Hi everyone, Jim here. I am writing to you from sunny and warm Houston Raceway Park where we are anxiously awaiting the start of the fourth race of our season. As anticipated, we had a great time in Gainesville at the AC Delco Gatornationals. My good friend Ron Krisher leased us one of his engines for the race and though we only had two qualifying shots to work on the tune up, we were really excited about our No. 11 qualifying position. As many of you already know, Ron is involved with the Cagnazzi racing team, but he still maintains his own engine shop where his engine builder Rocky and his son have been hard at work during the off season. Their hard work has surely paid off and we are looking forward to leasing the engine again this race. Hopefully we will get four fast Houston qualifying runs.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Gainesville is one of my favorite races – mainly because I have my entire family at the track with me. I guess it has become somewhat of a tradition for me and Toni to take the kids on a spring break boat trip after the Gatornationals and this year was no exception. This is Jon’s last semester at Clemson and he and his girlfriend Alli were so excited to be able to take one last boat trip before graduation. So, after Sunday’s race, we all loaded up in a rental van and headed to the boat in Cape Coral. Naturally, the kids wanted to go to Key West (what would Spring Break be without Key West?) so we had made reservations for Tuesday and had planned on taking it easy for a day before heading out.

Have you ever heard the old saying about the best-laid plans? I knew I was in trouble when early Monday morning Toni came walking into the bedroom with her computer in her hand telling me, “Jim, you better look at this weather/sea report”. One look told me that if we didn’t get out of Cape Coral on Monday morning, we might be stranded there until the end of the week. Though the Gulf was predicted to be choppy in the morning, the winds were to pick up to 30 mph and the waves in the Gulf of Mexico were predicated to be 5 – 8 feet and get worse as the week went on. Been there, done that, and not so much fun.

Okay, time for Plan B. All of a sudden our nice leisurely boating vacation was quickly turning into a frantic race with Mother Nature. It was a mad dash to get tired kids up and ready to go, the rental van had to be returned, and I had to fill the boat with about 500 gallons of diesel fuel (that was definitely an eye-opener). We quickly adopted the divide and conquer attitude and by 11:30 we were underway to Key West.

I don’t know how many of you have boated in Florida, but if you look at a map you will notice that the fastest way from Cape Coral to Key West is a straight shot south. All you have to do is put the auto pilot on 186 degrees magnetic and in 5 hours you are at the Northwest Channel entrance to Key West. Sounds easy enough. Unfortunately, about half way through the trip you are about 50 miles from land and with the pending change predicted with the weather and seas, I chose to stay closer to the shore – well at least for a while.

The first 3 ½ hours of the trip went well so I decided to take the short route across Florida Bay which put us pretty far out in unprotected water. Remember what I said earlier about the wind and the 5-8 foot seas? Well, about half way across Florida Bay we found them. It was rough and windy but our Sea Ray was made for such conditions. Everyone stayed seated and we rocked and rolled our way into Key West. The worse thing that happened was we took some waves over the top of the bridge – unfortunately, I had the front window open. Now that wasn’t even funny.

Docking in 30-mph winds in a full marina proved to be a little tricky but in no time we were safely tucked into our slip in Galleons Marina. Before spring break could officially begin, however, the boat had to be cleaned, so everyone helped give our Sea Ray a thorough cleaning. With that task completed, the kid’s spring break had officially begun and Toni and I were just along for the ride.

As it ended up, the winds stayed around for a few days so we did the smart thing and stayed in our slip. That was fine with me. While the kids did the Key West thing, I set up my office in the dining area, made phone calls, answered emails and in my free time worked on my boat. I love cleaning, fixing and organizing so when I got tired of talking on the phone and emailing I had plenty of things to keep me busy.

Well, before I knew it, it was the end of the week and time to move on. We planned on getting to Miami Beach Marina by Friday afternoon so that on Saturday morning Jon and Alli could get a rental car, drive to Gainesville to get their car and head back to Clemson. It sounded complicated but everything worked out and by Saturday afternoon, Toni and I were already missing the kids and anxious to get moving again.

Easter Sunday dawned in Miami Beach and promised to be a beautiful day as Toni and I untied and headed north up the coast to the Sea Ray factory in Merritt Island. Unfortunately, just north of Boca Raton, it was obvious that Mother Nature didn’t get the memo about the warm, sunny Easter Sunday weather and once again we found ourselves in unfavorable conditions. I had been watching a storm on my weather radar and thought that it would be offshore before we got to it, but once again, I was wrong. This time, however, it was just strong rain and wind but since it was suppose to worsen, we decided to give up our course on the ocean and took the Lake Worth Inlet into the Intercoastal Waterway. This is where we stayed all the way to Sea Ray.

After leaving our boat at the Sea Ray plant for some yearly maintenance, Toni and I picked up the rig and headed to Houston. We spent most of the time talking about how much we have enjoyed our Sea Ray boat and how it has always brought our family together. As the kids get older and establish their own lives, it gets more difficult to make the time to spend together. Agreeably diesel fuel, slip rentals and regular maintenance on our boat can be costly but the fun times and great memories that we share with our kids is priceless. Thanks for checking in!