2016 Atlantic Cup - Tales II First to New York City

Tales II in the port of Charleston

Team Bio and stats

The Tales II boat was the first to sail into New York Harbor after the May 28 race start in Charleston. Apparently, a tropical storm is very good for racing, since the Tales II boat not only wins the first leg of the 2016 Atlantic Cup, but they shattered the Leg One record, beating the course record by 6 hours, 7 minutes and 10-seconds! The 123 hull is sealed by 48-year old Gonzalo Botin of Spain and 28-year old Pablo Santurde of France. These experienced sailors have a total of eleven trans-Atlantic crossings between them and will be tough to beat now that they won Leg One.

To view past blog entries about Leg One of the Atlantic Cup click on 2014 - 2013 - 2012

Specs on The Atlantic Cup

To view past blog entires from the Atlantic Cup Race Start click 2016 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012

To view past blog entries with Final Results from the Atlantic Cup click 2014 - 2013 - 2012

To view past blog entries about Charleston Race Week click 2016- 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 

Race Schedule for The Atlantic Cup

2016 Atlantic Cup sets sail from Charleston

2016 Atlantic Cup Race Start in Charleston

Heading Out - Fort Sumter in background

The race start at noon on Saturday May 28 took place under quickly deteriorating weather conditions. Tropical Storm Bonnie formed in the Atlantic Ocean and came directly towards the start line at the Charleston Maritime Center. Rain and gusty winds accompanied horns announcing the race start and nine teams sailed past Fort Sumter and into the ocean. Their goal is to stay safe as they enter rough seas, but then to turn North and use the winds from T.S. Bonnie to race into New York Harbor. To follow the sailboats progress visit the Internet at The Atlantic Cup.

To view past blog entires from the Atlantic Cup click 2014 Race Start - 2012 Race Start - 2013 Final Results - 2012 Final Results

To view past blog entries about Charleston Race Week click 2016- 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 

Sea Bags Race Start Line

To view past blog entries about the Charleston To Bermuda race click here.

To view past blog entries about the Velux 5 Oceans Race click here.

2016 BMW Charity Pro-Am on Web.com Tour

Quality Father-Son Time at the Selfie Sign

A Winning Combination

When spring weather brings longer days and warmer temperatures, many folks dust off their golf clubs and get back into the swing of playing golf again. For those who prefer to watch golf, it doesn’t hurt that The Heritage golf tournament rolls through the Lowcountry in April, on the heels the pageantry found only at Augusta National. Fans of professional golf in S.C. also get a glimpse of future PGA golf pros when the Web.com Tour comes to the upstate in May, bringing a unique mix of professional and amateur golfers together.

            

Former Chicago Bears Quarterback Jim McMahon

The BMW Pro-Am in Greenville also includes a celebrity division, and this is the only Web.com Tour event that pairs the pros together with amateurs and celebrities. They play three rounds of golf using three different courses, concluding with Sunday’s final round at the Thornblade Club. What is the Web.com Tour anyway? Founded in 1990 by the PGA Tour as a developmental league, golf pros can now play their way into the PGA Tour. For example, the world’s Number One ranked golf pro is Jason Day of Australia, and he is a Web.com Tour alumni.

This young Pro is looking to qualify for the PGA Tour

Congrats to Richey Werenski for winning the 2016 tourney! After turning pro in 2014, Werenski then chose to relocate to Bluffton and join Berkley Hall golf club as a member, citing their practice area as a good fit for his long-term plans to qualify for the PGA Tour. Werenski won three times on the Carolina Tour before moving up to the Web.com ranks, and this is his first win, after two second place finishes earlier in the year, putting him in second place on the 2016 money list. He should be able to play for even bigger stakes next year with his PGA Tour card, and golf fans in the Lowcountry will be pulling for his success.

To read the feature article in the newspaper click on Colletonian.

To view past blog entries from the BMW Charity Pro-Am click 2015 - 2014

To view past blog entries for the RBC Heritage click on 2018 -2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013

To view past blog entries from The Masters click on 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2009

To view past blog entries from the PGA Championship click on 2017 Quail Hollow / Charlotte - 2012 Ocean Course Kiawah Island

To view past blog entries from the Champions Tour click 2014 Top of the Rock - 2013 Savannah 

2016 Edisto Cobia Tournament - Results

Winning Angler Jake Tyner and Cold Beer crew
 Rally Reynolds, Cal Young, Capt. Dillard Young and Eddie Adkins

The 2nd Annual Cobia Tournament at Edisto Beach weathered some strict cobia regulation changes in 2016, seeing boat participation drop to just nine entries.  Five boats brought cobia to the scales during the 5 p.m. weigh-in at the Marina at Edisto Beach, and a small crowd of vacationers were on hand to welcome them. Congrats to Team Cold Beer for taking first place when angler Jake Tyner and his 42.6-pound cobia put the victory on ice.

