Everglades Challenge. crazies?

http://planingaround.blogspot.com/2013/03/everglades-challenge-friday-pre-start.html

A crafty dude hitched his camera to a kite and walked along the beach to view the favored boats before the start of the Everglades Challenge madness. Meade Geougeons elegant, bright finished outrigger kayak is in there somewhere. The camera is walking generaly in a westward direction. One of the stills show the Skyway bridge in the distance. Competitors have to go under the bridge and through that busy shipping channel and turn to port down the Florida west coast. Most of them will use the ICW route, what there is of it. Then there are the ten thousand islands and the swamps beyond. Desolation personified there.

Toward the end of the video there is a Nutshell pram all rigged to go. Tiny boat, 300 miles of unpredictable winds, waves, swamps with treacherous currents, shallows, portages, voracious mosquitoes, and zero prospects for assistance or rescue. Key Largo is a very long way across Florida Bay after emerging from the swampy areas. The water is spread very thin in the bay. So thin that a Laser could ground its board in some places. Many of the participants are kayakers with a long slog ahead of them. There is even one guy with a paddleboard.

Heres a hearty salute to the indomitable spirit of those small boat people. (aka crazies).

 

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Fantastic-thanks!

 

That's just super!

 

Thanks for the great video messabout. A couple of errors though. The video was taken on Friday, not sunrise Saturday morning when the beach was packed with more boats and people. Well over 100 boats and way more people. The boats do not go through the Skyway Bridge but straight south across the outer Bay with all paddle boats and a few sailboats taking the ICW, while all serious sailboat contenders take the ocean route. The "Chief" changed the rules this year to eliminate the low bridge at check point one and make the inlet entrance easier. It means that is no longer necessary to fit the boats with means to take the mast down and does remove some difficulty and drama from the race. It is still about survival though and to win, its still necessary to finish. I would expect an attrition rate of maybe 50% this year.

About 3/4 through the video, there is Randy Smyth's latest version of his very fast tri (light green). Very fast but usually does not finish the race due to crashes of one kind or another. He had planing amas this year. About 1/3 from the start of the video there is the Core Sound 20 ( white cat ketch with a forward cuddy cabin) of Allan Stewart and his dad that won in 2 days plus 2 minutes after loosing the main mast on a mark in the dark in Florida Bay to finish under mizzen alone. Conditions were very windy and cold with favorable wind direction for a new course record for monohulls. One problem with being fast is that you will wind up making the Florida Bay crossing to Key Largo at night, tough enough in daylight and treacherous in the dark.

 

Thanks for the better information Tom. I think that it was uncomfortably cold on the start morning, somewhere in the mid 40s. Brrrr.

If I was about a hundred years younger I'd almost surely have been one of those crazies. As it is I can rest easily at home with a rum toddy .

By the way, how can you get out of Tampa bay going south without going west of the bridge? Terra Ceia and the Manatee river is west of the skyway, neither of which is an outlet to the south. You can first go south toward Sarasota bay, which many of them did. Otherwise stay outside and hope for the best. I reckon that the fast boats did just that. Way too much traffic and shallow choppy water in Sarasota bay. At least it seemed that way when I used to sail out of Bradenton YC. and Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Hey, I gotta go look at my charts or maybe it is just some senior moments I am having.

In any case, best of luck to the gutsy folks who are doing this

 

Mullet Key touches the Gulf west of the Sunshine Sky-way.

 

Good thing I was not the navigator at the start of the EC. Indeed the start point is west of the big bridge and one only had to sail in a generally southern direction to get to the swamp and the keys. Tom and Hoyt are both correct and I am not. For shame on my disoriented brain.

 

Don't take it so hard.

Remember what Daniel Boone said: "I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks."

 

Yah messabout, an occasional brain fart keeps us more humble. I make my share and a couple extra these days. It was cold Saturday but, at least, us shore bound watchers were dry. At first, I wondered what kept the camera steady for the video and then saw the second guy walking ahead with the string to the camera hanging under the kite. Great video. Many boats had the new little Hero cameras mounted on board taking automatic sequence of shots.

 

Brain fart indeed. Thanks for the encouragement Tom and Hoyt. In any case the event is probably all done by now. I hope that all the participants fared well and stayed out of any trouble that they could not handle alone.

One of the most fun times I have ever had was a week in Florida Bay sailing a Bolger Black Skimmer. I was in no hurry so it did not matter where I was or whether I ran aground on one of those ubiquitous skinny water places. The Skimmer was purpose designed and built for places like that. Devilishly clever boat it was. A bit too big for the EC though.

 

Gentlemen,

The event was mostly finished when this thread started. The start was Saturday March 2 at 7:30 am.
http://www.watertribe.com/events/ChallengeResults.aspx
62 completed the 300 miles within 8 days.
25 DNF.
It is really a pity its not easier to figure out the boats the competitors are using.
Won by a monohull this year - a Core Sound 20.
All you schooner guys should hoist a cheer.

 

I'm thinking more about this thing all the time-maybe in 5 years or so:
click----

 

Some photos taken from the beach that day can be found here: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/multihulls/ron-white-trimaran-everglades-challenge-46411.html

 

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Just posted a terrific summary of the boats sailed in this years Challenge at the thread above.

 

Everglades

A video of the 2013 Challenge by Warren Richey-very long and I haven't watched it all yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e6tLgJX9niM