2014 everglades challenge

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by rapscallion, Oct 14, 2013.

  1. zerothehero
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    zerothehero Junior Member

    Blackburn,
    I think there are some great class 4 boats for rowing. The Sea Pearl, ClC's Northeaster Dory, The Core Sound 17/20 come to mind. I looked at few vids of the Scot rowing before the event and while it could row, it was far from ideal. Same with the Lightning. Yes, they can be rowed but you really want to sail if possible. The lighter boats could hold their own very well day 1. We were under three knots for a few hours while the rowers, paddlers, and AI/TI folks were able to keep speeds up to around 5 knots.
    Once the winds built everyone was in the 8-10 knot range for boat speed. We hit 11 knots in the Lightning. If there was a year where there was a lot of rowing needed boats like the Scot and The Lightning would be lucky to finish. Fortunately there is almost always wind. As per class 5 rowing that is a bit trickier. Many of the boats just use long paddles and sit outboard. The raised tramp on a H16 makes that boat a little more comfortable to paddle. One cat had a transmission system that connected two peddling stations to a prop. Looked heavy but likely a pretty decent setup. That was the boat names SeaWall. Several home built cats have had a mirage drive in each hull. Those boats are often heavy and overbuilt so they suffer in performance. 2013 was indeed windier and colder but I didn't find it too bad. We camped in a tent and were fine. The only exception was Monday night when we slept under the main at Indian Key. That was cold. Air temp was in the low 40's.
    I did look at cats and tris for the EC and I think they are great boats if you have the skill set needed. I had a Hobie Wave which could be a fine solo boat but it is underpowered. The good thing is there is info online about how to make rowing stations on them. I initially bought a Hobie 17 for a solo 2012 attempt that never happened. I think that could be a great boat for a solo attempt. Raised hiking racks, volume forward, centerboards not dagger boards, kick up rudders. The trouble is the rig. That mast weighs a lot and is a challenge to raise and lower alone. Not so much an issue now but it was then. In the end I sold that boat as I am not experienced enough in cats to feel safe tackling the EC in that boat. A cat or tri is really an outside all the way boat so you need to be able to control it in short steep waves. Not always easy. I looked at a Weta but didn't want to spend that sort of $ and then modify a new boat out of one design spec. I also looked at a few homebuilt or kit tris but sadly I am not a very good boat builder so I passed on those ideas. I really like the W17 tri and that idea still festers in my mind.
     
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  2. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ^^

    I'll have to have another look at the W17, if that's your favorite. I tend to have attention deficiency for anything that isn't autoclaved. lol

    Just kidding, kinda. There's this guy who posts here who will be glad to read your opinion!

    Apropos paddling the H16, I've done that some and sitting/kneeling on the tramp corner doesn't sound quick enough if it's going to be a long paddling. Sitting on the H16's hull just in front of the corner with your back against it and legs stretched out you're about the same position as in a kayak, and two guys with kayak paddles could go faster? They could move other weight to the stern to keep the rudders down, have cushions, footplates, and could strap or autopilot the tiller. Paddling a Tornado or something like Mosquito is not as easy, though they are better boats.

    There were photos of that pedal arrangement in DirtyLittleRunnerGirl's album, didn't look very comfortable, and looked heavy like you said.

    Wouldn't want to be out in the Gulf alone in an old H17, sounds like a good thing you sold it. The guy who sailed the 14ft Mystere last year did well. I like 2-man boats better though.

    I wonder who first devised the trimaran righting method via flooding an Ama, used in Sizzors, the Weta's, and Mosquito, and most recently even the Maxi Prince de Bretagne?
     
  3. redreuben
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    redreuben redreuben

    Inane Question; Is it road miles or nautical miles ?
     
  4. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    It must be nautical miles.

    ...


    Here's a nice profile of 'Chief', Steve Isaac, from the Feb. 27 Tampa Bay Times.

    (the writer, editor Terry Tomlinson, was on one of nine teams that completed the first Everglades Challenge in 2001)
    So there you might say, is the philosophical orientation of the Everglades Challenge? It is more in the spirit of the Kon Tiki Expedition, than the Worrell 1000, for example.

    Sense of adventure carries WaterTribe through


    ...


    As the Watertribers return to their computers, videos and blogs get uploaded.

    Here's the YouTube page of SailBirdMike, who has just posted three nice videos from his 2014EC, which I think he sailed in a 42 year old 18ft Sailbird trimaran weighing 600 lbs.

    SailBirdMike's YouTube

    Some photos here at SailbirdMikes blog.
     
  5. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    The Tampa Bay Times article above mentions a strange capsizing that surprised 'Chief' during the 2010EC at nighttime off Ft Myers.

    Here's an excerpt from an article he later wrote in the Watertribe Magazine:

    Chief figures he probably had disturbed a large ray, or a whale. See the article for the full story.
     
