We bought a pair of AeroBOTE Rover inflatable SUP/MicroSkiffs so that we could bring boats along when we are towing our travel trailer. We tried one out on Shell Creek as soon as we got them home.

Starr on BOTE

My dog Starr never wants to be left behind so got right aboard.

New BOTE

One of the BOTE boards had been inflated just for pictures but never taken outside. The other was new in the plastic bags. Both are 2021 model year boats. They have standard HIN numbers that indicate one was manufactured in December of 2020 and one in March of 2021, so it's nice to know these were made when everything was running smoothly in the world.

12 volt BOTE inflator

The guy who sold these to us threw in a 12 volt inflation pump. The BOTE's come with manual pumps.

BOTE Motor Mount Sockets

If you're going to mount an outboard, these sockets must be inserted into the hull during inflation.

The U shaped metal clip locks the socket into the hull and a black plastic retaining pin holds it in place.

BOTE Motor Mount

The outboard motor mount inserts into the plastic sockets and there are two straps that go through D-rings on the cockpit sole to make sure it stays in place.

Also shown are the two fins that insert in slots in the bottom of the hull. It's hard to paddle straight without these but they are not needed if using an outboard. There's also a strap up forward that I guess could be useful for stability but we're getting hard grab racks.

Epropulsion BOTE

We have an Epropulsion Spirit electric outboard motor for our Picnic Cat sailboat and it works great on the BOTE. We want to try towing one BOTE with the other but ran into a little problem with that plan.

BOTE Seam Leak

Disaster! I blew up the second BOTE! I had left them both mostly inflated and mostly in the shade but as the afternoon wore on, this BOTE was in too much sun and the seam exploded due to overpressure. The other one was in more shade and was fine. I began researching how to repair inflatable SUP seams. I'm not the first to explode a seam, it seems...

Seam Repair Stuff

If you're reading this because you've blown up an inflatable boat seam, you're going to need scissors to trim fabric strands, acetone and 220 sandpaper to prep the surfaces, wood strips covered in wax paper, and clamps.

Seam Clamped Open

The BOTE repair video recommends using HH-66 glue but I could not find it locally so went with POLYMARINE PVC Inflatable Boat Adhesive sold at West Marine. They make a two-part version of this cement but I wasn't sure how to accurately mix it at 25:1 so went with the one part kind.

It's a contact cement so you apply a layer and then let it sit for 20 minutes before applying a second layer. Not wanting to hold it open that long, I figured out a way to use one of my clamps.

BOTE Seam Clamped

After the second layer of cement was tacky, I pressed the two parts together by hand then used wax paper-covered wood strips to create even clamping pressure along the seam.

Seam Side View

None of the online videos of SUP seam repairs seemed to cover a complex situation like this one, with corners and a carry strap and a lower hull section and connecting fabric. They all seemed to have pretty straight and simple seam blowouts. This one wasn't as easy to clamp and I was wondering if it would work when I looked at it from the side.

BOTE Seam Wrinkle

The resulting wrinkle in the fabric made a pop when it let go as I inflated the hull to test the repair.

BOTE Seam Repaired

I let it stretch out for a while at 5 psi before inflating it to the minimum operating pressure of 10 psi. The white area shows that I did not get the alignment quite right, but I got it wrong in a way that provides a little extra slack in the fabric around my repair. I guess that's better than the repair being under extra tension. It held pressure over night.

BOTE Deck Protection

One of the repair videos that I watched had a comment from a guy wishing to buy new foam deck padding for his BOTE because his dog was tearing it up. I decided to put some Dri Dek panels down to protect the BOTE deck from Starr's claws.

BOTE Chair

I attached the cut off corners to the aft end to provide a little more space when I bring along my folding chair.

BOTES on Trailer

I unloaded my Hobie Tandem Island from its trailer and with a pool noodle here and a bit more padding there, it's a double stacked BOTE trailer. Good enough to get them down to the creek for a test run this morning.

BOTE Fins Wrong

I did not mention it, but you can see in some of the photos above that the strap across the transoms on the BOTE I repaired is upside down. Still works fine and quality control slip ups happen. I wasn't going to mention it but this morning I went to mount the fins in my boat to paddle it and found that one of the fin mounts was installed on the boat backwards by the factory. Really, BOTE?

BOTE Grab Rac

We bought BOTE Grab Rac bars for both boats but only one came in time for the test ride today. It can be moved to an aft mounting position easily to get out of the way of paddling but it has to be mounted forward when using the motor.

Tow BOTE

The big test of the day was how it works to tow one BOTE using the Epropulsion motor on the other BOTE. It works great! I didn't measure our speed but set at 100 watts both boats went upwind nicely. At 400 watts they seemed to go a bit faster with a great deal more noise.

Bubbling BOTE

UPDATE: My seam repair held 10 psi over night and worked through our test but then my boat began slowly losing pressure. I kept wetting the seam repair with soapy water, listening, and looking and could not see where my repair failed. But what are the odds of ANOTHER leak just happening to appear right when I'm testing my repair? Very low. I decided to dip my repair in my pond to look for leaks and this picture shows the result. The PORT side of the boat bubbling vigorously! I repaired the STARBOARD transom. My repair didn't bubble a bit.

This is especially puzzling since I'm certain the boat had only been under a maximum of 10 PSI during the entire time I was testing my repair, so overpressure can not have caused this new problem.

Closed Seam Leaks

I flipped the boat over and found that there are actually four little leaks. I circled the two that have bubbles in the pic and made arrows to where the other two are. I'm not sure how to fix this but have emailed BOTE to ask. They did manage to have a robot and a human respond to me over July 4th weekend, so that's more customer service than I really expected on a holiday.

Seam Patch Cut

UPDATED UPDATE: I decided to try putting a patch over the four tiny leaks that I found in the seam of my BOTE. I later learned from a BOTE factory rep that it would have been a good idea to apply PVC Stitch brand liquid glue first. Another thought that occurred to me too late was to set the air pump to deflate and have it try to suck glue into the holes. If I could turn back time...

Seam Patch Clamped

But you can't turn back time once you've done this. Or maybe you can? I've emailed to ask about whether patches can be removed.

Seam Patch Inflated

As for whether this patch needs to be removed, I haven't decided. It leaks out both ends and I can hear it and see it with soap bubbles. On the other hand, it now seems to lose about 1 PSI per hour. The chances of my wanting to be out on this thing for longer than four hours are remote. I know it holds 14 PSI and if it leaks down to 10 by the time I'm done for the day, do I really care? I'm not at all sure I do.

BOTE Foam Deck Bubbles

I may not run out of things to pester BOTE about, starting with the foam deck on my boat. I emailed to ask about those bubbles.

Upon closer inspection of both, my wife's boat shows that the factory could get one of these right. It doesn't have the flaws mine does. The backward fin is the most glaring but there are other things. The upper and lower air chambers aren't aligned. The sides aren't quite straight and my boat is wider than hers. Various seams are not quite straight. Making one of these takes skills. Whoever made my wife's boat had them, whoever made mine didn't, and quality control missed the BOTE.

All that said, I'm still very happy with these boats, mostly because my wife is happy with hers and because we paid about what hers is worth for both of them. If we were retail customers who bought 2024 boats from a dealer and one was like mine, I'd want them to take it back. That's not our situation. We bought these from a guy on Facebook who said he bought the inventory of a closed dealership. I can deal with the boat I've got, and now I know more about fixing them if necessary.

Some video of the repair:

And the Tow BOTE Test:

The post BOTE Aero Rover Inflatable SUP MicroSkiffs! first appeared on Tropical Boating.

I sailed from Ponce Park and went South along the flats for a mile or so, sailed up onto the flats to see if it was deep enough. It wasn't and I headed back north. Continued past the park and headed out to Marker 2 in the harbor. It was wet and wild outside the protection of Punta Gorda and I was soaked and smiling. Turned back South from Marker 2 and noticed that my mast was working its way up off the pin in the bottom of the hull that holds it. Not good! I furled the sail and wiggled the mast back down into place and engaged the lock. I was pretty sure I had done that at the boat ramp. I was headed back to the park to go home when I saw a sailboat heeled over so far that it could only be Tom Scott. He had his camera handy and probably snapped the picture at right about the time I saw him.

I headed downwind toward Whimsy and surfed down some of the bigger waves. Surfing the harbor chop is too much fun!

When an Adventure Island surfs to the bottom of a wave, it tends to dive into the next wave, only rising after the foward third of the boat is under water. In the picture at right, Tom almost caught this moment.

