Wreckers' Race

Last Sunday, Schooner Wharf held the Wreckers's Race. This is a sailboat race that begins at the entrance to KW Harbor and ends 7 miles away at Sand Key. In the old days, many boats hit the reef at Sand Key and 'wrecked' as they approached KW. Back then when a ship hit the reef, the boats in KW raced out to wrecked ship. Not to help the crew but because the first boat to reach the wrecked ship got to claim the majority of the salvage aboard the wrecked vessel. But that was then and this is now. These days, the winner of the Wreckers' Race get their bar tab at Schooner Wharf free. Last Sunday there were 43 boats in the race. This is the starting line - between the green can and the red nun that mark the entrance to KW harbor.

The starting gun sounded and they were off!!

While it was a really sunny, cloudless day, it was very windy. The wind coupled with the currents at the mouth of KW harbor made for very choppy conditions.

But, the strong, steady wind made for an amazingly fast race. The winning boat made it the 7 miles to Sand Key in under an hour. They sailed back almost as quickly. We rode our bikes over to the beach at Ft. Zachary Taylor and set up our chairs along the harbor to watch the race.

 The boats came back so quickly, we were there to watch some of them sail back into the harbor.

It was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!