Well, first off I didn't complete the whole event. I had to drop out after two days of sailing (about 77 miles out of 177 total) at the request of the event organizers. They felt that I was suffering from heat stroke and were concerned that since I was single handing my boat that I could get into medical distress if I continued on with no one to assist me. I do thank them for their concern for my well being even tho I didn't really want to stop. They told me if I had someone sailing with me they would not have minded me continuing. My crew backed out 5 days prior to the event. Some of those I talked to that had done the Florida 120 said this was a much harder event. It was probably for the best that I pulled as I was very fatigued from lack of sleep. The sleeping board I had made for the Daysailer 2 with the self inflating mattress on it was very comfortable, but I was unable to sleep all the same. Also I had no appetite.
Winds for the event were lighter than expected, 5 to 15 mph, rather than the 20 to 25 mph expected. This meant longer time on the water. I was sailing about 9-1/2 hours each day. The Temperature was in the 90's every day.
The DS2 performed very well and I couldn't have been happier with how the boat handled. The first day I sailed with a reefed main as I kept expecting the wind to get stronger, which it did late in the afternoon. The second day I sailed I put up the jib and moved along nicely (about 6-6.5 mph according to the GPS). At one point under the reefed main alone on the first day the GPS recorded a maximum speed of 9.2 mph. The biggest problem I had while sailing was seaweed hanging on the rudder and causing it to kick up. I had way too much equipment with me. The boat sat about 2-inches deeper in the water than normal.
One problem I had when loading supplies (equipement, food, water, etc) into the cuddy cabin was keeping things off the centerboard cables. I need to address this in the future. Some of the things (bed boards, rowing seat, oars, emergency boarding device) that I built for the this trip can be found at http://s445.photobucket.com/albums/qq17 ... r%20Tx200/
It was very enjoyable trip for the time I sailed. I will probably be back next year to try again.
John