Tom got a nice pic as I approached Whimsy and waved. I quickly furled the sail a bit so I could chase him upwind. He can point higher but I was keeping up pretty well when I noticed that my mast was once again trying to work its way free. I decided to head back to the park. We had gone far enough upwind that this meant turning back down so I wanted to let the whole sail out but didn't dare doing that with the mast teetering on the edge of the pin. The boat was underpowered on that point of sail and when Tom turned Whimsy down to match my course he went steamrolling right on by pretty quickly.

I had other things on the agenda so I bade him farewell and sailed on up to the park. When I got there, the wind was blowing in the mid-20's straight out the channel and the tide was going out fast and there were fishermen on the pier so tacking on into the boat ramp was not an option. I furled the sail and got a good workout using the Mirage Drive to go the last couple of hundred yards.

Although I didn't have my camera handy yesterday, I do have plenty of pics of Whimsy so here's one of my favorites showing Whimsy overtaking the Horizon Cat Good Juju, owned by our friends Charlie and Isy.

The post Adventure Island Blasting Through Charlotte Harbor Chop first appeared on Tropical Boating.

I paddle my Klepper more often than I sail it because adding the sailing stuff takes time and the leeboard brace takes up cockpit space. It is fun to sail in the right conditions so when I saw a good weather forecast coming up I decided it was time to get it salty. Mission Accomplished by about 8 am! I started assembling the boat around 7:30 on the cool concrete in the shade of the Boatport and by the time it was up on the car it had a pretty fair amount of my sweat all over the boat. This is why anyone who can afford to leave Florida in August does so.

It was almost 9:30 before I got the pets fed, got to the park, assembled the sailing kit, and parked the van. This is why my plastic kayaks get a lot more use: the work to play ratio on this boat is just horrible. Part of the price of having a sailboat that can fit in the back seat of any car or be checked as luggage on an airliner.

The kayak hull is easily driven so the "right conditions" for me means around 8 knots of wind. That's strong enough to really feel the sails through the sheets in your hands, especially if you forget to bring gloves, but light enough that any gusts probably won't mean a capsize.

Because "probably" not capsizing includes a chance of going swimming, I'm really not interested in sailing this boat if the water temperature is below 80. The upside of breaking a serious sweat by doing light work in the shade at dawn is that August in Florida means the water is warm. I can wind up taking an accidental swim and still call it fun.

Conditions were great for taking a couple of nice reaches out Alligator Bay. Wind was mostly from the North but shifted a bit east as I was heading toward Grassy Point in this picture. With a high tide I could sail anywhere in the bay without worrying about the shallow parts.

I got near enough to the eastern shore that the land was starting to interfere with the wind so headed back west and had a nice sail out into northern Charlotte Harbor.

Ahh that's better! I spotted a fleet of a dozen or more kayaks paddling out Alligator Bay as I sailed across the mouth of it.

I was wondering if the kayak fleet would be able to keep up as I sailed along the beach on the northern edge of Charlotte Harbor. They rounded the corner and immediately stopped and began picking up trash, so I didn't learn the answer but good for them!

The wind coming around the point turned from a reach to a run so I got in a little wing on wing sailing going along the beach.

I was starting to get uncomfortable and went ashore to stretch and relax in the shade a bit before heading back home. The trip home took a while because the wind went light and from the north, which was not much help in sailing up Alligator Bay. The falling tide made it worse and I spent a fair amount of time paddling and paddle-sailing. The mainsheet and leeboards get in the way of effective paddling so it was a bit of a struggle to make any progress against wind and tide.

Because the work to play ratio on this boat is so abysmal, I try to take it out at least twice each time I assemble it. I took a morning paddle up Myrtle Creek to have a bit more fun before taking the boat apart and putting it back in the air conditioning.

Passing under the Loop road bridge, I saw this example of the nearly lost art of Bridge Bonsai.

There was almost no wind and the trees broke up what little there was, resulting in a nice, glassy surface for tree reflections.

And reflections of thunderstorms out in the Gulf that were headed my way.

Tropical storms and erosion have taken out several of the larger oak trees along the shore. I used to see wild orchids in those trees but stopped under each one and did not spot any.

There are some giant cypress trees along the way. My guess is that these were just small enough to ignore when 20th century loggers cut down most of the big ones in the state for lumber.

I like Myrtle Creek for summer paddles because it gets narrow and has large trees so there's almost always some shade to be found.

I took this map screenshot shortly before heading home. I made it about 2/3 of the way from the Loop Rd bridge to the reservoirs. The picture doesn't show it, but it is possible to paddle into the reservoir at most tides. There are lots of trees in the way, the remains of a small concrete dam, and irritable neighbors who will call the cops if they spot you, but it's possible.

The oaks and cabbage palms along the shore eventually fall in the water when erosion undermines the banks. Cypress trees are far less vulnerable but something toppled this one.

My favorite overhanging oak tree. It's huge and provides a nice, shady rest spot no matter where the sun is. I have never spotted an orchid in it. I hope it stands a long time before falling in the creek.

The post Klepper Foldable Kayak Sailing Charlotte Harbor first appeared on Tropical Boating.

There used to be more beach at Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda, but there’s still barely enough to launch my Blue Canoe. I had planned on paddling down the shore and returning via the mangrove tunnels but a headwind changed my mind and I reversed the route.

Mangrove Tunnel Entrance

Someone put orange straps in the trees in a few places to help find the entrances and turns along the way.

As my friend Gene once observed during a scientific lecture on the subject, “Mangroves are neat trees!”
Ok so it was not the most profound observation but it’s true.

I like climbing them, fishing around them and paddling in the shade of them.

Osprey Eating Breakfast

On the way back out to the harbor I was scolded by an Osprey for interrupting breakfast.

It was getting near 9:00 as I paddled along the shore back to the park. Had to slip right alongside the trees to stay in the shade.

Boat in Mangroves

The post Kayaking Mangrove Tunnels in Punta Gorda first appeared on Tropical Boating.

The post Dawn Patrol first appeared on Tropical Boating.

At 7:00 am on March 2, 2013, conch horns and bagpipes sounded and race organizers gave the signal for participants in the Everglades Challenge and Ultra Marathon to launch their boats and start down the course.

Getting under way is easier for some racers than others. In the foreground, a kayaker is able to pick up his loaded sit-on-top and carry it down the beach to avoid scratching the hull. That's packing light, considering all the gear they are required to carry! In the background, a racer in a Triak was quickest to get under way and is paddling across the sand bar before most boats were even in the water. Getting a quick start in this race is not as important as it is in most boat races. A good finishing time depends more on the ability to keep moving than anything else.

Northeaster Dory and Pram

At left, Watertriber LeatherLungs shoves his Northeaster Dory designed by Chesapeake Light Craft down the beach. He was one of only two sailboat racers to finish last year's particularly tough Everglades Challenge, fighting fierce headwinds virtually the whole way. The sailors had a much easier time of it this year, with strong tailwinds most of the time.

In the background, a sailor is getting underway in one of two prams to enter this year.

Multihull Sailboats, Kayaks and Canoes

Soon the water off the Fort Desoto Park beach was starting to fill with kayaks, expedition canoes and sailboats. In the foreground is the homebuilt trimaran Finger Mullet. In the background are Hobie and Mystere catamarans sailing out among the fleet of kayaks, along with a Kroger canoe and a Hobie Tandem Adventure Island.

Trimarans and Core Sound 17

A beautiful homebuilt trimaran with red hull gets going, keeping the rudder up to cross the sandbar just off the beach. In the background, tandem paddlers with a V-shaped downwind sail rigged on the bow are headed out along with the trimaran referenced in Part 1 of this series as having "skyscraper akas." Looking at how low the amas sit in the water, I can better see the need for the high akas and trampolines! At right in the background is the very sharp looking Core Sound 17, which went on to beat the old course record in the sailboat class and take second place overall in the race.

Hare On Fire and Miss Marie

Watertribers Coastie and ClamCounter push their heavily loaded Hobie Getaway Miss Marie with pink flamingo bowsprit ornament off the beach, while in the background MicroTom and DonKeyHoTee prepare to sail off in the modified Lightning Hare On Fire.

Jarhead Launches Moon Shadow

Perennial competitor Jarhead uses inflatable rollers to launch his gorgeous Sea Pearl 21 named Moon Shadow. He set a new course record for single male sailors in the class 4 (sailboat) division, finishing in just under three days.

