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lMay25~ Annual "Around Key West Swim and Paddle" Race ~
Organized this year by paddleboarder Rob
The Around the island Race is a 12.3 mile, multiple category race. Swimmers, Paddleboarders, Kayakers, and Surfskiers all completed the circuit by Noon. The race, beginning and ending at the rock jetty (by Sunset Watersports) on Smathers Beach, is a clockwise course around the island. Starting out in a Westerly direction, the racers first major hurdle was negotiating the inevitable chop and weird currents at the mouth of Key West Harbor as they rounded the point at Fort Zachary Taylor. Blasting through the harbor they took a hard right into the cut and rip along with the tide under the Fleming Key Bridge. The leeward side of Fleming Key was the last relief from the wind that they would see for awhile. The paddlers were hit the hardest by the Southeast wind, 22 knots of it, as they rounded the corner into the shallow basin outside Garrison Bight, headed for the North end of Sigsbee Naval Park. Then the brutal straightaway to Cow Key Bridge. The wind almost seemed to shift directly out of the South because of a funneling effect straight down and under the bridge. This continued rounding the corner of South Roosevelt Blvd. and turned into a chop pounding into the port quarter for the straightaway down the Atlantic side of the island until crossing the finish line at the West end again at Smathers Beach. Tough race for just 12 miles! Congratulations to you all... you are the best.
Call for results:1-800-SEE-KEYS (733-5397) Oh... and don't forget to stop in and visit with the nice folks at Florida Bay Outfitters at Mile Marker 104 in Key Largo on the way out of the Keys.
Results coming soon...
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