Everglades Challenge 2023
- Thread starter stumblingthunder
- Start date
MisterMoon
Super Anarchist
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We finished in 4 days 11 hours 55 minutes.
We had a memorable round down from Chokoloskee on Tuesday night in NW 15-18 knots down to NW Cape, covering 46 miles in about 6 hours.
Other than one nasty little squall about 5 miles from the finish, we had great weather all week.
We had a memorable round down from Chokoloskee on Tuesday night in NW 15-18 knots down to NW Cape, covering 46 miles in about 6 hours.
Other than one nasty little squall about 5 miles from the finish, we had great weather all week.
MisterMoon
Super Anarchist
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I was privileged to get a short sail on CR’s proa the other day. My mind was blown. A very cool boat, but be prepared to forget everything you know about how to sail. It absolutely works, once you are able to wrap your head around it.
When I started sea trails of the boat, I had my brains totally fried after just two/three hours of sailing
I finished in three days and 22 hours, I broke only one thing( boom vang) and I feel that I can make the boat way faster by building longer and skinnier aka.
So, Iam happy overall…
sail10338
Member
3 days 6 hours 11 minutes.
Lost some time talking the ICW, exiting at Big Sarasota pass, and yes, the Red Tide was bothersome.
Second monohull behind Spawn (non plan B).
AndyMan
Lost some time talking the ICW, exiting at Big Sarasota pass, and yes, the Red Tide was bothersome.
Second monohull behind Spawn (non plan B).
AndyMan
stumblingthunder
Super Anarchist
- Thread starter
- #110
SkipJ
Member
Best of my knowledge, you've captained the first proa to complete the EC. Heartfelt congratulations with a touch of envy.When I started sea trails of the boat, I had my brains totally fried after just two/three hours of sailing
I finished in three days and 22 hours, I broke only one thing( boom vang) and I feel that I can make the boat way faster by building longer and skinnier aka.
So, Iam happy overall…
MisterMoon
Super Anarchist
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2023 Race report from Mistermoon and Thurmadillo. Hobie TI double male.
We launched Plan B at the Anna Maria bridge, cutting about 8 miles off the full course. We had ok winds on the first day, but in our face. Tacked down to the Cortez bridge but were able to run most of the way down Sarasota bay on one long tack before having to throw a couple right before Ringling Bridge. Tacked all the way down Little Sarasota Bay and we were able to lay Backburn Bay. All day we were in close company with with Dream On on his solo TI. By then it was getting late in the afternoon and the winds got pretty light in the narrows before Venice, so we pedaled a lot on this section. The red tide was very apparent with lots of coughing especially around motorboats, and there were a lot of dead fish floating around.
We stopped about sundown at the park on the north side of the Venice Inlet and cooked supper and enjoyed the nice facilities. We debated going on the outside to Stump Pass, but we knew the tide was coming in and we would have favorable current down the canal. Winds in the canal were light from the south and we motor (pedal) sailed down to Lemon Bay, about a zillion tacks but really pretty easy. We had the wind in our faces about halfway down Lemon Bay, after which the wind shifted to the right a bit and we were able to sail straight into into CP1 without any more tacking. We pretty much pedaled all day though. Since there is very little difference between one and two people pedaling, we each took 30 minute shifts. We arrived at CP1 about 2am Sunday. Total distance sailed on Saturday was 58 miles.
We slept under the stars at CP1 until about 6 am, got going again about 7:40 am. Light winds and pedaling down to the Boca Grande Bridge, then an easy crossing with with light-ish 6-8 knot SW winds across Charlotte Harbor. Heavy pleasure boat traffic from Cayo Costa down to about Redfish Pass on Pine Island Sound which meant the red tide was very stirred up and irritating. Once past Redfish however, the red tide really abated. We made it to Picnic Island before sunset, made supper and went to bed by about 830 pm. Total distance for the day was a short 36 miles.
On Monday we woke up at 130 am and were on the water by 2:10am to catch the tide out under the big Sanibel bridge. Winds were NNW about 10 knots, building a bit throughout the day. We jibed down the rhumbline to Big Marco Pass.
I had terrible day, though. I ate too many mixed nuts at one time that morning and they did not agree with me. All afternoon I suffered from some pretty bad abdominal cramping. Pure agony. We briefly landed on Keywadin to allow me to walk around a bit and see if going to bathroom helped. It didn't. Our surf launch wasn't great and we pulled the bungees out of one of the amas, but were able to return to the beach to repair it pretty quickly. We also broke the rudder pin which we fixed underway.