CaptShallowwater Prying Bob Downhill

Most of the racers find a way to roll or slide their boats into the water from above the high tide line. Watertribe rules say that you must carry with you any equipment used to launch the boat. That may be one reason I have never seen a sailboat with a fixed keel in the race, until this year. CaptShallowwater was laboriously prying his heavily modified O'Day Javelin named Bob down the beach sideways. He got one of the biggest rounds of applause from the assembled crowd on the beach when he finally got her (if we call a boat named Bob "her") floating.

In the background, a Sea Pearl tri sailor hoists the mainsail.

Wooden Kayak Rigged and Loaded

This beautiful wooden kayak was fascinating to me. It was heavily loaded, including two fishing rods, and rigged with a miniature sloop rig and amas set far forward. Did he really intend to fish during the race? I guess so. Some treat it as more of a nature cruise than a race and fresh fish are delicious and nutritious. Lures and tackle don't weigh all that much compared to meat and they will not spoil. I just wonder where he would put a fish between catching it and cleaning it.

Hobie Adventure Island Spinnaker

Walking down toward the Hobie Adventure Island section of beach, I saw PenguinMan heading out on his Adventure Island rigged with a red asymmetric spinnaker. He is a design engineer for Hobie Cat and they have used the Everglades Challenge as way to test and promote products in development, so this sail caused some speculation on the Hobie Adventure Island forums about whether Adventure Islands will be offered with optional spinnakers in the future.

DogsLife Launched

I ran into DogsLife, who was tidying up his boat on the beach, and stopped for a moment to tell him I'm an admirer of his DogsLife Adventures blog and the accompanying pictures and videos he produces. He thanked me and then politely pointed out that he was actually trying to launch his boat and I was standing right in front of it! Oops!

That flagpole holding the DogsLife flag also has a GoPro camera mounted on top and the wide angle lens provides a great view of the action.

Welsford Walkabout Launched

Looking on as Watertribers Lugnut and Chuck the Duck posed for a departure photo, I got this picture of them posing next to the Welsford Walkabout. I just missed getting Lugnut's heroic (but not too graceful) dive into the boat on video as they shoved off, but did get some crowd reaction to it in the video below.

Phoenix III Beach Cruiser

I checked the Watertribe roster and logbook sites and learned that this little boat, which I judged the prettiest boat on the beach in the previous section, is a 15' Phoenix III Beach Cruiser designed by Ross Lillistone. It was sailed by Watertribers Phoenix 1 and Phoenix 2, who are brothers.

Rigging Bob's Ama

With most of the boats gone, a small crowd had assembled to watch CaptShallowwater rig his ama and leeboard onto the good ship Bob. He did not ever seem to be in much of a hurry, just methodically assembled his strange little boat. This was my favorite boat of all this year because everything about it is so strange. It is also the perfect illustration of what makes the Everglades Challenge (and Ultra Marathon, in which CaptShallowwater was competing) so interesting to me. Where else can you go to see a craft like this one?

Bob Sailing Away

The extra wishbone boom hanging against the mast suggested there must be some kind of jib, so I waited around to see if he would deploy it. With a nice tailwind, he was pretty far away before he got his mizzen lateen rig up and then the jib, so the picture is a bit fuzzy. I was hoping I would see his boat sailing at closer range and my hopes were fulfilled the next day near checkpoint one, which is the end of the Ultra Marathon. He made it just before the deadline and still did not appear to be in any hurry. More on Bob and CaptShallowwater later...

E Scow

Almost all the boats had left the beach when I decided it was time for me to depart for Checkpoint 1 down at Cape Haze Marina. I really wanted to see this e-scow get under way, but wanted to allow time to have breakfast someplace along the road and still get out in the ICW before Sew Sew arrived in his Sizzor trimaran. With a strong wind at his back, I knew it would not take all that long and I was not sure how long it would take me to get down there and out on the water so I left. I heard that they withdrew from the race for the second year in a row. I hope they keep at it. It's a fast boat and could turn in an impressive performance if it manages to complete a race.

Some video of the boats departing the Fort Desoto Park Beach in the 2013 Watertribe Everglades Challenge and Florida Ultra Marathon:

Sizzor Arriving at Checkpoint 1

I got to Checkpoint 1 at Cape Haze Marina in plenty of time and found the staff there friendly and accomodating. With the help of Watertriber Floatsome, I got my Adventure Island in the water and set out to sail up the Intracoastal Waterway until I found some southbound racers. I made it up to Stump Pass without seeing anyone except a couple of passing powerboats and a small group of manatees. My original plan had been to hang around just inside the pass, but the waves rolling down Lemon Bay were larger than I expected and I was getting wet and cold. Also, there is an island just inside the pass and shallow draft boats might be able to make it around the south side of it and elude my efforts to photograph them. I believe Watertribers Lugan and Heathen did take that route.

I headed back down the ICW and decided to just sail around in the channel near the checkpoint, figuring that the racers would not be able to avoid me. Before too long, I saw the green sails of Sew Sew's Sizzor trimaran approaching and went over to meet him. He sounded surprised when I told him that the Watertribe crew at the checkpoint had not been seeing him on the SPOT tracking system and we had all been wondering just when he would arrive.

Sizzor Departing Checkpoint 1

I sailed into a small waterway in Knight Island just across the channel from Cape Haze Marina to dry off, warm up, and check the Watertribe Tracking App on my iPhone to see when the next arrivals were due. I could not really read the tracking map well in the bright sunlight and it seemed to be having some issues refreshing the data, so I decided to head over into the marina. Looking up the channel as I crossed, I saw no more boats approaching, so I figured there was at least time to go in and have a look at the race managers' computers to check on when the next racers would show up. As I approached the marina floating dock, Sew Sew was departing and I got to see how he paddles Sizzor when necessary. He has a couple of stirrups up there attached to his rudder for foot steering and was moving briskly after just a couple of paddle strokes.

Lugan and Heathen Flats Jumping

After a short break at the marina, I headed back out to watch for the approach of the next boats in the race. As mentioned above, Lugan and Heathen took a shortcut at Stump Pass in their classic Hobie 16, but with the shallow sand bars around the marina channel, I figured they would have to sail down the Intracoastal and pass close by me. I figured wrong. They headed across the flats and I did not want to bend my Mirage Drive or break my daggerboard trying to intercept them, which would not have been possible anyway at the speed they were traveling.

Hobie 16 In Channel

They headed out the marina channel into the ICW to drop their mainsail, allowing me to catch them there. They asked if anyone else had arrived.

"Just Sew Sew. He left a little while ago." I said.

"We expected that. No one else?"

"Nope, you are the second ones in!"

They whooped and gave each other a high five then headed in the channel to check in. I stayed out to wait for the next boat, which was not too far behind.

Hobie 18 Arriving at Checkpoint 1

Soon I saw the modified Hobie 18 sailed solo by JustAnotherSailor coming down from Stump Pass. Again I tried to get close to take some pictures, but again I was unable to do so because he took the same route across the flats that the Hobie 16 had taken. I put some new scratches in my daggerboard trying to get close but thought better of it and headed back into the channel. I only got a picture from a distance as he entered the marina channel under reefed mainsail.

Hobie 16 Leaving Checkpoint 1

I was starting to reach the limit of my daily tolerance for getting wet and cold, but was still having fun sailing around outside the marina and got the picture at left of Heathen and Lugan departing the checkpoint. I sailed up toward Stump Pass again, hoping to encounter some more Watertribe boats, but only succeeded in getting even wetter and more cold. I missed JustAnotherSailor's departure from the checkpoint and decided not to wait for the flurry of arrivals that would take place in the hour or so before sunset.

Izatarock's Mystere 4.3

Floatsome again helped me carry my boat and the Cape Haze Marina people were nice about letting me leave my trailer with two Adventure Islands in the yard outside their kayak and SUP rental shack. I left a couple of Mirage Drive repair kits in my wife's boat where they would stay dry and told Floatsome that if it would not violate the Watertribe rules against outside assistance, any Hobie racers were welcome to grab necessary parts for emergency repairs as long as they agreed to replace them after the race. Despite being dry, he seemed to be almost as cold as I was and I could not resist mentioning that I would soon be home by a fire and drinking hot chocolate. He was too nice a guy to slap me!

As I was leaving, Watertriber izatarock showed up in his Mystere 4.3 beach catamaran. The multihull sailboats were off to an early lead, but it is a long race. Izatarock wound up taking third place, behind the Core Sound 20 and Core Sound 17 cat-ketch monohull sailboats.

Fireside Speck Tater

Later that evening, I built a fire in the fireplace, made some hot chocolate and sat by the fire to warm my bones. I texted the picture at left to Watertriber Floatsome. The overnight low here that night was in the low 30s and racers and checkpoint crew were freezing their buns off. The whole thing made me think that maybe the first week in April would be a better time for this event. Surprisingly, Floatsome was still willing to talk to me the next day!

