Everglades Challenge 2023

[MisterMoon]

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.

It wasn’t red tide. my guts were rerouted about 12 years ago to remove a large tumor in my colon (benign). Since then I’ve had issues with scar tissue sometimes causing partial intestinal blockages. it’s especially exacerbated if I eat too many nuts too quickly. it wasn’t nausea at all, but sever cramping as they worked their way through my system. Luckily this wasn’t a more severe blockage like I had about a year ago that put me in the hospital for a couple days. As uncomfortable as It was, I knew I was ok as long as liquids stayed down. if I start vomiting , its time to go to the ER.

My wife took the sick fellow at CP1 to the hospital. It’s unclear what his issue was. It is notable that both crew on that boat had some issues. The skipper was much less affected and was able to continue after some rest. Was it red tide or what they had for supper the night before? no one knows.

 

[Steam Flyer]

I let the camera roll sailing through Stump Pass this year. Full video of Stump here.

Did you all think about closing the companionway?
Looks like the wind died on the way in, too.

 

[TBW]

Ya, the wind kind of sucked. Just enough to steer with.

 

[Kenny Dumas]

Ya, you thought about closing it?

 

[TBW]

Wasn't too concerned. Have to put those boats pretty far over to fill the cabin.

 

[Steam Flyer]

Wasn't too concerned. Have to put those boats pretty far over to fill the cabin.

View attachment 580783

I was thinking more of a roller coming aboard. Even if the boat is not close to endangered, it sucks to get everything below wet!

That photo above is a great demonstration, too

 

[TBW]

It's not my boat, I was sailing as crew and camera man lol.

We do know how the boat behaves full of water because we punched a hole in her and filled her up with water. The boat floats pretty high with the cabin swamped.

Lots of compartmental floatation built in. Cool boats and with the 300 pounds of water ballast she was loads of stable.

 

[Steam Flyer]

It's not my boat, I was sailing as crew and camera man lol.

We do know how the boat behaves full of water because we punched a hole in her and filled her up with water. The boat floats pretty high with the cabin swamped.

Lots of compartmental floatation built in. Cool boats and with the 300 pounds of water ballast she was loads of stable.

Sounds like a great boat! Thanks for the info

 

[TBW]

Couple pics of CrazyR's proa on the water. This was just inside Stump pass.

 

[sail10338]

Leaving Chockoloskee

 

[DonKeyHoTey]

What a fantastical EC this year. Helped erase memories of the massive FAIL for Hare-on-Fire and me off East Cape the last time I tried to do the EC, in 2015. Full moon sailing in warm, dry weather and a great following breeze -- just about perfect for the double-lug schooner rig on my '69 Lightning hull. The only negatives were 3.5 hours to cover the half dozen rumb-line miles from the beach into the Gulf at Anna Maria pass (very gnarly), the red tide and MASSIVE fish-kill, and the failure of the WT and RaceOwl sites to track me (RaceOwl didn't even list me), which had my wife getting ready to collect the life insurance.

Caught up with SkinnyGenes in his '49? '45? Thistle near the Boca inlet after he had lost his crew to food poisoning on Day 1, and we flew down the coast in close formation until he strayed off the ICW and got lost in the dark just a few miles from the finish.

The biggest excitement was post-KL when I was cruising up the ICW to homeport in the WPB area. First, the foremast suddenly took a 45 degree list in Biscayne Bay (turned out to be 8 year old rotten wood in the mast step hidden in the always-damp forward flotation compartment). I struck that rig and restepped the mainmast in the center step (original Lightning step), converting her back into a sloop. Works well, but even when flying a 55sf jib with the 105sf lug main (GIS sail), she was nowhere near as powerful as the double lug setup, which I can supplement with the jib set as a stays'l or with a spinny, both off the mainmast (No, that was not the mast that failed...).

And then there were the crazies in Miami: one guy in a 35' cabin cruiser tried to take my bow off (with me on it) while I was hove-to fixing a blown halyard, and a jet-ski seriously slammed me while I was hove-to waiting for a bridge to open. And then there were the a-hole bridge-keepers.... I like the west coast, red tide and all. Can't wait until next year. DKHT

 

[TBW]

@DonKeyHoTey

 

[Veeger]

@DonKeyHoTey View attachment 581575

Always had a bit of a soft spot for a Lightning. Your double lug rig looks like a really nice way to make the boat into a pretty comfy camp cruiser.

 

[DonKeyHoTey]

Food for thought:

EC23 had a couple of interesting firsts, which I suspect will become permanent changes, or at least will show up again. The first is that the start time was pushed back from the traditional dawn/0700 to 1000 hours, to accommodate a half-marathon at the park that somehow ended up being booked for our usual time.

But EC24 event info incorporates the same changes, and includes the possibility of getting your boat to the beach on Saturday morning rather than Friday. This might be significant if you are in something easily portable, like a kayak.

A key implication is that no mere mortal will have a chance of making Stump Pass before dark -- IF leaving from the beach at Fort deSoto. And if the wind is howling enough to get you there quickly, prudent mariners won't risk a really gnarly big-Beaufort bar crossing, particularly in the dark.