We arrived at Big Marco Pass at 200 pm about an hour past high tide. The strong wind behind us meant the outgoing tide was no problem and we quickly ran up the Big Marco River to the point where the outgoing tide started helping us out to Gullivan Bay. We were in Gullivan bay around 430 pm and arrived at Panther Key about 600pm with fresh winds from the W all the way. We made the mistake of choosing the lee side of Panther and we were quickly attacked by millions of mosquitos. I was still feeling ill so I went right into the tent and went to bed. Thurmadillo went out to the point to cook his supper and got eaten alive. All night long the hum of the mosquitos made the thought of getting going in the morning less than appealing. Total distance for the day was 60 miles.
Tuesday morning my stomach issues had completely resolved and we broke camp quickly and were on the water around 8 am. We caught the incoming tide at Indian Key Pass arriving at CP2 about 1130am. We had a big Cuban sandwich lunch at the Havanna Cafe with Sunseeker and AuroraBorealison where we were joined by Beav, Makk, Breezerider, ChesapeakeTJAM and LordPurple. We were back underway about 330 pm. We had planned to spend the night at Pavilion Key that night. Once we cleared Chokoloskee pass, we had winds NW 15-18 and the sailing was glorious in 2-3 ft following seas.
About 500 pm I realized we could easily reach the Cape Sable area before midnight, so we blew off our plans to stay at Pavilion and continue another 40 miles after heaving to for about 25 minutes before sundown to put on warmer clothes. The full moon run down the rhumb line to NW Cape was the best EC sail I ever had, averaging a little better than 6 knots. We landed at NW Cape about 1130 pm, covering 62 miles for the day.
We woke early, made some breakfast and left about 620 am on Wednesday morning. We still had WNW winds, but lighter, all the way to CP3, arriving there about 1130 am. Greybeard, Chef Ramen and their lieutenants treated us to steak quesadillas and were underway again about 45 minutes later. Winds had gone lighter, about 6-8 from the SW.
We had an easy sail across FL Bay following the channels through Tin Can, Dump Keys and Twisty Mile until about mile before Jimmie Channel where the winds went variable and finally settled in E 10 knots. Ugh. We tacked up to Jimmie then Manatee Channel and started beating across the 10 or so miles to the ICW. By then it was almost sundown. We'd made a couple of miles good to the east when we saw some ominous clouds to our NE. We originally thought the squall would pass to our NW, but within a few minutes we were inside the ‘black wall of doom’, reefed down in 25 knots of gusty winds and stinging rain.
This turned out to be a blessing however because the wind shifted left and we were able to sail almost a straight line to the ICW before it settled in NW about 10-12. We beat the final few miles up the ICW to Buttonwood Sound and the finish, arriving a little before 11pm. Distance for the day was 63 miles, total for the trip was 279 miles. Our total time was 4 days, 11 hours, 56 minutes.
Next year I’ve already committed to volunteering at CP-1 with Lori (Sunseeker). Thurmadillo and I are planning on racing again in 2025.
We launched Plan B at the Anna Maria bridge, cutting about 8 miles off the full course. We had ok winds on the first day, but in our face. Tacked down to the Cortez bridge but were able to run most of the way down Sarasota bay on one long tack before having to throw a couple right before Ringling Bridge. Tacked all the way down Little Sarasota Bay and we were able to lay Backburn Bay. All day we were in close company with with Dream On on his solo TI. By then it was getting late in the afternoon and the winds got pretty light in the narrows before Venice, so we pedaled a lot on this section. The red tide was very apparent with lots of coughing especially around motorboats, and there were a lot of dead fish floating around.
We stopped about sundown at the park on the north side of the Venice Inlet and cooked supper and enjoyed the nice facilities. We debated going on the outside to Stump Pass, but we knew the tide was coming in and we would have favorable current down the canal. Winds in the canal were light from the south and we motor (pedal) sailed down to Lemon Bay, about a zillion tacks but really pretty easy. We had the wind in our faces about halfway down Lemon Bay, after which the wind shifted to the right a bit and we were able to sail straight into into CP1 without any more tacking. We pretty much pedaled all day though. Since there is very little difference between one and two people pedaling, we each took 30 minute shifts. We arrived at CP1 about 2am Sunday. Total distance sailed on Saturday was 58 miles.
We slept under the stars at CP1 until about 6 am, got going again about 7:40 am. Light winds and pedaling down to the Boca Grande Bridge, then an easy crossing with with light-ish 6-8 knot SW winds across Charlotte Harbor. Heavy pleasure boat traffic from Cayo Costa down to about Redfish Pass on Pine Island Sound which meant the red tide was very stirred up and irritating. Once past Redfish however, the red tide really abated. We made it to Picnic Island before sunset, made supper and went to bed by about 830 pm. Total distance for the day was a short 36 miles.
