As you may recall, two years ago in the top secret R&D lab of Team Checkpoint Zero we developed a sailing apparatus for the last edition of the MIX. Unfortunately, that race didn't have us on any open water with any wind, so the sails sat unused in our gear boxes for the entire race, and the next two years.

This year, with the MIX back on the schedule, the prospect of sailing once again became a possibility. The first leg of the race this year was a long lake section which would provide ample opportunity to test out our unproven equipment.

I am happy to report that the sails worked very well, once we figured them out. When deployed in a stiff down wind breeze, one sail easily provided more power to one boat than Bo and I could provide via paddle. We easily reached the max hull speed of the plastic yellow tubs we were using. In that first paddle leg Michele got about 45 minutes of rest, all she had to do was keep the sail up.

The unfortunate part of the story was that we broke one of the sails early on in the paddle leg and had to make due with only one. It's back to the drawing board to reinforce the defective parts and next time we'll carry a spare.

Watch for the tri-color Checkpoint Zero sails at the next race that allows them.