Kayaks At Cape Haze Marina

I arrived at Cape Haze Marina a bit late the following morning, having forgotten to disconnect my camera from the computer after downloading images. It was on all night and my only battery was stone dead. When I made it to the marina at about 7:30 in the morning, there were kayaks everywhere in the yard, sailboats tied at the docks, tents scattered around, and a bunch of lawn chairs gathered around a fire.I was surprised there were not more people around that fire, but the ones who were up and about were thinking more of getting back to the race than staying warm.

Phoenix Arrival At Checkpoint 1

Before I asked Floatsome to once again help me with my boat, I headed over to use the marina rest room and got this picture of Phoenix 1 and Phoenix 2 arriving at the rather crowded dock area. I was bundled up in multiple layers with my Frogg Toggs on top, mittens, wool socks, the works, but the thought of them handling wet sheet lines at dawn made my hands cold.

Hare On Fire and Sundance at CP1

I met MicroTom and DonKeyHoTee briefly on the sea wall. They had had a rudder failure the previous day and were discussing doing fiberglass repairs at the marina or continuing on with the partially broken rudder and picking up a replacement from their shore crew further down the course. They had a lot of things to ponder.

The morning was cold, but the morning light is always nice for photographs so I got Floatsome to help me launch my Adventure Island and headed out. The picture at right shows MicroTom and DonKeyHoTee still deciding what to do next with Hare On Fire and wildblue on Sundance in the next slip preparing to get moving again.

Leatherlungs Departs Checkpoint 1

There were arrivals and departures all morning in the Intracoastal Waterway outside Checkpoint 1. I was not out for long before Leatherlungs came out the channel in his Northeaster Dory. He was suiting up in his foul weather jacket as I snapped this picture. It was actually fairly calm and nice in the channel at that moment, but I expect he needed the reef in the sail and the jacket when he arrived in Charlotte Harbor a short time later.

Kayak Pack

I saw a group of kayaks accompanied by a lone Adventure Island coming south down the channel and sailed up to meet them. They looked like some cold and tired paddlers a bit over 24 hours into the race, but they were cheerful, especially after I told them a fire was waiting for them at the checkpoint just ahead.

Kayak Pack Shortcut

The strong north and northeast winds after a cold front cause unusually low tides in this part of the world. The kayak pack headed across the shallows and picked their way through exposed sand bars to take the most direct route. I could not follow in the Adventure Island with my daggerboard and rudder down for sailing but went around into the mouth of the channel to get the picture at left.

Yellow Adventure Island Pedaling Into CP1

Here is a shot of the yellow Adventure Island with yellow trampolines that was tagging along with the kayak pack above. It was nice sailing weather and I asked him whether something about his sail was broken since it was furled and he was just pedaling with the Mirage Drive. He explained that he was following the others because he was not quite sure how to approach the checkpoint. I recommended against following them across the shallows since he might bend a Mirage Drive mast, then sailed down into the channel both to demonstrate where it was and to get the above picture of the kayakers skirting the sand bars. This picture was taken as I headed back out the channel to wait for more boats coming and going.

Danito Kruger Sea Wind

The next boat to leave was Watertriber Danito in his Kruger Sea Wind. I wish more of them would put their Tribe names on their boats. It's hard for a Speck Tater like me to figure out who goes with which boat, particularly the production kayaks and canoes. Seeing a guy in a Kruger does not really narrow it down much in this race!

Guy In A Green Kayak

Here's an example of what I am talking about: some guy in a green kayak. I have no clue who it is, but would like to apologize. After I got my picture of Danito, I saw him coming out the channel and headed that way. He steered closer to shore. I accelerated. He steered even more toward shore, evidently trying to get out of my way. I sheeted in and started pedaling, going even faster, evidently (from his point of view) trying to get IN his way! When I got close enough, I yelled that I was not really trying to be annoying, just trying to get on the sunny side of his boat for a better picture. You can see in his wake that he then turned a bit to the right and slowed down to make it easier for me. It's a small thing and he seemed good natured about it, but one of my goals was to avoid making any racer react to my boat in any way and I would like to apologize to this guy, whoever he is, and offer him the original picture file.

Zero the Hero and Green Mountain Gal

In the background of the picture at right, you can see two sailboats coming out. One is a Vanguard Nomad being sailed by ZerotheHero and GreenMountainGal and I'm not sure about the other one. Zero has since appeared on the Hobie Adventure Island forum's Everglades Challenge 2013 thread. Apparently, they were impressed by the performance of the Adventure Islands and are considering buying a tandem Island. I was impressed by Zero's report that they managed to stay dry most of the time, something that is not possible in an Adventure Island!

Red Kruger Sea Wind

Two more Kruger canoes came out next. The one at right had a fairly conventional but tiny orange sail mounted on the bow. This looks like a sail with 1 square meter of area or less, making it a downwind assistance sail that is allowed in the paddling class under Watertribe rules.

Dances With Waves

At left is a more elaborate sailing rig on the same model of Kruger boat, this one with a helpful Watertribe name printed on it: DancesWithWaves. He has one of the V-shaped downwind sails on the bow, but also has a fairly large mainsail with inflatable amas and a leeboard. Though they are the same boat, these two are racing in different classes, with DancesWithWaves' boat in the sailing kayaks and canoes class.

Small Powered Barge

The previous afternoon, there was quite a bit of powerboat traffic in the Intracoastal Waterway. On this cold morning, there was almost none. A couple of determined fishermen and this little working barge were all I saw. The driver looked cold as he powered upwind. Most of the bracket structure holding that Honda outboard was submerged, making it look like the engine was just following the boat, not attached and pushing it.

Hare On Fire Departs CP1

MicroTom and DonKeyHoTee made the decision to continue on in Hare On Fire with their cracked rudder rather than spending time repairing it at Checkpoint 1. They eventually got a replacement rudder from their shore crew down at Sanibel Island, but unlike the custom rudder that cracked, it was a stock Lightning rudder that does not kick up for shallow water. I imagine that made things a bit more difficult down in the Ten Thousand Islands and especially when crossing Florida Bay, but they made it to the finish. A repair at checkpoint one would have taken all day at least, since they would have had to wait hours for the temperature to warm up enough to allow epoxy or polyester resin to cure, then wait for the curing to finish before using the rudder.

Santiago in QCC 700

At right is a shot of Watertriber Santiago, listed in the roster as competing in a QCC700 with FEKS sail rig. So that's what that is! It looks like a fast boat and was moving well. Oddly, the Everglades Challenge 2013 results page shows him as DNF (Did Not Finish) at all checkpoints. I know he at least made it to Checkpoint 1 and this picture shows him leaving at 9:45 in the morning, well before the noon deadline for that checkpoint.

Red Adventure Island and Yellow Kayak

There were few arrivals during the late morning hours, which surprised me a bit. I figured more competitors would camp along the way and arrive in the morning hours, but it seems that the ones who did camp got an early start and most arrived at Checkpoint 1 during the late afternoon or night. I saw that red Adventure Island at the marina dock when I arrived in the morning and the picture of him departing was taken just before 10 am. The yellow kayak coming in the channel was one of very few late morning arrivals.

Bob Coming Down the ICW

This was a moment I had been eagerly anticipating: CaptShallowWater in the profoundly strange little sailing vessel Bob coming down the Intracoastal Waterway toward me. As soon as I spotted the boat, I sailed upwind as fast as I could to meet him. He was competing in the Ultra Marathon, which finishes at Everglades Challenge Checkpoint 1, so he was almost done with his race. I was glad to have the opportunity to see his bizarre sailing rig at work and wanted to sail alongside and chat with him about it as he came down the channel.

Bob Sailing Closeup

When I approached CaptShallowWater, I commented to him that he must be an admirer of Phil Bolger, who is noted for many unusual designs. I'm an admirer and meant it as a compliment, but CaptShallowWater seemed a bit put off by my comment and said that he had spent his life being compared to Bolger, but thought Bolger designed ugly boats. That's not true of all of his designs, some of which are quite attractive, but some are ugly and some are just plain strange. I'm most fascinated by the ugly and strange ones, which always have some practical reasons for being so ugly and strange. Having gotten off a bit on the wrong foot, I did not point out that Bob is not really the most attractive boat I have ever seen!