On Monday we woke up at 130 am and were on the water by 2:10am to catch the tide out under the big Sanibel bridge. Winds were NNW about 10 knots, building a bit throughout the day. We jibed down the rhumbline to Big Marco Pass.
I had terrible day, though. I ate too many mixed nuts at one time that morning and they did not agree with me. All afternoon I suffered from some pretty bad abdominal cramping. Pure agony. We briefly landed on Keywadin to allow me to walk around a bit and see if going to bathroom helped. It didn't. Our surf launch wasn't great and we pulled the bungees out of one of the amas, but were able to return to the beach to repair it pretty quickly. We also broke the rudder pin which we fixed underway.
We arrived at Big Marco Pass at 200 pm about an hour past high tide. The strong wind behind us meant the outgoing tide was no problem and we quickly ran up the Big Marco River to the point where the outgoing tide started helping us out to Gullivan Bay. We were in Gullivan bay around 430 pm and arrived at Panther Key about 600pm with fresh winds from the W all the way. We made the mistake of choosing the lee side of Panther and we were quickly attacked by millions of mosquitos. I was still feeling ill so I went right into the tent and went to bed. Thurmadillo went out to the point to cook his supper and got eaten alive. All night long the hum of the mosquitos made the thought of getting going in the morning less than appealing. Total distance for the day was 60 miles.
Tuesday morning my stomach issues had completely resolved and we broke camp quickly and were on the water around 8 am. We caught the incoming tide at Indian Key Pass arriving at CP2 about 1130am. We had a big Cuban sandwich lunch at the Havanna Cafe with Sunseeker and AuroraBorealison where we were joined by Beav, Makk, Breezerider, ChesapeakeTJAM and LordPurple. We were back underway about 330 pm. We had planned to spend the night at Pavilion Key that night. Once we cleared Chokoloskee pass, we had winds NW 15-18 and the sailing was glorious in 2-3 ft following seas.
About 500 pm I realized we could easily reach the Cape Sable area before midnight, so we blew off our plans to stay at Pavilion and continue another 40 miles after heaving to for about 25 minutes before sundown to put on warmer clothes. The full moon run down the rhumb line to NW Cape was the best EC sail I ever had, averaging a little better than 6 knots. We landed at NW Cape about 1130 pm, covering 62 miles for the day.
We woke early, made some breakfast and left about 620 am on Wednesday morning. We still had WNW winds, but lighter, all the way to CP3, arriving there about 1130 am. Greybeard, Chef Ramen and their lieutenants treated us to steak quesadillas and were underway again about 45 minutes later. Winds had gone lighter, about 6-8 from the SW.
We had an easy sail across FL Bay following the channels through Tin Can, Dump Keys and Twisty Mile until about mile before Jimmie Channel where the winds went variable and finally settled in E 10 knots. Ugh. We tacked up to Jimmie then Manatee Channel and started beating across the 10 or so miles to the ICW. By then it was almost sundown. We'd made a couple of miles good to the east when we saw some ominous clouds to our NE. We originally thought the squall would pass to our NW, but within a few minutes we were inside the ‘black wall of doom’, reefed down in 25 knots of gusty winds and stinging rain.
This turned out to be a blessing however because the wind shifted left and we were able to sail almost a straight line to the ICW before it settled in NW about 10-12. We beat the final few miles up the ICW to Buttonwood Sound and the finish, arriving a little before 11pm. Distance for the day was 63 miles, total for the trip was 279 miles. Our total time was 4 days, 11 hours, 56 minutes.
Next year I’ve already committed to volunteering at CP-1 with Lori (Sunseeker). Thurmadillo and I are planning on racing again in 2025.
Rasputin22
Rasputin22
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When are you going to organise a Allatoona 120?
Rasputin22
Rasputin22
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Or even a Lanier 200?
The Corps of Engineers isn't planning to change the name of your lake are they?
UPDATE: U.S. Army Corps says it's renaming Lake Lanier, then says it's 'pausing' plans
Will they or won’t they? Within hours of releasing documents saying the Army Corps of Engineers would move forward with recommending new names for Lake Lanier and Buford Dam, the Corps appeared to backtrack on its plans.
www.dawsonnews.com
Congrats, and much respect to you @MisterMoon
DonKeyHoTey
New member
@last
Anarchist
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Thanks so much for the report! It really gives you a sense of what it was like to compete and a huge accomplishment to complete one of these-congrats.
CatFive
Member
I'm wondering about a connection with stomach upset and red tide. My skipper was really ill on the first night and we had to pull into shore for a rest after which he was okay. He attributed it to an unaccustomed energy drink along with fatigue but I was never so sure. Another crew had food poisoning; one of the them had to drop out after treatment at a local hospital.
