Gordy Hill Posted March 5, 2005 Posted March 5, 2005 The Everglades challenge started at 07:00 this morning. I slept in to 3:30 and drove to the start site. I took my 16 foot center console and went out to get some pictures after the start. They took off from Fort Desoto park at the mouth of Tampa Bay. Once they were beyond the wind shadow they picked up a following breeze of about 8 to 10 knots. There was an incredible mix of boats. Most were kayaks, kayaks with little itty bitty helper sails, kayaks with bigger sails, kayaks with hi-tech fully battened sails and a number of kayaks rigged as catamarans with twin hi-tech fully battened sails. There was a Norseboat ( I'm not sure of the spelling) A "G" Cat, a Seapearl and a few other sailboats. The Seapearl was being singlehanded and was having a hard time getting off the beach and down to the water. The kayaks that were being paddled mostly made for the passage inside the barrier islands. The sailers headed a few degrees west for the open gulf. The guy rowing a Sunfish (??!!) seemed to be heading for the open water and was right in the middle of the pack! We caught up with them about an hour after the start. We had to go launch my boat and come back around the island. Ok, we had to go around TWO islands and I was looking for them in the wrong part of the Gulf. Anyway..... when we left it appeared Graham and Fred were well ahead. Bear in mind the paddling kayaks were taking a different route. Gordy Quote
Tom Lathrop Posted March 6, 2005 Posted March 6, 2005 Just checked the Watertribe site and see that Gaham & Fred are in at the 1st check point at 7:54pm in 12hrs 54minutes after 67 miles. They are the only boat reported in so far at 9:30. That is, unless I'm reading it wrong. Why am I not surprised? Quote
Gordy Hill Posted March 7, 2005 Author Posted March 7, 2005 The start [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote
Richard Whitney CS#70 Posted March 7, 2005 Posted March 7, 2005 I am following this on the Watertribe web site with much interest. I have read the descriptions of this race in the past. The Norseboat people use the fact that they won Category 4 last year on their web site. Graham - hope you are in a position to do the same thing on the CS 17 web site - you are off to a good start (hope by the time you read this the same held true). One way or another a good test for a great design. Nice sun rise photos Gordy. Quote
Richard Whitney CS#70 Posted March 7, 2005 Posted March 7, 2005 Graham and Fred are 6 hrs. ahead of Robert and Scott in the Norseboat which won class four last year. If you want to follow the results go to: www.watertribe.com Graham - this is more exciting than the America's Cup. Quote
brian watkins Posted March 7, 2005 Posted March 7, 2005 I just checked the Watertribe site. Fred and Graham are kicking stern! If they keep going like this (knock on epoxy/ply), I think this is going to raise the profile of the Core Sound family a lot. A lot can happen in the real world of adventure of course, but even if it does, hats off to them for the first half of the race! Wow! Quote
Tom Lathrop Posted March 7, 2005 Posted March 7, 2005 They should be in Flamingo any minute now and possibly get to Key Largo by midnight if there is wind in the right direstion. An all-round great boat sailed by two guys who know how to do this kind of thing. Norseboat Shnorseboat! Quote
Gordy Hill Posted March 7, 2005 Author Posted March 7, 2005 I'm at work and surrounded with up-to -the minute weather info. The wind seems to be SE to SSE 6 to 11 knots. It's hard to tell because there's no reporting at Flamingo and the seabreeze will change things a bit. They may have to tack a bit getting to Flamingo, but their course to Key Largo is about 90 degrees. The wind is forcasted to swing more to the south and increase to 15 to 20 knots overnight. Tomorrow, the other guys will be sailing in rain...... Quote
Designer Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Graham and Fred are on course to set a course record...It's unfortunate the site has been so bad for updating the positions. I've only been getting them after the fact from Fed's wife Nikki and they aren't being posted until 12 hours or more after that! AAnd that area seems to be a dead cell phone zone. The ladies are now at Largo - so they will be there when the guys get in - I guess sometime tonight - They may have already crossed the finish line - if they got into Flamingo around 4:00 this afternoon as rumored. I'm chasing down information and will post it as soon as, and if and whn I know something which is not yet posted on the water tribe site. Carla (I've been posting on the race site as "Kanga" - the best half of a roo!) :roll: Quote
CURTYD Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 First post after registering this weekend. It looks like the first finisher is in ahead of the CS17, they must have sailed all night to stay on the cusp of this front coming in from the west. I made this route several years ago, mid-80's in my J-24 solo. Beautiful anchorage in the Shark River Inlet, great sail out of Everglades City channel until rounding the beacon and headed north. Motored most of Florida Bay, on a flat calm day. Worst storm I ever had was coming up from Key West to Naples about 10 years ago in the summer, a powerful microcell blew me offshore NW and 7 miles closer to Naples under bare poles over about 3 hours, according to GPS. Hopefully the sailors will all come in soon, the paddlers are going to get hit by some strong winds SOON probably. Quote
