Schooner Wharf's Minimal Regatta is a load of boating action that takes place on the water but in back of the bar and away from the scene there is the limbering up area.
You might think this is just a bunch of people drinking but what they are actually doing is putting the finishing touches to their weirdly ill assorted craft. The boats are made of a wish and a prayer and get points for being unseaworthy or fast as the designer chooses.
As a result there is a line of would be contestants sitting around dealing with butterflies in their stomachs as they wait for their number to be called. It's a well know fact that the best way to kill off butterflies in your stomach is to drown them in either Captain Morgan's or Corona so that is what is really happening behind the Schooner Wharf Bar. Some vessels look decidedly unseaworthy. 
It is not beyond the bounds of possibility to meet a contestant known to you. Donnie fixes my car on Big Pine when he's not risking life and limb by drowning in Key West Bight. 
A couple of years ago I caught his business partner Dave in action in the regatta in this essay:
http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2009/05/sink-and-swim.html and sure enough Dave was back out for more punishment:
Drowning the butterflies before the main event. He's off to a new married life in Indiana in a few weeks. As Donnie put it this was his "last hurrah." Which, sometimes is life in Key West.
You might think this is just a bunch of people drinking but what they are actually doing is putting the finishing touches to their weirdly ill assorted craft. The boats are made of a wish and a prayer and get points for being unseaworthy or fast as the designer chooses.
As a result there is a line of would be contestants sitting around dealing with butterflies in their stomachs as they wait for their number to be called. It's a well know fact that the best way to kill off butterflies in your stomach is to drown them in either Captain Morgan's or Corona so that is what is really happening behind the Schooner Wharf Bar. Some vessels look decidedly unseaworthy. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility to meet a contestant known to you. Donnie fixes my car on Big Pine when he's not risking life and limb by drowning in Key West Bight. 
A couple of years ago I caught his business partner Dave in action in the regatta in this essay:http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2009/05/sink-and-swim.html and sure enough Dave was back out for more punishment:
Drowning the butterflies before the main event. He's off to a new married life in Indiana in a few weeks. As Donnie put it this was his "last hurrah." Which, sometimes is life in Key West.
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For the record, Jeep and the gang at the Key West Community Sailing Center took the top honors, beating out the infamous Silver Surfer - the odds-on favorite to win.
All is right with the world.
Felicitations all round.
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