Key West Race Week

We arrived in Key West in nice weather this time and ready to race! The kids and I immediately set up school, picked up groceries and cleaned up the boat, as we know we will have many visitors this week. We have gotten used to hearing, “all hands on deck!” …which means everyone helps.

Key West Race Week is a regatta/event with hundreds of boats, pro and amateur sailors. Cortado’s dock space for the 10 days there were in the heart of Galleon Marina, a spot most teams (or so it felt like) must pass by daily. We loved it. We have many friends on different teams and it was so, SO much fun to see friendly faces on a daily basis. The J70 PowerPlay was docked next to us so we were able to see the guys off every morning and there again to grab the dock lines when they came in from racing.

Sophia… so tall! Lunch on the boat.

Pat’s 70th birthday party.

Team PowerPlay had a great week. We love spending time with Peter and Pat, so this week was especially fun for us. The kids and I had school by day, and spent our evenings with the team- often having cocktails on the boat before nightly dinners out. We celebrated Pat’s 70th birthday in true PowerPlay fashion (reunion-style) at one of our favorite restaurants, My Blue Heaven. The kids, Pat and I rode the infamous Key West “Conch Train” to learn the town’s history, toured the Truman White House, the local aquarium, and also visited Ernest Hemingway’s home. Hemingway lived in Key West for nine years, where he wrote 75% of his works. The stories and history are interesting and was nice to dig a little deeper to discover a Key West beyond the waterfront bars and t-shirt shops. While Tony and the team continued to race the J70 PowerPlay in a fleet of 54 boats, the kids and I kept up with our studies and daily field trips.

Lionfish (which we ATE in Ft. Lauderdale) and sharks at the Aquarium. Inside Ernest Hemingway’s house/writing studio. One of Hemingway’s six-toed cats (a descendent of). Sophia’s drawing of the man himself. Inside the Truman White House which is still available to any President or his relatives who wish to use it. Watching racing onboard GEM.