So is this a permanent change, or just for this year and next?

The more significant first was Chief's encouragement at the Friday captains' meeting (and informally beforehand) for Challengers to launch from their "Plan B" location. Enabling "Plan B" on Friday meant that even if Challengers had already staged their boats on the beach, it gave them good time to re-load, get around Tampa Bay, set up boat and bivvy at their new launch location, and start timely at 1000 Saturday. Plan B'ers could even launch south of CP1.

This is different from the Chief's historical approach, which is that if there is a Small Craft based weather hold, Challengers must wait on the beach until both the advisory is lifted and they are comfortable with launching. His decision this time was presumably out of an abundance of caution, due to the seriously Small Craft conditions that day, though interestingly the wind forecast for Saturday morning was pretty benign.

But the EC is something of a "special situation." Ever since the event popped up on the USCG's radar screen at the infamous 2015 start, which almost put the kibosh on all future ECs, the Coasties have been "watching." For good reason. Besides being a pretty gnarly bit of water, the Tampa Bay entrance is an important shipping channel. It's big and wide and right there, and tribers need to cross it immediately on their trip to KL. Prior to 2015, Chief probably considered it a "filter" that promptly separated the experts from those not-up-to-the-Challenge. Not possible today.

So this change is significant, and in a number of other ways as well. Of course, Plan B effectively shortens the race for any who decide to launch on the south side of Tampa Bay, which I'm guessing every Plan B'er did. Not just the issue of crossing and exiting Tampa Bay (which took me 3 1/2 hours this time), but the further down the course that you launch, the "easier" the challenge of making it to KL by the deadline, or at all.

And of course the quicker you can get to the Finish Line. For those like me for whom two boats automatically make a race (and this is officially a race), how do you compare performances (first to finish, etc) during or after the race, when you probably never see your "class"-mates and don't even know where they started?

So Chief now has his own Challenge of figuring out all the potential implications and then formalizing this while minimizing changes to the original spirit and special character of this event. The rationale, algorithm, etc, will need to be transparent, clear, and fair so that folks can understand it and Tribers can make an informed decision in advance of the start. If Plan B is optional, not required, will he build in a penalty for selecting it? How will he account for the different launch points, given that the new 1000 start will make Ft. deSoto to CP1 on Day 1 virtually impossible?

And these new Sailing Instructions will apparently also be applicable to other WT events and need to incorporate those event-specific issues. Shortly after the event Chief sent the following email blast:

Hi Challengers:

I am working on a program to adjust the results of any event using Plan B whether optional or required. The results for EC2023 will be adjusted using that program as a beta test. Going forward, it will be utilized before the award ceremony when required. This will take some time to analyze and figure out what needs to be done so please stand by.

I will send an email when the first draft is ready for review.

Thanks for a great event, Chief

+++

It will be interesting to see what he comes up with, and how it affects strategies and results going forward for this great event.
.

DKHT

 

[DonKeyHoTey]

@DonKeyHoTey View attachment 581575

Thanks for this great pic, TBW. What a day, eh? I'm assuming this was just south of CP1.

 

[DonKeyHoTey]

Always had a bit of a soft spot for a Lightning. Your double lug rig looks like a really nice way to make the boat into a pretty comfy camp cruiser.

Me too, and you're right. She's a timeless 85 year old design, and a fast, safe cruiser thanks to the 130# board. I am almost always soloing (wife won't join me!?) and can easily handle her despite having more SA than the stock boat. However, she's best suited to warm weather and water because with the low freeboard and hard chines, she's still wet in any seaway, and pretty open unless sitting in the beanbag. She also slaps at anchor whatever the wave(let) direction, making it like sleeping in a drum unless it's a very sheltered anchorage (but hopefully not too close to the skeeters).

Rock solid build -- no fear of punching a hole in her, and lots of flotation. She's only 2 years younger than the one I had in 1970, has been raced hard by POs, I've sailed her thousands of miles myself, and she still has decades to go .

I bought her to do the 2011 EC, and this was her 6th time. Along the way I built a split rig and a bulletproof retractable cassette rudder for skinny water work (two previous rudder FAILS!), and excised the after thwarts, creating lots of room for lounging in my bean-bag and for sleeping either at anchor or under way as in previous double-handed ECs. Even solo, I rarely needed to sit on the rail this trip at least, unless playing the sheet to catch more waves. I definitely got lucky with the warm/dry weather because I still haven't optimized the boom-tent / dodger arrangement for the very large cockpit.

I'm a lug-lover, with four lug-rigged boats (SP21, ex-5o5, ex-Banshee, and ex-Lightning) that I almost always sail alone. Simple (relatively), powerful, quick to rig/strike/reef, and great for short-handed sailing and passing under low bridges: 17' mast height, 20' yard peak, and if need be, dip the yard or even unstep the unstayed mast(s). For this EC I was forced to use two 105sf GIS lugs'ls (schoonerizing her) but it made her a bit hard-mouthed except wing-on-wing, so I generally kept an extra reef in the after sail. She really wants to be a ketch setting a +/- 85sf mizzen.

