Everglades Challenge 2025

[Alan Stewart]

Copied from the B&B Newsletter to kick things off here.... if you're not on the newsletter sign up here. 

With just 12 days to go before the start of the 2025 Everglades Challenge, paddlers sailors all over the country are making final preparations and rushing to become “experts in their craft” (just kidding Paula). Getting any boat to the starting line of an event like this is a massive undertaking and once your boat is on the starting line all rigged up with bags packed you often feel like it must be all downhill from there. Some years it is and some years it isn’t! With an overall average success rate of just 54.9% it all depends on what mother nature has in store and how well you have prepared to handle it. B&B has a very long history with the Everglades Challenge and the WaterTribe going back almost 20 years which you can and SHOULD read about here. The Core Sound 17 remains one of the best class 4 boats you could chose statistically for the EC with 10 unique crews finishing 14 out of 19 times for an overall average success rate over 70%. Check out the stats yourself here.

This year we are happy to see how big team B&B is. Below I’ve given some background on everyone on “Team B&B” for the 2025 EC. This year there are six Core Sound boats signed up out of twenty five in Class 4. The full list of registrants can be found here. And don’t forget if the EC seems too overwhelming for you, come join us for the North Carolina Challenge in June.

Core Sound 17 #191:
First we have a new three man Core Sound 17 team (Team Sail Futures) Joe McClung aka Seminole98, Kevin Farrell aka Longshoreman and Mike Long aka Longshoreman are sailing Core Sound 17. I believe they are all new Tribers and we are looking forward to meeting them. They are sailing CS-17 #191 ‘Arjay’ which was launched in 2018 by Brian Forsyth who built her from a B&B kit. Photo below of ‘Arjay’ finishing first at the MASCF event in St. Michaels, MD in 2018 about 30 seconds ahead of the next boat.

 

 

Core Sound 17 #385:
Brooks Hall aka TheMapster is sailing Core Sound 17 #385 with new crew Marshall Bender aka SaltyGator. Brooks is a veteran triber now having completed two ECs in his CS-17 with Coastal. He also holds the 4th fastest EC finish time in a CS-17 of 2 days 21hrs and 22min in 2023. Only Graham in 2006 and Phil Garland and Dan Neri on their CS-17 Turbo in 2013 and 2014 have done it faster. The fastest being their run in 2013 at 2d 7hr 34min. Hull #385 was built by Fred Schultz and painted and rigged by the B&B crew in 2018. Photo from their finish in 2023.

 

 

Core Sound 17 Mark 3 #385:
Father and son team Michael and Brian Collins aka GreyBeard and ChefRamen sailing their yellow Core Sound 17 Mark 3. Michael has completed eleven ECs and Brian has sailed with him in six of them. Photos 20 years apart. 2022 and 2002. 20 years! geez these guys must be old!

 

 

I also love this shot of Michael and Brian pulled off somewhere around Northwest Cape in the 2020 EC with Alan and his Dad in the background in Southern Skimmer. Apparently we had time pull off and do the laundry that year.

 

 

Core Sound 17 Mark 3 #4:
Next, Alan aka SOS is sailing again this year with his Mom Dawn aka SandyBottom in Graham’s Core Sound 17 Mark 3 ‘Carlita’ with Graham as shore support. Graham’s boat needs no introduction. Thanks for letting us take her out again this year Graham! SOS has completed ten ECs and 1 UFC. SandyBottom has completed twelve!

 

Core Sound 20 Mark 3 #1:
Scott Henderson aka WildBlue and Kilby Smith aka SkinnyGenes are sailing CS-20mk3 hull #1 again this year and have made some upgrades from last year including a new main tabernacle, rubrail and probably some other secret go fast mods they won’t tell me about. Last year they were neck and neck with my mom and I for the entire race and we narrowly eeked out a win in Florida bay when they went one way and we went another. I suspect they won’t let that happen again this year. 20mk3 Hull #1 was built by Doug Cameron and took shape at the B&B shop back in 2014. Picture below from last year sunrise on Chokoloskee Bay taken by me!

 

 

Core Sound 20 Mark 3 #22:
At is gain this year is also the three man team of Erik Dykema aka NowWeTryItMyWay, George Blaha aka CountryRoads and Ivan Bartha aka Yellowdog. This is their second year in this Dark blue Core Sound 20 Mark 3. Last year they finished in 4 days 13hrs and 46min putting them in fifth place in class 4 and one of only nine class 4 boats to finish out of twenty two who started.

