Doug Cameron

Mine didn't arrive until today. Doug Cameron

There's a second block there for the mizzen.

Hello Dawn There are a few pieces of advice that have kept me going. First, hold onto the main sheet when it gets gusty. Letting loose of the main will allow you to recover from almost anything. Put tell tales on the sails if you don't have them (I'm sure Alan did this) and learn how to read them. Finally, follow the advice to capsize the boat at least once when the lake gets warm. Empty it of fragile stuff and sail it till it turns over. To right her, let go of the sheets, one person (with the throwable cushion if nearby) goes to the mast top to prevent turtling. The other stants on the centerboard, and she should come right up. Try it the first time at a shallow calm beach if you have one available. Beyond that, you've said it already -- it's time at the tiller. Get confident enough that you can sail while Paul sleeps in moderate conditions.

The Ulitmate Florida Challenge is an extension of the Everglades Challenge, and the EC is the first leg of the Ultimate Florida. It goes up the civilized east coast of Florida after leaving Key Largo, and thence up the St Marys River (the N border of Florida). Up to Traders Hill, the river is wide and tidal, The portion on to St. George gets narrow and twisty. Then you take out for a 40 mile portage over narrow rural roads to Fargo Georgia and the Suwannee. The upper Suwannee is pretty and tea-colored with beautiful white sand beaches for camping. The first few miles below Fargo twists among large cypress trees. There are two rapids or any significance, Big Shoals and Little Shoals above White Springs. They are the biggest rapids in Florida (like being the tallest pygmy, though Big Shoals does have some sharp rocks). Below Suwannee River State Park, the river widens and is bordered by houses and docks for the almost 200 miles on to the Gulf. When it reaches the Gulf, the race goes down the coast and back to the Ft. DeSoto start. Some of us have been advocating using one boat for the whole thing. like they did the last time. The curent rule under discussion allows the crew to switch from a sailboat to a canoe or kayak at Traders Hill and turn it in at Suwannee River State Park. Another suggested variation is that another craft (inflatable?)( be carried on the boat. A meeting at Cedar Key in May should clear this up. Another race of interest to readers of this forum is the Carolina Challenge, which starts on Cedar Island and goes to Beaufort and back, using the canal one way. It will be the last weekend in September. Details should be posted on the watertribe.com site in the next day or so.

Paul - The Suwannee is doable at most levels (Big Shoals is not as big as they say for a boy who paddles in the Appalachians). I would carry (short, steep) or line at lower levels and run it at higher levels. Above and below that, it can easily be run with oars (Porky and Sir Zap did the Suwannee Challenge in 2003 in a tandem rowboat.). As to your graph, the Y axis doesn't bother me since it's scale would seem trivial here in the mountains. The portage will be a grunt, but doable if I can get through the St. Marys above Traders Hill. The Enigma had an axle sticking out of the chine wings, and Matt mounted what looked like baby carriage tires on it. I would build a break-apart version of the LL Bean cart (300 lb capacity) using mtn bike tires. I would avoid the early evenings because it is busy and dark. Time to get a meal and get some sleep. I would walk late at night and during the day with one of the new generation of reflective vests and put a flasher on the inside transom on the inside. Thanks for all of the input. Keep thinking.

This is really a question for Graham, but I would like to hear opinions from all of you (especially Tom) I am wrestling with participating in the WaterTribe around Florida Race. It only occurs every 5 years, so I will probably be too old when it comes around again (I do hope to do Everglades Challenges until I am 75 or 80, but that's a "short" cruise if you go in cruise mode.). I plan to do it in cruising mode rather than attempt to win. I am considering a small sailboat (Enigma did well last time) or a Kruger canoe with a Balog batwing sailing rig. Either way, I would build a tent/ mosquito net enclosure for sleeping aboard when necessary. Whatever becomes of the current debate among the LLC members of WaterTribe about the portage rule, I would like to use the same boat throughout. I just think it is more in line with the unsupported philosophy of WaterTrive Challenges. I like the way the Core Sound 20 sails, and I have appreciated the cat ketch features of both the Sea Pearl and the Core Sound. The 20 is too much to solo row up the St. Marys and down the Suwannee, and it would be impossible to portage. I like the way my Shellback (11'+) rows, but I would need a little more room for the journey. I am sure that I could construct a sling-and-oar (or mast) arrangement to carry a 15 foot boat with bicycle wheels. So, what do you think?

Chief has finished uploading all of the photos and movies taken by competitors. Go to watertribe.com and click on Challenge Viewer

There are some great pictures and short videos at http://watertribe.com/ChallengeViewer/ChallengeViewerContent.aspx (the Challenge Viewer, reached from the home page if this pasted link doesn't work. There is going to be a challenge around Cedar Island and Beaufort the last weekend in September for you Carolina folks. Watch the WaterTribe site for details. Paul Stewart's wife, Dawn, and several others are putting it together. It would be great to see some B&B boats there.

The CD that comes with the plans for the CS20 has pictures of the construction of the dodger on the CS 17 that Graham used in his first Everglades Challenge. It essentially protects from spray when you are crashing along through waves. I am planning something similar for my CS20, but with clear "windows" on the sides and up front to improve vision. It will also allow some room to sleep with your feet up under the forward deck, and this is improved if you make forward floorboards that can double as extensions of the seat to the centerboard trunk.

She's absolutely beautiful, Tom. All the detail work really sets her off! Doug

Tom mentioned the messabout in his posting about the Lapwing. Is it happening? When?

