On to the Finish

At 06:27 this morning, KiwiBird's SPOT reported her location to be 0.2 miles south of CP3--essentially the mouth of the Flamingo Harbor channel.

She has only 30 miles to go, but in many ways these are the hardest 30 miles of the Challenge. Florida Bay is very shallow and dotted with islands. Channels are marked only by wooden stakes with red reflectors. The image above does little to convey just how convoluted the path is across the bay. There are actually three established routes she could take--two to the north and one to the south--and it will be clear in a few hours which way she's gone.

Winds are predicted to blow 10 knots out of the southeast, and either track means wind on the nose. Further, because Florida Bay is shallow, a chop kicks up very easily in response to the wind. Her decision to push on and arrive at CP3 a day earlier than planned may prove to be very wise, as winds are predicted to build tonight and tomorrow, with the possibility of storms.

Results at the WaterTribe Web site haven't been updated since some time yesterday--communications are difficult from Flamingo--but KB is certainly at least very close to the front of her class. It's entirely possible that she'll take first in Class 1, female or male. Amazing performance!--Floatsome