Florida Sailing - Bahamas -- Oct 26-31, 2001

Attendees: Charlie Olson, Bob Fliegel, David McKercher

We checked out a new 43 foot Katana Catamaran sailboat for possible use with a future mini.  Very similar to the boat we sailed in the Virgin Islands two years ago. Charlie has given it high marks -- we will be scheduling another Mini with this boat as the base.  It is spacious easy to sail  and  best of all, very affordable.

Additional crew members included the owners daughter and her husband, and McKercher's wife's cousin and her girlfriend (handy as they live in Florida).  

From Ft Lauderdale we sailed  Miami and into Biscayne Bay. Heavy winds made for a fast wing on wing sail.  Great scenery going down the coast especially with all the cruise ships in the harbor.

The sail back to Ft Lauderdale was in very heavy winds which made for exciting sailing and plenty of tacks -- the catamaran does not heel over so we were very comfortable although we did get a lot of spray in our faces.  All proclaimed it a fantastic experience.

Charlie, Bob and David flew to the  Bahamas and stayed at the Atlantis, a Las Vegas   type (with gambling) hotel on Paradise Island. We were in hog heaven.  Meals were fantastic and we lost only $30 bucks between us.

Bob was the naval officer handling VIPs for  the Bahamas some 30 years ago so he had fun regaling us with stories of his exploits.  It is hard to imagine the Navy actually paying someone to do what he did -- tough duty.

Pictures