 

 

Sailing Canoe Amas hull #1:
We also have an honorary member of team B&B this year Mark Cecil aka Misterc is sailing a Meade Gougeon decked Sailing canoe outfitted with some newly designed B&B sailing canoe amas that he will be using on his BSD rig. Mark has three EC finishes under his belt in Class 1 and Class 3. I am looking forward to seeing how these amas perform and may be upgrading my UFC canoe with a set as well.

 

 

[Captain Tim]

Hi, my name is Seminole98, and this is my brother Longshoreman and my other brother Longshoreman    Sorry I couldn't help myself

[Alan Stewart]

oops Kevin is "Thatguy" and Mike Long is "Longshoreman". 

[Alan Stewart]

 

Tomorrow we will shove off from the beach at Fort Desoto Park in Tampa Bay Florida at 8:30am for the 25th Everglades Challenge. This week has been a familiar whirlwind of last minute prep we have done many times. After gathering clothes, boat food and battery powered gadgets and receiving a steady stream of Amazon deliveries we have once again arrived at the start of the EC. With any luck we will successfully navigate Carlita to the finish once more. Rather than send out race updates on this platform I am going to upload short video race updates to the B&B YouTube Channel as long as we have cell service so make sure you’re subscribed! I’ll add them to this playlist so check back after the race starts. We also have a photo album which I’ll be adding to as we go.

Below, walk along with me checking out all the boats on the beach this year. A favorite activity once your boat is squared away. This year we feel more prepared than usual.

For the hardcore fans you can track us on the watertribe tracker or on raceowl. Join the watertribe facebook group or follow the watertribe forum. There is also a thread on the Messing-About forum and the Sailing anarchy thread typically tracks the Class 4 and 5 boats pretty closely.

 

 

Carlita resting in the campground

Carlita is ready to go and this year she has a new rudder. At last years Messabout she suffered some rudder cheek damage when Graham’s home made keel rollers on the trailer worked TOO WELL and she slid off the trailer way too fast. The rudder blade (with rudder up) slammed to the stop when it hit the water and twisted the rudder cheeks cracking them. We slapped some ply to the outside to get her back underway for Graham’s Neuse River Trip. You can see below the repaired rudder cheeks which while ugly were much stronger than original (thickness = stiffness). But for the EC we’ve rebuilding Carlita’s Rudder cheeks and rudder blade as the original was starting to get tired after a decade of sailing. Pictures of the rebuild are here.

 

 

For an more in depth look at the Core Sound 17 Mark 3 rudder check out this 4-5 min segment of our complete 17mk3 Tour video. In it I discuss my preferred downhaul setup which is critical for shallow water sailing.

On Rudder Failure:
This is only the second time I've seen a B&B rudder have a failure in the 17 years I’ve been working with Graham and sailing B&B boats and I still have yet to see one fail from actual sailing or grounding. The first was on Erik's 20mk3 rudder blade which technically failed while sailing but it was later determined that the blade was damaged earlier when an Amazon truck backed into it. And this recent failure which you could argue could be replicate in rough seas but Carlita has seen quite a bit of those without incident. Nevertheless we did decide to increase the cheeks to 9mm ply for the rebuild.

Rudder failure is one of the primary failure modes of small boats in the EC. Whenever I see a fancy new rudder design on the beach I think about all the rudders I’ve seen fail over the years. Broken pins, sheared blades, cracked castings, bent plates and on and on. Graham’s design has been brutally tested and passed over and over again.

[Andy B]

thanks for the updates and video and good luck!

[Steve W]

For those following along, you may find the Raceowl map to be a bit  better than the Watertribe map. 

 

Here:
https://www.raceowl.com/EC2025/RaceMap4

[Alan Stewart]

Team Sail Future 3 mam team on CS-17 previously named Arjay.

[Andy B]

i broke my hand last week.  so instead of skiing i'm stuck in the rental binging EC content while it's 12 degrees out!  thx for the updates and videos!

[Steve W]

Alan, 

 

When you are done racing (with your mom....just typing this makes me smile), I have a question for you. On Skeena, I have a cleat that pops open under pressure to save the rudder in a grounding. It always surprises me when it happens. But  around here we have a lot of rock and I like the way the rudder just floats up until I put it down. I do maintain a bit of hard steerage. 

