Everglades Challenge 2022

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shavdog

Member
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Minnesota
6:50 pm Wed...Bonita Beach.....big rollers coming in today....no beach umbrellas, and hardly any pleasure boats around....not a good day to be on the water around here....final report until 3/23...take care and by safe...

 
MisterMoon

MisterMoon

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Pertinacious Tom said:
From a Florida Man perspective, below 80 degrees = bad weather. And I mean the air and the water. The humidity should also be 80, just to keep things easy. The drysuit requirement is one of the things that has impeded me from participating in this event. I'm pretty sure I could finish in my AI, even on a year like this one, but I don't want to wear a drysuit for days. Or, really, play with my AI for more than a few hours at a time. Or in the cold.

The headwinds were forecast but I expected them to be weaker and expected a lot fewer DNF's.
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There is NO dry suit requirement. (I am one of the inspectors, FWIW)

I’ve done it with my Hobie mostly not wearing a dry suit for one challenge and wearing one the entire event for another. The one where I wore it 100% of the time was the more pleasant experience. This year would be a conundrum, since it was a lot warmer than any other year I’ve run. I’d for sure wear one offshore where you are getting a bucket of water tossed in your face every six seconds, which is how my friend and teammate from 2020 Lawless described day one to me. 
 

the best setup i think for a Hobie is dry bibs with attached booties and a dry top. This wont keep you dry if you go swimming, but it offers a lot of flexibility.  I have a two piece dry suit, and it would be better if the pants were bibs like the traditional foulies I wore during my class 4 ECs. 

 
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Pertinacious Tom

Pertinacious Tom

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Punta Gorda FL
MisterMoon said:
There is NO dry suit requirement.
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There is if I'm going to be soaked for days by water that's below 80 degrees. So in my case, there is.

MisterMoon said:
the best setup i think for a Hobie is dry bibs with attached booties and a dry top.
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Or that, I suppose, but it's really not that different. Either way, how am I supposed to take a pee through the Mirage Drive well?

 
T

TBW

Member
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I always figured this rule implied a dry suit:

On The Water Clothing (ranging from 50°F water and 32°F Gale Force Wind/Rain to warm water, sun and air temps in the 90's) Note: A wet suit does not satisfy this requirement. Newer technology like SharkSkin or Lavacore and others can be used as part of your system. You must dress for complete immersion while on the water. It might be a warm sunny day, but what is the water temp.

At any rate, I personally wouldn't do the EC without my dry suit.  It will keep me warm enough and dry paddling/sailing in March in Canada, so it will do the job in March in south Florida.  When I sailed the EC I wore it the entire time I was on the water.  When I paddled, it was too hot during the day, so I only wore it at night.

 
C

Cal20sailor

Super Anarchist
13,173
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Detroit
TBW said:
I always figured this rule implied a dry suit:

On The Water Clothing (ranging from 50°F water and 32°F Gale Force Wind/Rain to warm water, sun and air temps in the 90's) Note: A wet suit does not satisfy this requirement. Newer technology like SharkSkin or Lavacore and others can be used as part of your system. You must dress for complete immersion while on the water. It might be a warm sunny day, but what is the water temp.

At any rate, I personally wouldn't do the EC without my dry suit.  It will keep me warm enough and dry paddling/sailing in March in Canada, so it will do the job in March in south Florida.  When I sailed the EC I wore it the entire time I was on the water.  When I paddled, it was too hot during the day, so I only wore it at night.
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I raced Matt (Gamera), BGeff, and Monkey Man in Solo Macs without a drysuit (I'm cheap).  Just color me envious.  Highly recommended!

 
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MisterMoon

MisterMoon

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TBW said:
I always figured this rule implied a dry suit:

On The Water Clothing (ranging from 50°F water and 32°F Gale Force Wind/Rain to warm water, sun and air temps in the 90's) Note: A wet suit does not satisfy this requirement. Newer technology like SharkSkin or Lavacore and others can be used as part of your system. You must dress for complete immersion while on the water. It might be a warm sunny day, but what is the water temp.

At any rate, I personally wouldn't do the EC without my dry suit.  It will keep me warm enough and dry paddling/sailing in March in Canada, so it will do the job in March in south Florida.  When I sailed the EC I wore it the entire time I was on the water.  When I paddled, it was too hot during the day, so I only wore it at night.
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Most paddlers don't ever wear them. Most don't carry them. 

 
L

limerunner

New member
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If I can interrupt the riveting dry suit talk...   The current tracker is interesting:

image.png

Cocktail hour or ?

 
Pertinacious Tom

Pertinacious Tom

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Punta Gorda FL
Looks like the usual EC cold front is a week late. I expect high 30's here at dawn on Sunday, with the blasting winds and squall line between now and then.

MisterMoon said:
Amy Linton reported they were becalmed and the tide was against them. Anchoring was the better part of valor. 
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Nothing fixes becalming like a cold front. Nothing gets me off the water faster either.

 
Pertinacious Tom

Pertinacious Tom

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Punta Gorda FL
TBW said:
Pertinacious Tom said:
 No violent passage of a cold front shower line. Just some headwinds. But the list of "smart ones" includes many who have completed the course in years that seemed to have worse weather.
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Whaaa?   From a small boat racing perspective head winds = bad weather.
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If they were starting today instead of a week ago, they'd be facing much stronger headwinds followed by a dangerous squall line followed by temps in the upper 30's. And a nice tailwind. But I'd rather deal with the headwinds they saw than weather like today's. I think this is the first EC I've seen that did NOT feature a dangerous squall line.

 
Pertinacious Tom

Pertinacious Tom

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Punta Gorda FL
And for those who survive the squall line, there's no water!

I saw the lowest tide ever a couple of years ago. Looked like this:

2020-02superlowtide.jpg


And more or less the same scene this morning:

2022-03superlowtide.jpg


At least half a foot lower than the lowest I had previously seen.

That concrete on the right is our boat ramp. A normal low tide doesn't quite expose the bottom of it.

I learned about three rocks that I have not seen, and somehow have not hit, before. I know about the little shoal on the right, of course, and take powerboats right around the tip of it. Right where that big rock and two little ones are. I must have come very close to them but I never hit one.

boatramprocks.jpg


 
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C

CatFive

Member
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Ontario Canada
Can we stop to consider the perseverance of The18thCamel? He's still on raceowl showing at Flamingo. It was clear during the event that he wouldn't make it on time, but he said that he would continue on the course despite that. Getting that far on an inflatable catamaran in those conditions is a remarkable feat of seamanship

 
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MisterMoon

MisterMoon

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CatFive said:
Can we stop to consider the perseverance of The18thCamel? He's still on raceowl showing at Flamingo. It was clear during the event that he wouldn't make it on time, but he said that he would continue on the course despite that. Getting that far on an inflatable catamaran in those conditions is a remarkable feat of seamanship
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He's a tough Russian. At the first checkpoint he regaled us with the story of how he persevered many hardships to marry the woman of his dreams. 

275284576_10159940350203809_7903994105776292877_n.jpg


 
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