Ahhhhhh, I see some things never change !!!!

FX10:

Just curious; How are the spectator boats usually positioned to watch these kind of races? The Scream & Fly pictures are awesome but it looks like whoever was taking them was insanely close to the action!

As a member of one of the FD's that supplied Medical/Safety/Rescue boats for the race I can tell you pretty much the only thing that didn't change from the planning stages was we were always told there would be no spectator boats inside the course. I watched the race from my own boat at the east end of the course and it was hard to tell in the haze but there must have been a lot more boats on the west side of the course. As for being organized, things changed several times from Friday night to Saturday to Sunday. So I am not surprised to hear there was some confusion among the sweep boats. I spoke with Bruce Johnson, one of OPA's Medical and Safety guys, (he was overhead in Angel 1 during the race) after the race. He told me (1) the #2 turn marker was misplaced initially and (2) they had serious concerns over spectators being too close to the course. The plan next year is to get the permits needed to drop the course markers earlier in the day and organize the sweep boats a little better.

I am amazed these guys were able to pull off such a great thing considering the DEC, the local authorities, some people's general fear of the new or the unknown, blah, blah, blah but I hope they can do it again next year. Chalk up this year's hiccups to the learning curve and perhaps next year will be even better!

It was a great day and for their first race in the bay considering no trial run on saturday because of the freak fog that never went away! They really did a great job. My hats off to those guys who im sure do it because they love the sport !! It was a bit of a cluster but its their first !! Next year can only be better !! I also thought we where a to close for safety. Next year second row is close enough for me. I was suprised to hear about all the spectators that ended up in the ER for stupid thing that happened while wondering around the field !!

I watched the race from shorefront park, and I feel that they shouldn't allow spectator boats between the bulkhead and the race course. I know that it's tight every where, but don't block the land lover spectators

OPA & LOU did a great job on event next year will be even better