Barely a year into its new relationship with American sailors, the addition of Cuba to the winter racing is already pumping new life into South Florida distance racing. Today saw the start of the St. Pete-Havana Race, a predominantly cruising fleet of 70-odd boats headed to the Havana Yacht Club, while March will see the more race-oriented Miami to Havana Race swamp the communist island nation with sailors looking for a good time in a beautiful and unique country.
An interesting development in offshore navigation has been brewing in the background; longtime SA reader, Morning Light alum, SAR helicopter driver, and offshore navigator Chris Branning has been busy working in his spare time on something very cool for anyone who relies on GRIB files to cruise or race. It’s an app that provides a way to significantly increase the accuracy of the GRIBs you use to predict and route tour race, and hence significantly decrease your time on a passage or around a race course. It’s all hieroglyphics to many of us, but if you’re the guy who runs the laptop or tablet, this shit is for you.
Chris put together a page of interesting meteorological and current info for those of you watching the St. Pete-Havana Tracker or headed to Cuba yourself next month – check it out over here. Branning also invited Expedition users to drop him a line on Facebook to learn more about the system he and his team created to make you a much faster navigator.