I drilled a hole in the aft edge of the rudder, filled with thickened epoxy, then redrilled. The line comes through a fairlead on the side of the top of the rudder and hence to a clam cleat on the side of the tiller. I do launch with the rudder on (and up) because they expect you to launch and then get out of the way (this is on ramps in Tennessee and Alabama that are used primarily by bass boats). Be sure to add some sort of device to keep your buoyant rudder in the gudgeons when you get into waves. I didn't at first and Graham told me that that was a very dangerous mistake. There is no mention of such in the plans.

Absolutely beautiful work!

I surfed the Sea Pearl through 3-4 foot waves coming into Gasparilla Pass. With the center cockpit covered, any water that comes aboard the foredeck diverts into the cockpit sole, which is self draining. She is good downwind with the advantages of an unstayed cat ketch rig. On any point of sail, she is a bit tender when the wind pipes up and the ballast tanks are empty. The CS 20 is a dream downwind. At the Rend Lake Messabout last weekend she was surfing breaking 1' to 1 1/2' waves in a 20-25 wind and giggling about it. Easy to control, dry, and shares the advantages of the unstayed cat ketch rig. Even when she is going fast, she is dry. I agree with Ray about the wetness beating and reaching, especially going fast in waves like we did in the EC. Reefing helps, but it means going slower. The self-bailer works well and should be part of your plan.

I have had both a Sea Pearl and a Core Sound 20 (and sailed both in the Everglades Challenge). Here is my take: Both are cat ketches with all of the advantages of that sail plan. The Sea Pearl is heavier (especially with water ballast on board). She is drier than the CS 20 (keep the center cockpit covered in big seas) but slower. As you push her past hull speed, she sits down in the stern rather than popping out onto a plane like the CS 20. She is designed as a camper and has a lot of room in the "center cockpit" if you have the tent. The CS 20 is a delight to sail. She accelerates quickly and responds well to adjustments in weight and sail trim . With a dodger and floor boards doubling as a bridge across the footwell, she will make an adequate camper, but you would be happier bringing a tent and staying on the beach,. She has all sorts of room for crew and lots of storage (and flotation) in the seat/tanks. It's fun building the 20, and you can't get that on the Sea Pearl. The CS 20 is far easier to row. Both are good-looking, easy to launch trailer sailors.

You could test it empirically by putting the board in the pond and adding shot to a dixie cup sitting on it until the board was just submerged.

News from the first day. Winds were gusting to 30. One boat capsized (failed to reef) and was rescued by a Martha Jane. Graham Byrnes in the Southern Skimmer reached camp first around noon. He recorded a new top speed for him of 18 mph, which was helped slightly by a 1.5mph current in the land cut.

They're off! Charlie (and Laura) and Graham went zooming away from the crowd. Apparently Graham got detained for an hour yesterday at an Immigration roadblock because he didn't have his green card with him. Full report and daily reports at the Duckworks site (http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/08/gatherings/tx200/index.htm). Wish I was there.

I weigh about 180 and have single-handed the CS 20 in gusty ~20-25 (with a single reef in both sails), and with a buddy in a little more. She is wet going to the wind and reaching in 3-4 foot waves, but I haven't had trouble with water boarding while sailing on our inland lakes (at ~25 the water was streaky with breaking ~1 foot waves!). Hold the main sheet rather than cleat it and use a tiller extension so you can sit on the side deck. If it starts to knock you over, release the main sheet and she will come up into the wind. As to ballast, it would slow the Core Sound down and you might miss the exhilarating acceleration in a puff. You might take a look at the leeboards on a Sea Pearl if you must have ballast. They have ballasted shoes on the bottom, keeping the weight as low as possible and giving some protection to that vulnerable part of the board. Sea Pearl sailors don't have to have a downhaul on their boards either.

Graham, add me to that list. Also, Tom, it that mold is still around in the fall, I can come by to pick it up. Doug

Beautiful work! I always loved May in Massachusetts.

I've never had carpenter bees attack a boat, but they ate almost all of my western cedar fascia (I replaced it with Hardee Board -- you could crumble it in your hand.) and they did some work on the trim on our front door. Doug in Sewanee, Tennessee.

But you probably need some kind of fasteners to hold things in place . . . or, you could lay the sandwich on the flat garage floor and add weights, like concrete blocks. It worked for me.

Graham designed battened sails for the two Core Sound 20s in the Everglades Challenge, and they performed well. He also put three reefs in them. The only disadvantage in the battened sails (and the reason for the three reefs) is that you can't wrap the main around the mast and move the mizzen forward (in a blow or to row). You can also add a mizzen staysail (works up to 30 degrees off dead downwind) for light and medium wind performance. The battened sails performed well. Three of the top five boats in the Everglades Challenge were B&B boats of the Core Sound family. Two were literally just built and the crews had to learn the boats and gain faith in their abilities en route. I was very happy with our boat's performance. She was very fast and competent in the downwind and reaching days, and she did well in the two and a half days of tacking. Downwind her bow was buoyant enough to never bury in 3-4 foot waves. Beating, she was wet due to her speed (when we hit a wave, the spray would be over the cockpit when it descended), and I am now building a dodger like the one Graham had on Green Heron. I didn't have snowshoes when we were stuck in the mud, but I was able to sail her out with rudder and centerboard up, using the sails to steer. Graham is very easy to work with. I'm sure that he could design (and build) you a set of battened sails for a 17. (Remember that he won the Everglades Challenge and set a record a couple of years ago in a 17 without battened sails. The same boat won the Core Sound races several years.) The boat will not disappoint you either way.

Haven't had any word on this lately. I would like to see one . . . maybe build one. How's it going Tom?