 

My question is.....if you sailed in rocky places would you still favor your bungee setup?

[Alan Stewart]

Good question probably not with rocks. Only sand and mud down here occasionally oyster beds. 

[Jonathan M. Cohn]

I don't think its an either or situation. You could easily use whichever fits your sailing that day.

 

Do you use the auto-release cleat for your centerboard? Do you ever find it releasing accidently? When I was in Pensacola last year I had it release a few times but it was easily pulled back down and locked immediately. I wasn't sure if the water got shallow or the release was just a bit finicky. 

[Don Silsbe]

I just watched Alan’s video of Carlita’s start on the EC.  Sandy Bottom says “What’s the rush?  Some don’t pull off the beach until 5 minutes after the start.”  SOS ignores this, and continues to urgently get launched and under way.  I guess 5 minutes is 5 minutes.  I love that competitive zeal.

[Steve W]

20 hours ago, Jonathan M. Cohn said:

Do you use the auto-release cleat for your centerboard? Do you ever find it releasing accidently? When I was in Pensacola last year I had it release a few times but it was easily pulled back down and locked immediately. I wasn't sure if the water got shallow or the release was just a bit finicky. 

I built one of the early 20.3s and there was no centerboard downhaul. I extended the centerboard trunk forward and had an opportunity to add a downhaul, and I didn't. Probably should have but that project sort of sucked. 

 

There is a weighted tip that keeps it down and it works well. I've hit stuff. 

 

[Don Silsbe]

@Steve W— I had a weighted c/b on my Bay River Skiff 15, just like the mark 3’s.  Never had a problem.  Sure did clean up the top of the trunk!

[Jonathan M. Cohn]

I think the idea for the centerboard downhaul was to keep the centerboard from falling back into the trunk if a capsize occurred. I am not convinced the auto-release cleat is strong enough for that and its on my list of things to test this summer. I suppose if it did end up in the trunk, you might be able to use the downhaul to pull it out.

[Mike Vacanti]

Jonathan,

 

You may already know this but the Ronstan auto-release cleat has an adjustment screw that can increase or decrease the amount of force needed to release the cleat. If you are seeing unwanted releases this could be something to look at. 

 

You may also know that the angle the line enters the cleat can very significantly affect the force require to trip the cleat.

[Jonathan M. Cohn]

Appreciate the info. I did know about the screw but decided to leave it how it was set until I could play with it in a more controlled situation. The previous owner and crew had more experience sailing with it in shallow waters than I did. I am hoping to get a chance for some capsize testing this year and I'll also try and experiment with bumping the cleated centerboard into the beach a bit to see what force it takes to release.

[Don Silsbe]

On 3/6/2025 at 3:15 PM, Jonathan M. Cohn said:

 

I think the idea for the centerboard downhaul was to keep the centerboard from falling back into the trunk if a capsize occurred.

 

What I did on my boat was insert a hefty block of wood at the top-aft end of the c/b trunk.  It is secured in place with four beefy screws.  If she were to turn turtle, the c/b slams into this stop.  Plus, I have a masthead float.  My current boat has the old uphaul/downhaul system.  If I ever change that, I’ll add the block.

[Jonathan M. Cohn]

Alan, did you get the oars out during the EC this year? Are they difficult to deploy when tucked away in the comings?

[Alan Stewart]

19 hours ago, Jonathan M. Cohn said:

Alan, did you get the oars out during the EC this year? Are they difficult to deploy when tucked away in the comings?

 

We did use but not a lot. We drop the sails in the marina once into CP1 so we used them to row to the dock as well as back out the entrance. We could have done that with a pair of canoe paddles probably. We also used them a bit on the way to gasparilla pass. Then next time was getting into Chokoloskee against the current and getting out Chokoloskee pass. That was the last time. Between we stowed them in the coamings. it's not too hard. you just throw the blade back and let it drag behind the boat and fish the handle into the hole, just don't let go! then slide it in. There was good talk about alternatives to oars at the finish though. A lot of the class 4 guys are so tired of dealing with oars. I think there is demand for something better. not sure if that's a pedal prop drive, hobie drive or what. I think a hobie mirage drive could be mounted to the transom with pedal station forward. That would allow it to fully kick up. I've seen a rowboat with a similar setup.