2001 RACE RESULTS

Round the Island - MUG Race

2001 Round the Island Race

The 2001 Round Island Race was held on Saturday September 22nd. 2001. The race is a 110 mile sprint around Santa Rosa Island on the Florida Gulf Coast. With a total of 60 catamarans starting at Ft. Walton Beach Florida, just under 2/3 of the fleet finished the race.
The format used for this years start was different then past years.  This year there was four separate starts based on boat class.  The first fleet started at 7:00 am with all non-Spinnaker boats who's handicap was .670 and above.  The second fleet started at 7:30 am with the remaining non-spinnaker boats. At 8:00 am all spinnaker boats under 20' started followed by all spinnaker boats over 20' starting at 8:30 am. 

After starting, the competitors head south through the channel at Destin and into the Gulf of Mexico. Upon reaching the Gulf of Mexico and rounding the Whistle Buoy the fleet headed west for Ft. Pickens, 55 miles down the Florida coast. Around 10:00 am the wind died off and slowly clocked around to the southwest, unfortunately it really did not revive itself until well into the evening hours after many competitors had finishing or were nearing the finish line.
At Ft. Pickens, the half way point in the race, the lead boats included ARC-22's , RC-27's and a RC-30. After passing Ft. Pickens the remainder of the race is a 50 mile run up the Intercoastal Waterway, a challenge of narrow channels, shallow water and three bridges. The first competitors finished around 10:30 pm, making it quite possibly the latest finish for the first boat on record. The 2001 race was in the end was dominated by three boats, the ARC-22, RC-27  and RC-30.

Congratulations are also in order for Jerry Fiat & his crew Dave Gan for their excellent finish considering the circumstances.  Jerry took delivery of his ARC-22  in July 2001.  Having previously been a sailboarder and spending less then 2 months on the boat, Jerry packed up and drove non-stop from Chicago Illinois to partake in the race. Not only did Jerry have a limited amount of time on his new boat, he choose not to bring your average long-distance sailboat race crew. In fact prior to Friday September 21st. 2001, his crew Dave Gan, had NEVER been on a Sailboat!  After several hours of practicing raising, lowering and trimming the spinnaker on Friday, Jerry & Dave placed solidly in the top 10!  Congratulations guys, hope to see you on the starting line next year!

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2001 MUG Race

The MUG is a 38 mile distance race from Palatka to Jacksonville Florida on the St. John's River hosted by the Rudder Club of Jacksonville. The 2001 MUG Race was held on Saturday May 5th. with a fleet of over 50 multihulls.  For the 2nd year in a row, this years MUG Race utilized a reverse handicap start and awarded the coveted MUG Cup to the first boat to cross the finish line.  Although they were not the first boat to cross the finish line, congratulations are also in order for Eric & Bill Roberts for setting the lowest elapsed time during the 2001 MUG race on their RC-30.

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