Everglades Challenge 2013 - TTG

 

"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

Ratty is definitely on to something. To be on the water in any kind of craft can be therapeutic. IMHO the sound of the surf can only be equalled by the sound of the wind in the pines. Both together… heaven. One of the saddest things I often saw on the streets of D.C. was the herds of young, ambitious suits with ear buds in their ears, eyes and thumbs glued to their smartphones, and totally oblivious to their surroundings. It is no wonder so much self serving and destructive idiocy is produced in Washington. As I said last year, I think we deserve a break... or at least a little vicarious diversion from the madness of politics.

I once again invite the SST Committee of Correspondence to follow this year's running of the Everglades Challenge which begins this Saturday morning. I discovered this event several years ago and have put participating in it on my bucket list. The event is organized by a colorful group of adventurers who call themselves the Water Tribe. The Everglades Challenge is an unsupported, expedition style adventure race for kayaks, canoes, and small sailboats. It starts at Fort DeSoto in Saint Petersburg, Florida and ends at Key Largo. The distance is roughly 300 nautical miles depending on one's course selection. There is a time limit of eight days. Updates on the progress and tribulations of the participants will be posted on the Water Tribe forums. The boats are tracked by SPOT satellite. Their progress can be seen on this tracking map.   

This year I will follow the progress of ChuckTheDuck and Lugnut in their John Welsford designed Walkabout. Both Lugnut, named after his love of the lug sail rig, and ChuckTheDuck, proprietor of Duckworks Magazine, have completed this challenge several times. Baring any catastrophe, these salty veterans should complete this year's race handily. I am especially interested in their boat. The Walkabout is a 16 foot rowing-sailing dingy with a balanced lug mainsail and a spritsail mizzen. Welsford designed the Walkabout with cruising the Maine Island Trail in mind. That would be sweet. I bought a set of plans several years ago. I take them out now and then, unroll them, study them and dream. One of these days, I have to decide on a design and start building.

If I was rolling in dough, I'd commission the Rappahannock Boat Works, less than twenty miles away from me by backcountry road, to build a steam launch for cruising the Cheasapeake Bay. I could imagine myself steaming up the Potomac, sipping on a good rum and harassing the political beasts lurking the riverbanks… just like Charlie Allnut.

TTG 

Comments

[Walrus]

Maybe when I've finished building my aircraft I'll build another boat.

[The Twisted Genius]

Walrus,

Cool. What are you building? My first ops officer built a small STOL after he retired, something about the size of a Piper Cub.

[William R. Cumming]

Predict another Golden Age for steam on the Bay!

And PL and others the small but wonderful STEAMBOAT MUSEUM in Irvington, VA focuses on the Civil War era for the steam boats.

And if well off can overnight at the TIDES INN and brunch on the Rappahannock!

[John Minnerath]

Great stuff. I helped an old friend build a couple of airplanes. In his house.
For one we finally ended up taking out a wall!
My brother always wanted a tower.
So, he built one 50 feet high of barn timbers and great planks of salvaged lumber, with a catwalk to it from the balcony of his bedroom!
All my great projects got no further than pages and pages of plans scribbled on sheets of freezer wrap. :)

[Charles I]

Thanks for the reminder, enjoyed following this last year, though my chosen team had to withdraw. Wasn't it quite windy last year?

When I was child, our neighbours had a 40 foot wooden hull delivered to their back yard, covered it in canvas shed and hand built every wooden bit of a complete sailing boat. Which they then sailed around the planet with their two kids, Gramps and a dog.One of my earliest retained memories is standing at the keel of the empty hull, dwarfed by the curving timbers.

This inspired my dad to build an extension onto the garage, at the front of which he a massive curved front keel assembly. . . and that's it. Life took over, a friend took the keel off his hands and he then built the mighty Kumquat, a 7 or 8 foot little dinghy complete with mast, centerboard ans mom-sewn sail. He'd put it on the top of the car and take it to the lake where we used to summer before our cottage, and take us out for hours of becalmed anticipation. . .

[The Twisted Genius]

Charles I,

Yes, the winds last year were murder, blasting out of the south, followed by a serious storm. It's a wonder anyone made it across Tampa Bay. This year the winds are looking to be NNW. Sailboats and sailing kayaks should do very well. There's a red tide in some areas which will affect the routes taken.

My wife was always worried that I would make her live on a sailboat after having dragged her around the world following my Army assignments. It's a wonder she stuck with me. We're firmly settled on land now.

[walrus]

TTG....building a small STOL - to go camping in the desert, far from humanity.

[dilbert dogbert]

Duckworks is one of my sources for boat building materials and news of the crazy folks who mess about in small or not so small boats.
It would be great to get the Col. and my BIL together for a Chesapeake cruise in his 1946 Lindwall Boat Works fishing boat converted into a Gold Plater. The BIL lives in Alexandria and the boat is down river somewhere. The BIL is an ex-Swiftboat driver from back in the Vietnam days. He was offshore not in the rivers.
The Col. and the BIL might have something to talk about.

[Lars]

I hope the participants are bringing their long johns. It will be a bit chilly this weekend.

[Fred]

Well there should be some good snook and redfish fishing in-shore, though that does make a bit of a dilemma as to whether to eat good or cross the finish line first?

[Herb]

Thanks so much for this!

There are lots of events like this, and a new one in Chesepeake later this year.

I am also looking at doing one "some day".

You might also want to follow Expedition Florida 500. A guy who is paddleboarding the entire coast of Florida for a year, in support of coastal ecosystems. People like him who are actually experiencing life, give me hope for the new generation.

[The Twisted Genius]

Herb,

That Expedition Florida 500 sounds interesting.

A paddleboarder named Shane Perrin just finished the EC a few hours ago. He has quite a story. He had most of his equipment stolen during the first night out. He woke up and it was gone. He was pretty sure he was finished. The WaterTribers and other supporters immediately raised enough money for him to replace his gear and continue the race. He set out the next morning. He's not just doing this for the adventure. He's raising money for kidney disease awareness and to bring SUP to dialysis patients. He is a kidney transplant recipient himself.

Another first timer is sailing an 8 foot Eastport Pram. He should finish later this morning. That's pretty impressive, too.

This year Chuck Leinweber (ChuckTheDuck) set up a Facebook page (Everglades Challenge-2013) before he and Lugnut started the race in his Walkabout. It's a great addition for those of us following the race from afar.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/392311524201598/

The WaterTribe also does a race in North Carolina scheduled for September this year. "Some day" maybe we'll met at one of these challenges.

[DH]

"He had most of his equipment stolen during the first night out. He woke up and it was gone."

Is this considered 'cricket' in the EC?

[The Twisted Genius]

DH,

His stuff wasn't stolen by anyone participating in the EC. It was done by some random thief. This is now just another hazard of the race like wild storms, red tide, sharks, gators and pythons.

[DH]

Oh. Duh. (I swear I never watched an episode of Survivor.)

[Osbert]

Hey, that's me! The Walkabout in the photo is my 'Scratch' surfing Loch Ness on http://www.sailcaledonia.org/ in 2011.

[The Twisted Genius]

Osbert,

Yes! That one picture of you and "Scratch" surfing Loch Ness did more to sell me on the Walkabout than anything else I read or saw. It just screams out in joyful exhilaration. I have the plans. Hope to start building mine before too long. Here on the Potomac and in Chesapeake Bay, you need something that rows as well as sails.

[Charlie]

Hey, it may be that I'm "BIL"? I live in Alexandria and have a 50' converted fishing boat launched by Lindwall Boat Works in 1944, that is kept in Solomons