Make sure you have the 2017 safety equipment requirement list.
Parachute flares are no longer required. 3.6.4
Three solas day/night, handheld or parachute flares are required. 3.6.6
Seems redundant but I think the the key words are day/night.
Also three instead of four.
I'll have to check what I have to see if they satisfy the day/night requirement.
Everything was current for 2016.
As far as the race itself, I was advised to study the chart detail of the island and to plot a course around giving plenty of room.
Some say to keep to at least 50 ft depth, more if a large swell is running.
BAMA has an extensive reading list they require for participation in their event. Lots of good info there, as well as our forum on past SHF.
I get seasick, but didn't know it until the 2015 SHF, my first one. It was pretty windy and lumpy that year.
I wound up turning back a couple miles from the island feeling pretty wiped out.
Now I take Dramamine, starting on Friday before the race to acclimate.
With dramamine I can eat and drink normally so I keep water and a bag of food and snacks handy.
Also keep a pee bottle handy. I don't go over the side. ever.
Jacklines can be a bit troublesome and never seem to be perfect.
I have to remember to take my time, plan ahead as much as possible.
Generally I only have to go foreword to set up the kite. Sometimes I don't set.(twice) Once was pretty light.
I use the AP quite a bit. It steers better than I do but I like to steer after getting trimmed to a course.
Tacking I do myself if there are waves and swell as the AP is slow to tack and we can get pushed back.
Typically I go, AP off, tack and heave jib by hand, set AP, trim jib, trim AP, trim for course.
Drink some water, have a snack, enjoy the view, check course, trim some more, then maybe steer for a while.
I keep learning and improving.
Keep it fun!
It's ok to turn around if it isn't.
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it is vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.
T.E. Lawrence