CURTYD Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Looking at the results log on the finisher, it is a sure bet they went straight thru from Chokoloskee to Flamingo and then straight across Fla. Bay to Key Largo. They covered 100 miles in 24 hours or so, and then straight on to finish, no stopping there for a snooze on land... 8) Quote
Gordy Hill Posted March 8, 2005 Author Posted March 8, 2005 Just talked to Graham. The phone was breaking up, but my best understanding is they chose to sit out a storm last night. It seems the other guys has a chart/GPS and Graham reconed it nearly impossible to navigate florida bay at night without one. Quote
CURTYD Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 300 plus miles in 3 days or so on small open boats is a damn tough assignment. There are some tough hombres out there in kayaks and canoes, as well. One fellow is only a half day or so behind these two sailboats, and he is paddling the whole way. Down there I used the MIMIC navigation system, all the boats are only going the same direction, up or down the intracoastal, so just mimic their tracks. A commercial fisherman can throw you off though because he's just headed to some marked fishing hole. I think the winner rested at first every nite going down and then just stayed on the water until finished at the end. Lot's of shallow water in Florida Bay but the intracoastal poles are out there all the way across. It's damn windy in Orlando right now and it's got to be driving up the waves from the Gulf, it's all coming from the west. I hope they took action pics for this armchair adventurer to see later. I think I am going to need to check out this water tribe group, I'll need to get a boat under me again, building may be the only answer. Damn, I wish I had actually taken that shop class in junior high, instead of foreign language and college prep. :!: Quote
JeffM Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Looks like the early bird catches the worm. The norseboat crew got going at 3am and beat Graham by about 6 hours. This sure was fun! -- at least from a distance! Quote
CURTYD Posted March 8, 2005 Posted March 8, 2005 Look's like this BBS's home team got in a little before 4PM, Good Run! Quote
Richard Whitney CS#70 Posted March 9, 2005 Posted March 9, 2005 Well done Graham and Fred. In a race like this (and in all sailing situations) better to play it safe if there is any issues of safety or clear route finding. A great time, a great challenge to test out the CS 17. I look forward to reading an account at some stage. Again - well done! Quote
brian watkins Posted March 9, 2005 Posted March 9, 2005 Graham and Fred, congratulations on a great race! Quote
Howard Posted March 9, 2005 Posted March 9, 2005 Looks to me like the time lost was between the 2nd and 3rd checkpoint. Graham and Fred put up better times on all other legs. A very good show for boat and crew! For those of you with access to Small Craft Advisor, there was a good story about this race in Issue 28 (Jul/Aug 2004) written by one of last year's Class 3 winners (Doug Cameron, aka "Ridgerunner") on what it is like to compete in this race. With the clock running 24/7 it becomes an endurance test of boat and crew, and if you want to win you may have to take chances you would never do otherwise. This is NOT for the faint of heart. :!: What is really impressive are the single handers who paddle the whole way and finish about the same time as the two man sailboats do. Quote
Kidd Posted March 9, 2005 Posted March 9, 2005 Congratulations Graham and Fred! A grand adventure indeed. This event has kept us all on pins and needles between checkpoint postings. As exciting as it has been for us watching on the web, I know the real excitement was in south Florida. I too can't wait to read about your adventure sometime in the futrue. Quote
Tom Lathrop Posted March 9, 2005 Posted March 9, 2005 Just talked to Carla. Graham & Fred got to the channel entrance to Flamingo in the storm well ahead of the Norseboat. Lacking any local knowedge and with waves alternately covering pipe channel markers in the winding channel, they elected to anchor and wait it out. The Guys on the Norseboat had a GPS chartplotter so they could tell just where they were in the long winding channel without having to refer to a paper chart that was likely wet and blowing around in the dark. On reaching the entrance, both sails were double reefed and the boat was still making over 6 knots. Not exactly the way you would like to enter a strange and poorly marked channel in the dark. Knowing these two, I'd say it must have been foolhardy to carry on in these circumstances and risk loosing the boat and/or their future. I'm sure we will get the whole story when they get back home. This was a real survival kind of race and the winners deserve their victory celebration for being able to carry on to the finish without stopping. Congratulations to Graham and Fred for their fine sailing and showing the potential of the Core Sound 17. Quote
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