Some unusual features about Bob: the main and jib rotate around a fixed mast made from several sections of aluminum tubing, the top (tapered) section being an aluminum baseball bat. The mizzen sail is hung from a pair of wishbone masts with a support strut attached forward on the port side. The head of the mainsail has a heavy-looking headboard fixture that is attached to a short, fixed gaff boom section, and the clews of both main and jib are squared off with battens. I asked him whether the ama was really necessary, having seen that the boat has a fixed shoal keel when he was prying it off the beach at the start of the race. He said he was not really sure it was necessary, but liked the added stability when moving about on the boat in waves.

He told me he had sailed the boat up from Fort Myers for the race and intended to sail it home, so he actually completed the Ultra Marathon twice, plus the Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound sections of the Everglades Challenge. I did not have the heart to tell him that I thought Bob was every bit as strange and ugly as any Phil Bolger design, but really I mean that as high praise!

Epic 18x with Pacific Action Sail

This Epic kayak paddler did not have a Watertribe name on his boat, but browsing through the roster I found that LifeAquatic was listed as competing in an Epic 18x with PAS. A little further research led me to find that PAS stands for Pacific Action Sail. So that's what those V-shaped sails are! I'm not sure whether this is a picture of LifeAquatic, as there were others competing in Epic kayaks who may not have mentioned carrying a sail rig.

Rigged as shown, it looks like an effective downwind booster. A discussion on a kayaking forum mentioned tilting and angling the sail like a crab claw rig for reaching. I learn something new from every Everglades Challenge!

Sundance Leaving CP1

Following the Epic out from the marina was Sundance. There is a Watertribe racer going by that name, but he is listed as competing in a Class 1 kayak. In this case, the boat is the sweet little sloop named Sundance and I'm not sure who the sailor is. He seemed to be enjoying himself and was moving along pretty quickly with the double-reefed mainsail. With effective sailing ability and those nice, long oars, this looks to me like a great boat for the event. Wish I knew what it is. Update: That sailor is Watertriber wildblue, who chimed in on the forum and told me that Sundance is a Sirocco 15.

Phoenix Brothers Departing CP1

Shortly before 11 am, about three hours after their arrival, I saw brothers Phoenix 1 and 2 leaving the marina in their Phoenix Beach Cruiser, looking rejuvenated from their break. I told them they had what I thought was the best looking boat in the Challenge this year and one responded that the other had built it. This is how the mental illness that makes people want to build boats when there are always plenty of perfectly good ones already built and for sale spreads. Admiring their little boat, I could not help but think that it would be nice to build a boat and take it to events like this one. Darn boat builders have infected me with their disease! I guess there are worse fates in life!

Black Kayak

The last paddler I saw leaving was this sleek, black kayak, departing the marina just after 11 am. With no more arrivals and departures slowing to a trickle, I decided to call it a day.

Ultra Marathon Awards Presentation

As I pedaled back into the docks in the marina basin, I could see the awards presentation for the Ultra Marathon participants. Each racer got a souvenir paddle and a round of applause as the names were called out. I started thinking that perhaps I should take a cue from CaptShallowWater and just do the Ultra Marathon before attempting the full Everglades Challenge, adding on my own "Shell Creek Challenge" to the end of the race. It is about 30 nautical miles from Cape Haze Marina to our house on Shell Creek, depending on the route chosen. That's about as far as Captain ShallowWater had to sail home to Fort Myers, but part of it is in the winding, narrow sections of Shell Creek and there are two low fixed bridges. It might be fun, and would at least give me some idea of what it would be like to do the Everglades Challenge.

Back On The Dock

After folding my Adventure Island and pulling it up onto the dock, I went to find Floatsome and once again ask for his help in moving my boat back onto the trailer. He looked worn out from helping all the race participants and no doubt getting little or no sleep during the previous night, but helped me anyway.

The picture at left shows the custom kayak/trimaran Swamp Monkee beside my boat on the floating dock and the sailor in the little blue pram heading out to continue his Everglades Challenge adventure.

I could not work out going to Chokoloskee or Flamingo to continue watching the racers this time around, so that's all for this year!

The post Watertribe 2013 Everglades Challenge Start and Checkpoint One Pictures first appeared on Tropical Boating.

This is my third year going to the start of the Watertribe Everglades Challenge, and I decided this time around to see more than just the start of the race. The past two years, I have witnessed the start from the beach at Fort Desoto Park in Tampa Bay, then followed the race on the internet. This year I decided to go to a couple of the checkpoints to see the racers on the water. Plans changed along the way and I only got to see them at Checkpoint 1, which was Cape Haze Marina this year. These Watertribe people have infected my mind with whatever lunacy it is that makes them want to travel almost 300 miles down the Florida coast in small boats, and the Everglades Challenge remains on my bucket list.

I got to Fort Desoto just after 6 am and went to drop off some bananas from my yard that I had promised to Watertribers DonKeyHoTee and MicroTom. I missed them, but did get a neat picture of their modified Lightning sailboat, Hare on Fire. The flash from my camera lit up the name graphics, adding a little life to the shot. Unfortunately, I cut the banana stalk too late and they sailed very fast, so I doubt they got to enjoy them during the race.

With the sun and departure time coming up fast, my next step was to take a walk along the beach with my video camera. There was a truly amazing variety of boats in the field of 100+ adventure racers this year. This is why I am so fascinated by this race. So many solutions to the problem of how to race a small boat in these waters, and so many different ways to fail in the attempt. Many drop out every year, which is one reason it's called a challenge. This is my kind of boating and takes place in my back yard, but I am far from certain I will finish the race when I try it.

Enjoy this walk along the beach! Most of the boats are deserted because they were conducting the pre-race roll call as I walked.

Blue Core Sound 17

With strong tailwinds every day, it was a great year for the Core Sound cat-ketches. I believe this one came in second in the race, beating many fast boats. This is a nicely finished new Core Sound 17, but I have forgotten the Watertribe names of the competitors who sailed her. The tribe names people give themselves are funny, but I have a hard time remembering them and a harder time associating them with their real names and boats. I hope some helpful Watertribers will let me know who goes with which boat so I can update this page with the right info and maybe links to the racers' blogs. While all may not finish the race, no one escapes without a great tale to tell.

Trimaran with Skyscraper Tramps

One problem with fast multihull sailboats is that when the amas (hulls on the sides) submerge in a strong wind, the akas (beams that hold amas) tend to smack into the waves and anyone or anything on the trampolines gets doused with water. I guess the designer of this boat got tired of that effect and so went with skyscraper tramps!

Prettiest Boat on the Beach

This sailing rowboat, or maybe it's a rowing sailboat, was the best looking boat in the group to me this year. I go mostly to see the strange boats, but also to see works of nautical art, and there were some fine looking boats in the mix this year, but this one was the best. I complimented the crew on it as they left checkpoint one the next day and one of them said that the other one had built it. Again I can't recall the tribal names that go with the boat.

The Shipwreck Bob

Next to it was this odd-looking craft named Bob that looked at bit like a shipwreck, with gear strewn about the cockpit and a rig I just could not figure out, plus a strangely attached ama of dubious practical value. This is exactly the kind of thing I come to see! My favorite boat of the year! More on this one, and some pictures of that weird rig in use, in the next section of my report.

Sundance and Prindle 19

This little yellow sailboat named Sundance seems to me a fine boat for the Everglades Challenge. It can be rowed or sailed, and while it probably can't do either all that fast, it has some protection from the elements and fast tends to translate to wet in boats. With overnight lows in the 30s and 40s for this year's event, staying dry seemed like a very good idea.

Speaking of staying dry, many of the participants bring and wear drysuits, among other required safety gear for the event, and the sailor on that Prindle 19 beach cat in the background had the misfortune of using his safety gear for its intended purpose. He hit something in the Gulf off Venice, holed a hull, and the boat capsized and sank! He was wearing a drysuit and had a PLB and waterproof VHF radio, so the Coast Guard was able to find and rescue him quickly, but the boat was lost. I guess this is one of the last pictures of it.

Blue Pram

While it would be nice to take a boat like Sundance, and fast to take a beach cat, assuming it stayed in one piece, I just do not understand the people who choose boats like this little blue pram for this race. Maybe he was only competing in the Ultra Marathon, but to me, even Cape Haze seems like a pretty long way to go in such a little boat. I like small boats, but not that small for anything but a daysail.

Sleek Red Trimaran

The sailors competing on this sleek, red trimaran had a great idea with those seats. Comfort is important but hard to achieve if you're going to be in a small boat for a long time, and those look comfortable. This boat has another solution to the "wet stuff on the trampolines" problem mentioned above: keep everything in close to the vaka (center hull). The problem with that approach is that I don't see any way that the forward passenger could paddle the boat if needed. It was not a problem this year since they had favorable winds.

