From Maine To Key West In One Weekend On The Water
No “officially sanctioned” world records fell last weekend during Mike and Sarah Howe’s run from Portland, Maine, to Key West, Fla., in their new MTI 440X catamaran equipped with even newer Mercury 500R engines. Though they based their objectives off historical data, their records are officially their own and they recorded them in their own way.
After a few hours of fitful sleep, Mike and Sarah Howe began their adventure from New York City to Cape Hatteras. Photos courtesy/copyright Howe 2 Live.
So folks bunched up about record verification from a familiar sanctioning body can take a breath—make it a deep one, please—and relax. That didn’t happen, but Mike and Sarah Howe do see their accomplishments as “Howe2Live world records with proof. including GPS and livestream data”
And without question, their most recent adventure definitely was one for the books.
I mean, when was the last time you hopped in your open cockpit catamaran and ran as fast as you could for 1,790 miles, stopping only to refuel, of mostly open ocean? Imagine leaving Maine on Friday and running for 5-1/2 hours to New York City, catching a few hours of mostly worthless sleep and then heading out again before dawn Saturday to run for almost six hours to Cape Hatteras, N.C., to refuel. And then heading to Miami, followed by Key West.
Sure, their initial goal was to travel the distance between New York and Miami in less than the 19 hours and 17 minutes it took Tom Gentry to make the run, of note from the opposite direction, in his 110-foot Gentry Eagle performance yacht in 1988. But by the time they reached Tybee Island, Ga., for a planned refueling stop, the Howes knew that goal was out of reach. Rough seas had knocked them off their planned 70-mph pace.
Everything about the Howes’ trip was planned to maximize efficiency and minimize wasted time.
“We were so excited when we left New York—at 3 a.m. a cruiser full of fans waving fans was stopped off the Statue of Liberty to cheer us on,” said Sarah Howe. “But I got so seasick staring at the FLIR and GPS, and I never get seasick. I was miserable for the next eight hours.
“Neither of us is a stranger to 16-hour shifts,” she continued. “But this, this was different.”
Compounding her nausea was a physical beating the likes of which neither of them had ever taken. The poundings delivered by the open Atlantic Ocean more than 30 miles from shore were so hard that Mike Howe experienced bright white flashes in his eyes with every hard hit in the 44-footer, which is powered by two new Mercury Racing 500R engines.
Howe described his wife as mentally “broken in half” by the time they reached shore in Georgia. But she rallied and soon they were back out there with a new goal of marking it from New York City to Miami in less than 40 hours, the longstanding record for an outboard-powered boat.
Milestones from a remarkable weekend courtesy of Howe2Live.
“The stop at Tybee gave me a break to regroup,” said Sarah Howe. “And I was good for the rest of the trip.”
And that’s saying something given their adventures as chronicled through their Howe2Live YouTube channel. Plus, both are physically fit. Mike Howe is a former police officer and a current military contractor. Sarah Howe is a current police officer who has a worked as a detective and SWAT team negotiator.
Short version? They’re tougher and more durable than most folks.
“I am most proud of my wife—I put her through a lot,” said Howe, who drew inspiration during the trek from Baja 1,000 off-road racing legend Ivan “Ironman” Stewart. “This was the most rugged endurance test we have ever been through. I kept saying to myself, ‘If Ivan can do the Baja 1,000, you can do this. Keep going.’
“Anything can happen out there,” he continued. “When you’re 34 miles offshore and haven’t seen another boat or land for three hours, literally all you have to depend on are yourselves and your boat. You’re vulnerable to any type of mechanical failure. If you have a medical emergency, you’re probably better staying out there and waiting for the Coast Guard than running back to shore and trying to find land-based services in these remote areas along the way, many which of which are just empty nature preserves.”
The Howes didn’t have a single hiccup with their outboard-powered catamaran, which arrived in Maine with four operating hours and now has 35 of them. But they did share a few light and even comedic moments.
Scenes from the adventure of a lifetime.
“I have a hilarious story about Sarah puking, but I’ll save it for the show,” Howe said, then laughed.
As they hoped, the couple made it from New York City to Miami in less than 40 hours. They took a break to celebrate with friends and family who come to meet them in the South Florida metropolis. Then they headed to Key West and their second home in Big Pine Key.
Though he had planned to have his wife take the wheel for a few shits, Howe drove the entire way.
“I’m a few inches shorter now,” he quipped.
And now they are on their way back to their place in Maine. But for the return leg of their weekend adventure, they chose American Airlines over MTI.
“I have so much content to wrap my head around when I get home,” said Mike Howe. “I want to do a legit mini-series about our weekend run from Maine to Key West. And I have so much data to publish before that when I have a second to breathe.”
But whether their most recent adventure—and most ambitious one to date—debuts in a single segment or a series of Howe2Live episodes, a little rest is what the couple needs right now. Sarah Howe lost five pounds last weekend. Her husband lost nine pounds.
Soon enough, though, it will be time for them to create the kind of compelling video content that routinely draws more than 1 million views.
“Howe2Live isn’t about how to live with a boat, it’s about looking at life and how to take each day like it’s the last day of your life,” said Mike Howe. “It’s about getting off the couch, getting out there and finding your own path.’
Howe paused for a moment, then laughed. “I can’t wait to get editing.”
For their return trip from Key West to Maine this afternoon, the Howes opted for a quicker way home.
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Source: https://www.speedonthewater.com/from-maine-to-key-west-in-one-weekend-on-the-water/
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