            

Team Cold Beer arrives at the Marina at Edisto Beach

On May 2 the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) announced a Catch and Release only policy in state waters for May, which hurt angler recruitment for the tournament. Anglers could still fish for cobia in federal waters beginning three miles offshore, but an iffy wind forecast for May 14 kept prudent anglers in small boats from fishing.  SCDNR did have a presence on the docks including a game warden, and a team of biologists gathering cobia tissue samples.

Capt. and 2nd place angler Ron Davis with crew

            

Team Cold Beer is based out of Edisto Watersports on Edisto Beach, and they were fishing in a 25-foot Sea Pro boat. The official start time for fishing lines to be in the water was 6 a.m. and Team Cold Beer was fishing offshore for cobia not long after that. The early rising paid off when Tyner boated the winning cobia at 8 a.m. for Captain Dillard Young. Their first place pay day of $1080 was a sweet way to end the day for crewmembers Cal Young, Eddie Adkins and Rally Reynolds.

To read this feature article in the newspaper click on Colletonian.

For past blog entries on S.C. cobia click on Fly and Light Tackle - Gamefish status - state record

To view past blog entries on Migratory dolphin off S.C. click 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011- 2010 - 2009 - 2007

3rd place for youth angler Keelie Summers

Old McCaskill Farm in Rembert - Olde English District

Pastures surround the B & B house

Young lamb I met !

The interstates that coarse though South Carolina and bring travelers to the coast can also offer other experiences along the way. Exit anywhere in the Olde English District of South Carolina, comprising of seven counties between Charlotte and Columbia, and exposure to terrain from sandhills to foothills is a guarantee. Attending a recent meeting of the Kershaw CountyForest Landowners Association was reason enough to delve deeper into the rural heritage found nearby.

My next stop in the countryside was jut minutes away, since I was checking into Old McCaskill’s Farm B & B in Rembert for the night. The long time copy editor for the salmon sheets is Col. James Rembert, and he shared many stories over the years of driven hunts in Rembert with his kinfolk, and how I should visit there one day. To be fair, he also advised me to stay away from writing with a passive voice, but at least I made it to Rembert!

Twin baby goats born during my visit !!

The house on the hill at Old McCaskill’s Farm looks nostalgic, but after a visit with owners Kathy and Lee I learned that the structure is actually quite new. “Our house burned to the ground in April 2007,” said Kathy McCaskill. “My husband is a contractor so we built it back to resemble a plantation house. When our kids grew up and moved out of the house we had lots of room, and by 2013 we decided to open as a B & B. Perhaps the Lord had a plan for us all along.

My lodging in the Horse Paddock room was clean and comfortable with a private bath, and a large community balcony was nearby. They offer a farm to table breakfast for patrons with eggs and bacon from animals raised on their farm. In fact, they have come to embrace agribusiness as a full-time endeavor raising goats, sheep, chickens, and pigs. Using a USDA facility to package the meats for sale in their farm store, their operation resembles the store in Ravenel at Cordray’s Processing.

The community at large is invited to visit their commercial kitchen on Friday’s for lunch prepared by daughter Ashley Robinson. Her menu changes each week depending on what is fresh, and was recently featured in the S.C. Market Bulletin produced by Ag Chair Hugh Weathers. Guests are free to roam the 10-acres of grounds in order to make photos of the animals and to view farm operations. A nanny goat giving birth to twin baby goats, and a border collie corralling the sheep were just a couple of the activities seen during a day in the life of this working farm.

My room - the Horse Paddock

To view this feature story in the newspaper click in Charleston Mercury.

To view my blog about the Boykin Mill Store click here.

For the best travel stories of 2015 click on Little St. Simon's Island - SouthWest Florida - Alabama Black Belt - N.C. Brunswick Islands - Jensen Beach, Florida

The menu at their food store

Like antiques? They have LOTS!