Sailbird Tri and Puffer

Speaking of boats that are hard to paddle, the Sailbird trimaran Big Red looks like quite a load to push off the beach or to paddle, but must be a nice boat to sail. The little blue Puffer next to it strikes me as a bit small for this race, but that means it should be relatively easy to launch and row. I liked the bow canvas and offset bowsprit. I guess it flies an asymmetric spinnaker from the bowsprit.

Hobie Getaway and Expedition Canoe

These two look like multihull sailboats to me, but ones with very different character. In the background is a 16' Hobie Getaway, a rotomolded plastic production boat designed for family fun. It competed last year with Watertribers Coastie and Clam Counter, but they did not finish the race due to a rigging failure. They made it to Key Largo this year.

The one in the foreground is actually not a multihull sailboat at all, at least according to Watertribe classification rules. It's an expedition canoe with inflatable amas and a Hobie Mirage Drive, and because the amas and akas can be taken apart and put in the boat, it competes in the class with sailing kayaks and canoes, not multihull sailboats. That one was built by the Watertribe's Chief and modified by a guy who goes by "kayakman7" on the Hobie Adventure Island forums.

Windrider and Welsford Walkabout

Next to the expedition canoe was a Windrider 17 trimaran, a boat that strikes me as an odd choice for the Everglades Challenge. It draws enough water to be limited by some of the shallows along the routes and the rudder does not retract. They are available with a bowsprit and screecher sail, but this one was not equipped with those, making it a bit underpowered and slow compared to some of the other multihull sailboats. It also looks like a boat that would be hard to paddle effectively. I would call the decision to use this boat in the Everglades Challenge ambitious to say the least.

In the foreground of the picture at left is a Welsford Walkabout built by Watertriber "Chuck the Duck," who runs Duckworks Magazine. While I enjoy seeing the efforts of the various amateur designers and builders in this race, I wish more professional boat designers would turn their attention to events like this one. John Welsford is one who did, and my favorite design of his, the SCAMP, did well in last year's race, right up until they got stuck on one of the infamous Florida Bay mud flats for several days when an unfavorable wind blew all the water out of the Bay. Anyway, because I admire Welsford's designs and Chuck the Duck's magazine, I was interested in how this boat would fare in the race. Crewing with Chuck was Watertriber "Lugnut" whose boat Oaracle was among my favorite the past couple of years. I was disappointed to learn that Oaracle would not be in the race because I thought it was among the most interesting boats. I don't think I would have chosen lavender and orange as a color scheme, but despite the paint job the Walkabout is a better looking boat than Oaracle. I still think I would enjoy racing aboard Oaracle more than on the Walkabout.

Core Sound 20 and Lugger

Next to the Welsford Walkabout was Dawn Patrol, a Core Sound 20 modified with a bowsprit and cuddy cabin. With the modifications, it is similar to one of my favorite boats, the Everglades Challenge 22 from the same designer, Graham Byrnes of B and B Yacht Designs. He held the monohull course record in the Everglades Challenge using his 22 footer until this year, when favorable winds allowed Watertribers DancesWithSandyBottom and SOS in Dawn Patrol to beat it by several hours.

In the foreground is a small lug-rigged sailboat sort of similar to the Welsford Walkabout above, but with only one mast. I read somewhere, probably on Facebook, what this boat is and who sails it, but can't remember. Whatever it is, it is both beautiful and practical, if a bit exposed for my taste. Did I mention the weather was really cold this year? Nowhere to hide on that little beauty.

Sea Pearl 21s

Next on the beach were a pair of Sea Pearl 21 monohulls. One was perennial participant Jarhead sailing solo in his boat Moon Shadow and I have forgotten who was on the other one. There was also a Sea Pearl trimaran in the race this year, and all finished with respectable times. I once worked at a boat show next to Mike from Marine Concepts, makers of the Sea Pearl, and talked to him at length about the boats during lulls in customer traffic. Nice guy who makes really neat boats!

Finger Mullet Bow

Running a close second behind Bob on my favorite boats list this year was this trimaran called Finger Mullet, sailed by Watertriber DancesWithMullet. He competed in the 2011 Everglades Challenge in a small Blue Jay sailboat named Mullet and must have decided these multihull sailors were onto something. He launched Mullet by spinning her down the beach, a technique that did not look particularly graceful, but did work. He gets extra points this year for the creative use of a blue polytarp "runway" lashed to the bow to be self-deploying as the boat skids down the beach. It seemed to work well.

Finger Mullet sports another solution to the aka and trampoline submersion problem with her built up ama pods to hold the akas and trampolines higher above the water. The hard dodger built around the cockpit looks like it would provide nice protection from rain coming from any direction other than astern. I'm not sure what to make of the hull shape. It looks like a sharpie hull riding on a torpedo or something. A truly weird little boat, and I love it!

Finger Mullet Stern

This shot from astern shows the name apparently applied to the transom with a Sharpie marker or something. I read on the Watertribe forum that DancesWithMullet barely finished building the boat in time for the race and had no time to finish fairing and painting it. It was water-ready, so he raced it! I like that approach. If people don't like the way it looks, they can look in another direction.

DogsLife Cockpit

Moving on down the beach, I found a group of four Hobie Adventure Islands. Since my wife and I are Adventure Island owners, I have a soft spot for these boats. They are great fun and have proven themselves capable performers in events like this one over the past few years. This is the cockpit of one belonging to Watertriber Dogslife, who has customized it with foam padding to increase freeboard and floatation and to make it more comfortable for sleeping aboard. Yes, sleeping in that cockpit! Dogslife is a relentless competitor and talented blogger and photographer/videographer who always shares great tales of his adventures on his blog and the Hobie Adventure Island forums, among other places. He put in an impressive performance this year, finishing far ahead of the other AI's in the race, and apparently was sick and vomiting for at least part of the race. The determination to keep on moving is pretty darn strong in DogsLife!

Four Hobie Adventure Islands

Here is a shot of four Adventure Islands lined up on the beach. I saw at least four others scattered around, so I think 8 or 9 were in the race overall, but one might have been doing only the first leg, the Ultra Marathon. I really should be able to tell them apart after reading the EC 2013 thread on the Adventure Island forum, but still can not. The one on the end gives itself away with Chief printed on it in big letters. The Watertribe's Chief has competed in this and other challenge events in a wide range of craft, so it's high praise indeed that he thinks the Adventure Island is a worthy boat for the competition. Hobie designed it to be a fun toy, but it can do some seriously difficult traveling if you can! One of those, I believe sailed by CaptnChaos, has a small roller-furled jib and one of the boats in the race, sailed by Watertriber Penguinman, who is a Hobie design engineer, has a red spinnaker. I would like to get a closer look at how they manage the interaction between headsails and the roller-furling mast. I put a small jib on my AI but have found that it is not worth the trouble. I just wait for a day that is windy enough that I don't need it!

Female Watertribe Challengers

Beside the Adventure Islands on the beach were several sailing kayaks and expedition canoes in a tight cluster. Among those, at least a few belong to female Watertribers: DolphinGal, SandyBottom, and KiwiBird. An event like this one typically attracts men, and most participants in the Everglades Challenge are men, but that does not mean there are no women with the stamina and sense of adventure to enjoy it and do well. I read somewhere that SandyBottom holds an Everglades Challenge course record, and she and her son, Watertriber SOS, did last year's Ultimate Florida Challenge, a circumnavigation of the state that includes a 40 mile portage in north Florida.

Jolly Roger

Past the group of kayaks and canoes was Watertriber Jolly Roger in another expedition canoe that looks an awful lot like a multihull sailboat to me. Watertribe rules say it is not, though, and he set a new record in the sailing canoes and kayaks class this year. I'm a subscriber to Roger's YouTube channel and really enjoy his soft-spoken narration of his various boat and aircraft building projects and adventures. You can not really see it in my picture, but his pilot seat is a bean bag chair. That's creative innovation!

He sailed another interesting design of his own last year, a ketch rigged trimaran using masts from a Hobie Tandem Adventure Island and a regular Adventure Island, but was smacked in the face by one of his oars, injuring an eye and forcing him to drop out. I was glad to see him do so well this year.

Meade Gougeon's WoodWind

Racing in the "fine furniture" class in more ways than one was Meade Gougeon of West Systems Epoxy with his absolutely gorgeous WoodWind kayak and the best sheepskin-lined seat on the beach. I don't think I could bring myself to expose such a pretty boat to salt and sand. He raced this boat last year, but with no amas and a much smaller sail. This year, he made it down the coast a ways but got tired and beached the boat for some rest, then broke an ama trying to relaunch through the surf and withdrew from the race.

