2014 everglades challenge

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The remaining kayaks, canoes etc. in Flamingo wanting to quickly get to the finish appear to have good conditions today. A bunch of them started a little while ago with a high tide and forecast of fresh westerly winds all day.

They are in 'Tin Can Alley' on their way to Largo, doing mostly around 4 knots. The windsurfer 'Seadogrocket, who sailed around Cape Sable yesterday, is reported at 4.9 knots, so the wind can't be so much, yet.

Yesterday saw a lot of people finishing, and high wind drama towards the evening when 'Deadcat' said there were at least 10ft waves east of Crocodile Dragover. Another kayaker accompanying her capsized and ended up being rescued by a Coast Guard RIB.

'JibeTurkey' is one of the sailors (Class 3) in Tin Can Alley now. His sister is making updates for him on the Watertribe forum and on her blog, and I thought a couple of her posts were amusing:

lol

 

A couple of comments in regard to what was posted here. We were overloaded, a problem that will be solved next year.

We ran a strict watch rotation from the start, 1 hour on the helm and 1 hour off. When off we take care of essentials and try to get 20 minutes +\- of sleep. We only broke this getting in and out of CP2 and the last day crossing FL bay. This discipline allowed us to grind down lots of completion, who sail until they are delirious. We are both type I diabetic so we simply have to manage ourselves better. Anyone can benefit from that.

Our rout across Fl bay saved lots of miles over SOS and Frankenscott. We did a scouting run in January with charter fisherman extraordinaire Tim Cline. He taught us the secret handshake.

Lots of great competitors and sailors in this event and we are thrilled with our second. A few ideas brewing for next year for the "turbonado". Hats off to SOS and Frankenscott, great racing you guys.

SWampMonkee and Chainsaw

 

Ec 2014

Welcome to the forum, SW ! Congratulations on 2nd-fantastic. I'd like to sail the Challenge some day. Thanks for the info-especially about Tim Cline-what a great idea.

 

Fun to read your post.

If everything was perfect, about what time might you have gotten to checkpoint 2?

(I'm just on my phone now, pardon the brevity)

 

Welcome, SwampMonkey and Chainsaw. Good race, er, I mean challenge.

 

Only geosynchronous satellites, which are "parked" over the equator, orbit at such high altitudes. Since they are over the equator any photo they take of Florida will be taken at at least a 25 degree angle from vertical (the latitude of Florida), or even a greater angle, depending on the longitude of the satellite. To my uncalibrated eye your photo looks like it was taken more directly overhead.

Weather satellites in polar orbit are around 500 miles high, and the International Space Station orbits around 250 miles high. It would be much easier to get a high-resolution photo at these lower altitudes.

 

^ ^ ^

Thanks for that, 'i'!

That photo I posted was a screen grab from Google Earth, where you can manipulate the image to appear from all angles, but I'd suppose the overhead shots are just what Google wants and uses. So it's likely shot from 500 miles away then? Interesting to know.

Now I'll go and find some nudist beaches...

 

In a perfect world I'd have taken my car and skipped the race, but I'm not that smart.

I have no idea but know we took a bad offshore tack early that cost us ground and we got a little sloppy between CP1 and CP2 and cost ourselves lots of distance. The first one was just luck of the draw....the second one can be avoided.

The flying Scott was like the posse in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...."who are those guys"? Or as they became known to us....f&@$ing Flying Scott. Great guys....sailed the snot out of that boat. Goes through waves like a snow plow.

 

Oh, surely it was more fun than driving, since you want to continue the punishment next year.

Perhaps apart from Sewsew there were just two other boats (with Bumpy out) that in the conditions this year had any chance at all of making that tide into CP2 - Mosquito and you Swampmonkees? My guess is that Sewsew made it with lots of margin.

Mosquito was at times sailing backwards off Sarasota, and after CP1 they didn't take Little Gasparilla Pass but went out Boca Grande Pass; so I wonder if just without those two delaying factors they might have been spared the 'camping' in the mangroves off Everglades CIty.

Given how we were trying to follow the race with sketchy info, there's things it would be fun to hear: Were you stuck in the mud at times, when was the wind (or lack of it) a problem, how much paddling was there, did you have to get out and pull the boat along, did you have snowshoes on board? lol.

 

great thread. Just got back home after sailing this years EC and caught up on it here. A few clarifications. Competitors are not allowed to run "dark". Randy's Spot issues should have had him stopped at CP1 by race officials till he was broadcasting again. Fleet wide Spot issues allowed this to slip by. Also there is only one way through Croc Dragover. It's a very shallow ditch of a channel right through the islands pictured.

 

^^^

Hi there ZTH, I've had the pleasure of reading your summaries the last few days.

I was wondering about just the issue you raise with Sewsew's spot. I completely understand he chose to do it, in light air trying to get away and not show how he was handling the conditions.

And since he was hitting the OK button now and then, I wonder if he was taking the rules to the limit, or was breaking them. Surprises me if it's a clear breach.

Only one way through Crocodile Dragover? I think maybe Hoyt has 2.

 

Well it is something that WT has allowed in the past but quite a few competitors and fans have an issue. SewSew wasn't in our division so we weren't all that worked up about it. Not all spots have the tracker function subscription and as long as OK's are hit that is enough. Rules state you need to hit OK at Cp's and at major course changes (inside to outside, sudden turns off shore, etc.)

 

I should also clarify. I am not implying an wrong doing by anyone but pointing out that all competitors are required to have a Spot and that it is working. If someones Spot goes down and stops reporting the competitor is supposed to be held at the CP they are currently at till a new spot is found and used. This year there was an issue with some of the spots being set to fast track and it overloaded the WT tracker. This issue needs careful examination in the future. Every year there are grumbles about Spots that go "dark", doesn't mean there was cheating.

 

Welcome ZTH. Perhaps the channel I indicated with the broken black arrow in post 97 is the one ZTH indicated.

 

Yes Hoyt, your arrows are the channel. Since the Spot sends out breadcrumbs every 10 minutes and links them with a straight line it can appear the boats go through land at times. Around CP2 it is common. Fl. Bay as well.