There is also a sloop configuration that I can switch to if desired (for heavy air work) or necessary (rig failure), even on the water. The forward rig gets struck and stowed, and the after rig re-stepped in the original Lightning step. The mains'l can be set with or without the 55sf 505 jib or 30sf 420 jib (these are also used as stays'ls with the split rig). In case you're wondering, the aft mast is stepped on top of the aft end of the c/b trunk, via some Rube Goldberg tubing.

Her only real shortcoming is pointing ability and being slow in stays, This is partially due to the lug rig not liking to be strapped and partially due to the split rig. But how much am I hard on the wind and short-tacking unless going around the cans? I did get lucky this EC, because the only real weather work was struggling to get out of Tampa Bay against adverse tide and wind. Once the sheets are eased, she's faster and way more user-friendly than a stock Lightning with its deck-sweeping blade jib and boom (unless flying its big chute). Particularly downwind, wing-on-wing... Lots of folks stare, and most smile and wave

DKHT

 

[TBW]

Another vid I shot this year. This was South Caxambas Pass in the Core Sound. Fun conditions. On shore wind with an outgoing tide. Wind waves were stacking on the standing waves from the current making for roley conditions. A few accidental gybes.

 

[Veeger]

Me too, and you're right. She's a timeless 85 year old design, and a fast, safe cruiser thanks to the 130# board. I am almost always soloing (wife won't join me!?) and can easily handle her despite having more SA than the stock boat. However, she's best suited to warm weather and water because with the low freeboard and hard chines, she's still wet in any seaway, and pretty open unless sitting in the beanbag. She also slaps at anchor whatever the wave(let) direction, making it like sleeping in a drum unless it's a very sheltered anchorage (but hopefully not too close to the skeeters).

Rock solid build -- no fear of punching a hole in her, and lots of flotation. She's only 2 years younger than the one I had in 1970, has been raced hard by POs, I've sailed her thousands of miles myself, and she still has decades to go .

I bought her to do the 2011 EC, and this was her 6th time. Along the way I built a split rig and a bulletproof retractable cassette rudder for skinny water work (two previous rudder FAILS!), and excised the after thwarts, creating lots of room for lounging in my bean-bag and for sleeping either at anchor or under way as in previous double-handed ECs. Even solo, I rarely needed to sit on the rail this trip at least, unless playing the sheet to catch more waves. I definitely got lucky with the warm/dry weather because I still haven't optimized the boom-tent / dodger arrangement for the very large cockpit.

I'm a lug-lover, with four lug-rigged boats (SP21, ex-5o5, ex-Banshee, and ex-Lightning) that I almost always sail alone. Simple (relatively), powerful, quick to rig/strike/reef, and great for short-handed sailing and passing under low bridges: 17' mast height, 20' yard peak, and if need be, dip the yard or even unstep the unstayed mast(s). For this EC I was forced to use two 105sf GIS lugs'ls (schoonerizing her) but it made her a bit hard-mouthed except wing-on-wing, so I generally kept an extra reef in the after sail. She really wants to be a ketch setting a +/- 85sf mizzen.

There is also a sloop configuration that I can switch to if desired (for heavy air work) or necessary (rig failure), even on the water. The forward rig gets struck and stowed, and the after rig re-stepped in the original Lightning step. The mains'l can be set with or without the 55sf 505 jib or 30sf 420 jib (these are also used as stays'ls with the split rig). In case you're wondering, the aft mast is stepped on top of the aft end of the c/b trunk, via some Rube Goldberg tubing.

Her only real shortcoming is pointing ability and being slow in stays, This is partially due to the lug rig not liking to be strapped and partially due to the split rig. But how much am I hard on the wind and short-tacking unless going around the cans? I did get lucky this EC, because the only real weather work was struggling to get out of Tampa Bay against adverse tide and wind. Once the sheets are eased, she's faster and way more user-friendly than a stock Lightning with its deck-sweeping blade jib and boom (unless flying its big chute). Particularly downwind, wing-on-wing... Lots of folks stare, and most smile and wave

DKHT

Nice report, thanks! I like your thinking.

 

[DonKeyHoTey]

Another vid I shot this year. This was South Caxambas Pass in the Core Sound. Fun conditions. On shore wind with an outgoing tide. Wind waves were stacking on the standing waves from the current making for roley conditions. A few accidental gybes.

Very sporty. Surf's up! 7.5 over the bottom was probably 10 through the water. I've only passed right under the highrises (or around the Cape). Were you north or south of Dickman's Island? How did you then cut through to Gullivan's Bay? SkinnyGenes and I managed to kill some seagrass trying to follow the main Caxambas channel east of Henry Key. DKHT

 

[TBW]

Very sporty. Surf's up! 7.5 over the bottom was probably 10 through the water. I've only passed right under the highrises (or around the Cape). Were you north or south of Dickman's Island? How did you then cut through to Gullivan's Bay? SkinnyGenes and I managed to kill some seagrass trying to follow the main Caxambas channel east of Henry Key. DKHT

The pass was really good sailing.

We went south of Dickmans Island. I attached a chart image below. Southern Channel near depth marked 0.6.