Triaks

Next to Gougeon's WoodWind were a couple of sea kayaks and then this pair of Triaks. The Triak is a high performance competitor to the Adventure Islands, with a sleeker hull shape, larger daggerboard, smaller amas and an optional asymmetric spinnaker in a snuffer sock mounted on the bow. It also has less carrying capacity than an Adventure Island and no Mirage Drive. I have seen only a few competitors attempt the Everglades Challenge in Triaks and the small carrying capacity is the only reason I can think of. They otherwise seem like a good choice, especially in a downwind sleigh ride like they had this year.

Islandized Tandem Kayak

Several Watertribers seem to want to adopt and improve upon the Adventure Island trimaran technology. This one is a tandem sea kayak with a Hobie mast and sail and amas that look similar to the ones on a tandem Adventure Island, but with akas that slide in from the sides instead of inserting into sockets on top. The reaction over on the Hobie Island forums has been that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Also in the picture are parts of four more Adventure Islands, one mast barely visible behind the angled Triak mast, two behind the Triaks, and one ama on the right side of the picture.

Nomad

Among all the different kayaks and canoes I saw this Nomad sailboat, one of the couples teams being sailed by Watertribers ZerotheHero and GreenMountainGal. As her name implies, I think they came all the way from Vermont to do this race! The Nomad is an open boat, but ZerotheHero reported that its size and high freeboard kept them pretty dry most of the time.

Sizzor

An internet discussion of the trimaran Sizzor created by Watertriber Sew Sew (aka sailmaker Randy Smyth) was one of the first things that drew my attention to the Everglades Challenge. This high tech trimaran has amas that swing in close to the hull, one swinging forward and one aft, kind of like a pair of scissors. In previous years, the ability to reduce the beam of the boat and lower the mast on the water was necessary in order to clear a low and narrow fixed bridge and reach the first checkpoint. This year, that checkpoint was moved to Cape Haze marina, just off the intracoastal waterway, so that capability was not needed. I still find Sew Sew's solution to the problem ingenious, even if the problem went away.

Sizzor had a new suit of green sails and some new flat-bottomed amas and Sew Sew stood a good chance of breaking the all time course record this year, but unfortunately capsized in the Gulf between Fort Myers and Naples and had to withdraw from the race.

Sailing Kayaks and Hobie 16

When I bought my Klepper Aerius Expedition folding kayak over 15 years ago, I had been looking around on the internet at various approaches people had taken to putting sails on kayaks. There were some cobbled-together homemade rigs of various kinds and people were using small windsurfer rigs with homemade amas, but I saw nothing that looked appealing and that was one reason I bought the Klepper with a factory sail kit. I could sail it right away with a proven rig and not have to invent anything. The technology of sailing canoes and kayaks has advanced quite a bit since those days. The picture at left shows a couple of kayaks with relatively short rigs using battens to create a long, square top. Keeping the rig low means no amas are required to keep the boat upright when sailing, but the square top sails still have a fairly large area. In the background is another sail that does not extend all the way to the top of its mast. That one has zippered panels that can be removed to reef the sail in strong winds, and some have been removed based on the weather forecasts. Conventional sails always have a bunch of cloth tied up at the foot of the sail when reefed, but removing sections is a far neater solution.

At the right in that picture is an old Hobie 16 being sailed by Watertribers Crazy Lugan and Heathen. Great to see the classic beach cat in the race, even if you do have to be a bit crazy to try the Everglades Challenge in one. They did well in the race, particularly the first leg to checkpoint one. I took pictures of them there when they arrived shortly after Sew Sew in Sizzor and before anyone else. They were happy to hear that they were in second place at the time.

StandUpGuy

At the right side of this picture is the rest of the Hobie 16 (sorry for cutting your boat in half, Crazy Lugan and Heathen), but the main subject is Watertriber StandUpGuy, aka Shane Perrin, with his custom 18 foot stand up paddleboard. I had seen a couple of people attempt the Everglades Challenge on SUP's before and thought they failed their sanity test. They did not finish. I took this picture mainly to show what a crazy person looks like before he fails to complete the race. I figured he might make it to Sarasota at best. How wrong I was.

StandUpGuy Shane is a kidney transplant recipient and is racing to promote and raise funds for his charity to bring the joy of paddleboarding to organ donation recipients and dialysis patients. He is also a very capable paddleboarder. He made it to Marco Island, where some thieves stole all of his electronics as he slept. The theft from a charity fundraiser attracted a lot of attention on the internet, including mine, and not wanting to see the bad guys win, I made a small donation to his charity, as did many other people in various internet boating communities. I later learned from Facebook updates by his wife that Shane had been disheartened by the theft and planned to pull out of the race, but his faith and strength were restored when he saw all the support he was getting and he continued on to Key Largo. He then continued on and paddled down to Key West! OK, so I was a few hundred miles off in my misunderestimation of him!

Dry Adventure Island

This Hobie Adventure Island has been modified to eliminate a couple of my complaints about the design. Even when empty, if I leave the scupper plugs under the seat open in my Adventure Island, I wind up sitting in a small puddle of water. Also, the bow tends to drive right through waves and when the wave hits the aka, I get very wet. This one has a padded seat placed high on some kind of support and spray shield skirts on each side, which should make it a much drier ride. I doubt it is possible to stay dry in an Adventure Island when going fast through waves of any size, but at least this one can stay a lot drier than mine!

The trampolines probably help some with the problem of waves sloshing over the sides in a beam sea, but I think that if I ever modify mine to carry cargo and/or people out there it will be using hakas. They will hold things up higher without sagging, allow paddling, and I have seen people use small surfboards as hakas, providing fun dinghies, and hakas as picnic tables and sleeping platforms.

Kayak Herd

Next to the modified Hobie Island was this small herd of sea kayaks. I like paddling and have a sit-on-top along with the Klepper foldable mentioned above, but really can't see the appeal of paddling all the way to Key Largo without at least some assistance from a sail. My hat is off to those who do it though!

Mystere 4.3 Catamaran

At the other end of the spectrum, I also would not want to try the EC on a pure sailboat that has very limited ability to move under human power when needed. I have paddled a beach cat once out of necessity and it was not fun. I believe this Mystere 4.3 was the smallest of the beach cats in the race, but wow, what a bowsprit on that thing! Beach cats have a spotty history in the Everglades Challenge, being prone to capsize and break or just wear out their crews, but this one finished along with most of the others this year and made pretty good time.

Nutshell Rocking Baby

A few more boats from the "you must be kidding" files on the beach before the start. First, a Nutshell pram named Rocking Baby, another fine looking furniture-grade wooden boat that seems to me a bit small for long range cruising. It also seems too nice to expose to sand and salt.

Coreban SUPs and Hobie 18

Also two Coreban SUP's and a modified Hobie 18 sailed by Watertriber JustAnotherSailor, who was the third one to arrive at checkpoint one later in the day. JustAnotherSailor apparently had quite an adventure in the Gulf outside the 10,000 islands and arrived at the Chokoloskee checkpoint 2 pretty well exhausted, but successfully completed the Everglades Challenge this year.

I did not hear how the Coreban stand up paddleboards did, but despite StandUpGuy's astonishing performance I still think that standing up and paddling hundreds of miles does not sound all that possible, let alone fun.

Batwing Ketch Kayak

This kayak is rigged as a ketch with a pair of Batwing sails and inflatable amas spread far apart on a single aka beam, which also serves as a leeboard pivot. This is the kind of boat that gives me ideas about re-rigging my Klepper kayak with some modern gear. That is a lot of sail for a kayak! It must be fast!

Tandem Kayaks

I took this picture of some of the tandem kayaks mainly because a couple of the Watertribe names are funny to me. The Necky tandem in the foreground has crew labels by each cockpit: Gatorbait and BaitsMate. In the background are a couple of Seaward tandems and another sharp looking solo kayak.

Sunshine Skyway Sunrise

The sun was rising behind a cloud bank as I took this picture looking toward the Sunshine Skyway bridge just before the start of the race.

In the next entry, pictures of the racers departing Fort Desoto beach and some of the arrivals and departures at checkpoint one, Cape Haze Marina.

The post Speck Tater’s View of the Watertribe 2013 Everglades Challenge first appeared on Tropical Boating.

