 - 15 ft trailer tongue extender and pulled the SJ21 right out from the beach! I didn't think it was possible but it worked. We had lots of folks coming around and asking about the boat. Some were very impressed with our performance and others thought we were nuts for being out there those conditions with such a small boat. I had a chance to check the keel and cable. Everything was in great shape! Only damage from the race was to my one piece rudder. It has some signs of wear before the race but now it had a pronounced split on the aft edge going down below the water line. No big deal. Its old and tired. I can replace that!
At the awards ceremony we found out that we placed 2nd in our class and 4th overall on corrected time. Hot Tuna, the Beneteau 235 won our class and overall honors. They beat us by 15 minutes on corrected time. It would have been nice to win but I think we did an excellent job of managing safety and performance. I think we made an impression on a lot of people there. A good crew on the right 2 - 3 thousand dollar sailboat can put a hurt on a fleet of 6 figure boats.
The conditions were too rough to get a lot of pictures and video but I did manage to get a few pics and a little bit of video towards the end. Enjoy!