  6. zerothehero
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    zerothehero Junior Member

    Chief advises people to view the Challenge as an adventure, not a race. Some will race, as we did this year, but the vast majority are just trying to test themselves. From experience I can say it is much more fun as a challenge where you sail hard but also stop, see things, and get to know people. I now have my sights set on a class 3 attempt sometime in the future. Already looking into boats.

    Redrueben, the course is actually not exactly 300 miles. If you could sail the shortest possible distance it is roughly 265 miles. Last year my wife and I sailed about 270-280. Our gps track showed 264 but we had issues with it day 1 and I think about 10 miles were lost. The 300 includes going the long way round at the end, avoiding Fl Bay. Kayaks that go outside of the upper Everglades, but go through Whitewater Bay travel the shortest distance if I am remembering that correctly. If it's upwind, and you are tacking a lot, you are going to sail a lot more miles than the rhumb line.

    There is certainly a lot of wildlife around along the course. Wouldn't be surprised if Chief hit something. Not sure a ray could flip a tri though. There are plenty of things that could though.
     
  7. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    Sailing hard but stopping and seeing things, in a non-hallucinatory way, does sound more fun than hoping to beat the existing speed record.

    But let me ask anyway, were there racks on Bumpy's boat this year? The few short video items I've seen they were sailing a standard Tornado (video from start in 2011 done by John Casey, video 2012 of them leaving Flamingo, 2009 video arriving at Largo). Is there any info on what broke on their boat this year?

    I did a little search on rays after reading Chief's story. Here's first a helicopter photo off Hollywood Beach in late July last year, described as a 'giant' manta ray.

    [​IMG]

    Here's an old photo of another big one, caught off Naples long ago

    [​IMG]


    Chief was sailing a very small boat, if you watch the video in his story, where he also tapes some remarks in the dark, shortly after recovering.
     
  8. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    I saw one jump in Tampa Bay just north of the Howard Franklin Bridge back in the 1980's. They are amazing creatures.
     
  9. zerothehero
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    zerothehero Junior Member

    I guess I didn't realize there were Manta Rays in the Gulf. I thought the biggest rays there were the Spotted Eagle Rays. Yeah a Manta could do it, flip a small boat. Bump was indeed on a standard Tornado, no racks. They broke a rudder. Not sure how or what exactly broke but it was during the launch at Ft. Desoto. They said it was too touch to fix on the beach, or at least that is the story I heard.
     
  10. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

  11. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  12. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    Hoyt! Do you recall what time of year you saw that Manta in Tampa?

    ...

    Some more post-challenge stuff is dribbling in:

    Here's another article about the Raceboarders. Also there are shorter items about them on two Russian sites.

    SOS has done a brief post-challenge wrapup with some photos.

    He's pondering how to go faster next year... Try not to look so sleepy then, next to the windward daggerboard still left in the water ?

    One of the things I'm looking forward to read, is Iron Bob's report. So far he has just given some quick bullet points on the Watertribe forum, mainly about how they store their sandwiches:



    I thought that was a very interesting list. With what overnight and longer racing I've done I never had a strict schedule for eating and resting, but the kayakers are under a tougher endurance test and they have to find methods that work and keep them operating.

    He speaks of how the tidal advantage/disadvantage was an even bigger issue this year (spring tides), which is also informative because I thought they had done the race with just as much tide earlier, but evidently they haven't. (EDIT: I see that doesn't reflect in his post today, but I thought I saw something to that effect when it was new - or maybe it was someone else)

    This point about REM sleep is also something I didn't know about; they want to sleep for 90 minutes or multiples of 90 minutes, no more no less.
     
  13. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    I remember going east on the HFB in the afternoon. It was over 30 years ago.
     
  14. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    I wondered, because that old 1938 Naples photo was from April, and Chief of course had that capsize in March, and Mantas like warmer water (the Hollywood Beach photo, on the Atlantic, was from late July). Maybe they are more likely to come into the Gulf when the Atlantic coast is cooler?
     

  15. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    'Microtom' has been one of the more conscientious Everglades-Challenged follow-uppers so far, posting a two-part story of his and 'WaterLily's' experiences, some video, and a bunch of photos.

    MicroTom's blog

    His sailing canoe with all her rig in its magnificence:

    [​IMG]

    A short video of them sailing in Florida Bay:




    And here's his canoe with the rig, beams, and amas stowed away inside (click to enlarge):

    Microtom packed.jpg


    In his blog MicroTom describes taking care not to overload the beams and amas. It seemed perhaps that anything over 7-8 knots began to cause concern?

    Anyway, they sensibly chose a lot of scenic inside routes this year, inside Pine Island, inside Marco, and all the way through the jungle from checkpoints 2 to 3.

    ...


    Here's another of MicroTom's photos, showing what might be called "the Mother of all Canoe Leeboards':

    [​IMG]
     
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