Thanks to Rick Jarchow for this Fleet 10 Report: With sailing having been put on hold for the spring in Miami, a COVID-19 hot spot, things have gotten rolling again. Thanks to SORC Sailing, we got four J/24s to enter the Social Distance Race. Sailing under the Miami-Dade County restrictions, 30 boats took to the waters of Biscayne Bay all sailing under PHRF Ratings in a pursuit style race. With Chamber of Commerce conditions, the J/24s were the second boats on rating to start the 21-mile race out to the ocean and up the coast of Key Biscayne. 10 to 12 knots of wind and the blue/green 88 degree waters of Biscayne Bay made for perfect conditions. The course was a sprint to Biscayne Channel which leads from Biscayne Bay to the Atlantic Ocean through the fabled Stiltsville (https://www.nps.gov/bisc/learn/historyculture/stiltsville.htm) out to the Atlantic ocean. First J/24 to this channel was the new Jibaro owned by Freddie and Dorian Sambolin with Mark Pincus’s Scout’s Honor in hot pursuit. This leg of the race was taking us out the approximately two-mile long channel that is 200 ft wide. A tacking duel ensued, and by the turning mark in the Atlantic Ocean, Mark Pincus’ Scouts’ Honor had taken a commanding lead. Sailing up the shore of Key Biscayne, constantly cleaning the seaweed off the rudder, Scout’s Honor began legging out on the fleet. Mark’s team never stopped working the boat, constantly trimming the sails to maintain the lead they were building over the other J/24s and the PHRF boats. Round the Northern mark and found the leg was too tight to fly a spinnaker so again no rest for the weary at the halfway point. Just hoping that all the PHRF boats with their specialty reaching sails would be held off until Scouts’ Honor could get a spinnaker flying and do what J/24s love most – sail downwind! Jibaro maintained her second-place lead over the fleet right up until the last mark. That’s when the big Farr 395 starting chasing both J/24s with every sail she owned getting thrown up in a desperate attempt to take the lead before the finish line! With Scout’s Honor well in the lead over Jibaro and the PHRF fleet, Mark Pincus and his team of Rick Jarchow, Corrie Allen, Stephanie Chisholm and Anna Vasyiliev held off the last minute attack of PHRF boats and cruised to a first in class and first in fleet. Second in class was Jibaro (Freddie and Dorain Sambolin) and third in class was Le Lion, (Lionel Nicolai). A great time was had by all. Here is a photo of the winners.