My wife and I are driving from Texas. We will not have time to run the course before the races. Any advice on the course would be appreciated. Are there shallows? Is the course easy to follow? Mass Start or staggered?
we hope to meet some of the folks from paddlng.net while we are there. How many of you will be there?
Thank you for any comments and advice.
William Reitzer-Smith - Q700
Ann Reitzer-Smith - Prijon Kodiak
Welcome,
– Last Updated: Jan-16-06 9:24 AM EST –
The course start is a mass start with plenty of room since it's on an open body of water (Blackwater Sound). No shallows onless you wonder out of the course or try to cut corners on the turns in the 12th mile area coming back in,,, easy to follow in that there are enough paddlers where you just follow the boats ahead. Conditions can vary, depending on wind speeds and direction, last couple of years have been rougher than average. You'll see plenty of Q700's like yours and the largest class by far will be the Mens Masters 16-18 foot kayak to include Greg Barton on the Bacall race on Sunday. There should be about 20 or more other P-netters there,, good luck.
HEX
barton
Greg will not be attending this year, he will be out of the country. We have not heard if someone will be there from Epic as of last week.
The course is easy to follow there are a couple of shallow areas. One is on the other side of the Bogeys go out to at least the second little marker. the other is when you come into Grouper Creek don’t cut to much of the cornner going into it.
Greg from FBO
thanks for the info
Thank you for answering my post. The information is just what we needed.
though I am a little confused about the “follow other boats” comment 
Sorry, let me rephrase,
follow the pontoon boat that leads us around the course, and don’t worry, he’s got a big motor on that thing.
HEX
couldn’t resist some trash talk.
We will probably be closer to the sweep boat than the front of the pack. Thanks again for the info.
Hey William
– Last Updated: Jan-16-06 8:22 PM EST –
The big mistake I made in the first year that I did it was: After the first straight crossing you go through a cut, and when you come out of it you turn left, and parallel the shore.
After you go a bit you will see the boats in front of you much farther out than you think they should be so you are going to be a "smart racer" and cut the tangent, since you can see the land jutting out about a mile or so in front of you.
DON'T do it. Those guys out there are in deep water, and dumb Jack was in shallow (two feet deep water) for that whole mile.
I have a 700 and it felt like I was paddling a bathtub.
Other than that you shouldn't have any problems.
I'll be the old gray haired guy limping around the beach with the big grin. I have a yellow with white hull 700.
My wife will be racing too, but we are not sure right now which boat. It will either be a 600 (same ) color or a sawed off shorter 700 with a red hull.
Cheers, and see you guys there
JackL
thanks JackL + new question
Great info.
So far:
- Try to keep the fast paddlers in sight.
- Don’t cut the corners.
- Go farther out to avoid the shallow water.
- Don’t get run over by the sweep boat.
Thanks again!
Question:
We may have time friday evening and after the saturday race to be tourists. What is a must do/see in key largo?
The Bars and the reefs…
I just signed up for bogey
My third winter in FL and I am finally making it down. Haven’t paddled my ski since the last Hobie Race. I hope I remember how. I also hope I don’t get lost, some of those turns on the map look easy to miss. I got lost at two races last year (Crisp Park and Tarpon Springs) and don’t need to further that reputation in 2006.
Don’t forget no 5
Smile for David the photographer.
He is usually just after the first cut on a pontoon boat.
On Saturday night: Just hang there at the race site for the beach party.
Cheers,
jackL
WILLIAM & ANN-WELCOME TO THE B&B!
You’ll do just fine following Hex’s & Jack’s racing advice.
You’ll do even better following Grayhawk’s sightseeing advice. Just try not to drink in the reef and swim in the bar -but even if you do, you’ll still be considered normal for down in the Keys -well, MOSTLY normal…
Check ou the following for info:
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=chat&tid=430852
http://community.webshots.com/album/119098238WevuBG
http://community.webshots.com/photo/49983767/49984264afLxzC
http://community.webshots.com/album/63333271mtFZOv
You won’t get lost, and by following the others, you
- Be in good company
- Take a pretty good racing line on the outside of the Boggies (it’s bog-geez, BTW, not Bow-Geez; the Bogey is the race, and it’s held around the Boggies…
Hope you have accomodations by now -they’ll be more difficult to find the closer you get to the race date, tho’ they’re not as bad as in previous years 1)when the Key Largo Chili Cookoff was held the same weekend, and 2) pre-hurricanes…
So come on down and have some fun, come on down and give the races a run, come on down and have a shot of Jack’s rum (the infamous painkillers he’s so taken with), come on down and paddle in the sun.
Looking forward to meeting y’all. Stop by the timing booth and say hello before you two take your boats out for the races to
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
Don’t you hate that.
The first year I did the Bogey, there was one point after coming back into the intercoastal waterway where there was a point about a half a mile in front of me where it looked like you could go in one of two different directions.
I was so far behind the boats in front that they were out of sight, so I decided to wait for some that were about a quarter mile behind me and ask them.
If I had kept going it would have been obvious which way to go, and I probably lost several minutes just waiting.
Don’t worry about forgeting how to paddle the ski. That same year I picked up my new QCC-700 at a truck terminal in Miami the day before the Bogey and it was my first time ever in a 21" wide kayak.
Last year the Bogey had some rough seas, and the year before the Bacall did.
Hopefully this will be the calm year.
Cheers,
jackL