Happy Sailing Student

The Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center is a tenant at the facility, sub-leasing some interior space from the YMCA and using the yard and boat ramp to conduct sailing classes for children and adults and to provide residents who do not live on the water with a place to store and use small boats. With the YMCA's lease up for renewal, the Sailing Center has offered the City of Punta Gorda a competing lease proposal. The Sailing Center's proposal is to continue current uses of the building and land, including those by the YMCA and other groups, but also to expand boating opportunities for sailors and other boaters by directing rental income back into its boating safety and sailing instruction programs and into improvement of the Bayfront Center facility. Please watch the video below, in which Sailing Center President Dennis Peck explains why he believes that awarding the lease to the Sailing Center would benefit our community.

As Dennis Peck explained, the Sailing Center was founded to promote sailing, but he believes that the Bayfront Center should be used by a range of small boats, including kayakers, stand-up paddle boarders, and powerboats that are small enough to launch manually at the small boat ramp. The Bayfront Center is an ideal place for all kinds of small boats to access the Harbor and it would be nice to see more use of the facility for boating-related purposes. The Sailing Center's proposal is to focus on public access to Charlotte Harbor.

The YMCA does a lot of good things in our community and others around the nation, but their primary mission is not to promote boating on Charlotte Harbor. Awarding the Bayfront Center lease to a non-profit organization that is primarily focused on recreational and educational use of Charlotte Harbor would benefit the public more simply because no one cares about local boating like local boaters. Awarding the lease to the Sailing Center would not significantly impact the YMCA, which could continue its limited use of the facility. As Dennis Peck pointed out, the main difference would come from directing money generated at the Bayfront Center exclusively back into the Bayfront Center facility and into development of more boating opportunities by the public.

For more on this topic, please read this article from the local Sun newspaper:

Groups Offer Two Visions for Bayfront Center

See also my account of helping out with one of the many Kids' Sailing Camps run by the Sailing Center to teach kids sailing and safe boating.

I completely agree with this letter sent to City Commissioner Dennis Murphy by local boater Roger Strube, who gave me permission to publish his thoughts here:
Dennis Murphy,

Re: Recommendation from the Bayfront Use Evaluation Committee

I was extremely disappointed with your recommendation that the City award the lease for the Bayfront Center to the YMCA rather than the Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center. Awarding the management of one of the few public, on shore assets, to an organization whose primary focus is not facilitating access to Charlotte Harbor by our citizens is not in the best interest of the public.

The YMCA has a long history as an important resource for the public it serves. However, the YMCA's primary mission is not to serve the boating public. I served on the Board of our local YMCA when my son and daughter were on their swim team. Kathy and I used the exercise facility and played racket ball on their courts. We participated in other YMCA sponsored events. Neither the land-locked facility back home nor the Bayfront facility, currently managed by the YMCA in Punta Gorda, have ever had a focus of providing small boat access to open water by the public.

The YMCA is not organized or administered to serve the boating public or facilitate public access to the water. Management of this public shore line facility by an organization without this primary focus will continue to impede public access and delay development of sailing and boating safety instruction for our youth, our adults and the disabled.

The Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center's primary mission is to facilitate public access, boating safety, sailing instruction and sailing event participation. The CHCSC is uniquely organized and at a rare location to fulfill this mission. The Bayfront facility offers a small, narrow ramp where folks may manually launch their small sailboats. More importantly, the Community Sailing Center owns a number of boats that are available for use by qualified folks who pay a minimum yearly membership dues. The leadership and "staff" are all highly qualified volunteers. Our citizens do not need to own a boat, have property on the water or join an expensive yacht club to have access to the water. Access to the Harbor, water safety training, sailing instruction, small boat racing events and even the boats needed for these activities, are available for minimal membership dues through the Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center.

I do not understand your committee's recommendation to continue YMCA management of this public facility. The assertion printed in the Sun-Herald that the YMCA was "...contemplating a sailing activity" is simply not believable and should be dismissed as a political distraction. The Community Sailing Center has a well developed "sailing activity" with experienced management, certified instructors and hard assets (boats). The CHCSC management team, serving as the board for the Bayfront facility could easily manage the present "more broad-ranging community based utilization." The bridge games and group meetings would continue; only the primary focus from a rental meeting facility to a waterfront activities center would change.

I am hopeful the City Council will make the proper decision regarding access to the Harbor and use of our public resources.

Roger H Strube, MD (retired)

There will be a public hearing on this matter on January 2, 2013 at 9:00 am and I hope to see many local boaters there!

The post Better Use of Punta Gorda Bayfront Center is Possible first appeared on Tropical Boating.

The West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron is a group of Florida sailors who like to gather in different locations to camp out on small boats. I have been aware of the group for several years, but have never made it to one of their cruises. At the urging of founder Ron Hoddinott, I decided to go to the Spring 2012 Pelican Bay gathering. We could not take the Sun Cat and go for the whole weekend, so I trailered an Adventure Island down to Bokeelia on Saturday and sailed out there for a lunchtime visit.

Approaching Pelican Bay, I could see a cluster of small masts up around the north end beach and a small gaff-rigged schooner sailing out.

Egret Sailing

As I was coming in along the beach, the little schooner crossed tacks with me. The light was all wrong, but I could not resist taking a picture anyway. Her name is Egret and one of the guys on the beach later told me the boat is actually old and has been restored.

Egret Upwind

As I got past Egret, the light was better for a picture of her sailing upwind. What is not obvious from the picture is that the boat is sailing out across a well-known sand bar that stretches across the northern entrance to Pelican Bay. It was moving nicely along in light wind and shallow water, just like a boat in this part of the world should do!

Behind Beach

This was the scene as I turned up behind the spit of sandy beach that protects the northern end of Pelican Bay. The beach is fairly well covered with sailboats of all kinds, with a few more anchored out. There is a Hunter and a Sanderling catboat in the foreground, and beyond are a bunch of Sea Pearls, a couple of sailing canoes, a couple of MacGregor 26X's, a Sanibel 18, another Sanderling, a San Juan 21, a couple of Peep Hens, some custom boats and probably a few I am forgetting to mention. How have I been missing out on this for all these years?

Old and New Sea Pearl 21s

I got a little lesson in the history of the Sea Pearl 21 design. Over on the western side of the bay were old and new, side by side. The old one in the foreground has wooden spars and a gaff rig, while the newer version behind has a Marconi cat ketch rig with mast-furling sails. There were quite a variety of Sea Pearls on hand, including numerous trimarans. Most of the tri's had straight aluminum tubes for aka beams, but one of them had shaped akas that ran over the top of the boat instead of through it and then dropped down to the amas. I guess the ones with straight beams sometimes drag their beams when pressed hard.

Roll Call Ron

Even a relaxed event like this one does not just happen spontaneously, someone has to organize it. It was nice to put a face with the name Ron Hodinott as he came around with his roll call sheet to see who I was and mark my name down. Thanks for keeping this group going!

Trimaran Dalliance

The boat next to Ron in the picture above is a little homebuilt trimaran named Dalliance. I spoke to the owner of that boat for a while, first questioning his choice of a cutter rig. He explained that he was a glutton for punishment and liked to have a lot of strings to pull and a lot of sail options. He had built this boat with the thought that it might be a good one for the Watertribe Everglades Challenge, but it looks a bit weak in the "human propulsion" area to me. He said he was enjoying just doing little cruises like this one and had really lost the desire to do a difficult event like the EC.

Peep Hen Satori

The Peep Hen is another boat I had never seen in person, so I took a walk over to have a closer look at a couple of them that were on the beach at the north end. It's a boxy-looking boat, but very practical on closer examination. Small boats tend to be wet, have low headroom, and have a tiny companionway. They seem to have addressed all those problems pretty well, and the result turns out boxy-looking. This one has a kick-up rudder, but the other one has a very shallow rudder that extends at the depth of the keel and has an end plate on it. It could sail in only a few inches of water, if the destination were downwind.

Catboat Willy Posing

Catboat Willy and I were trying to impress the bikini-clad chicks on the powerboat in the background. We met with about the level of success you would expect.

Sanibel 18 Luna

I had never seen a Sanibel 18 in person, and took the chance to get a closer look at Luna. She's a neat little boat with a pleasing shape and looks dressed up with those nice metal opening ports. A couple with two young kids were cruising aboard her and the woman approached as I was taking pictures. She said they were really enjoying the boat and told me a bit about the production history.

Whaler Squall 9

When I was growing up a friend of my brother's had one of these: a Boston Whaler Squall 9. It had a little outboard engine, but could also be sailed or rowed. The ability to sail or row got them out of all kinds of trouble back then.

People who have trouble relaxing should take lessons from that guy. He was sailing slowly around the anchorage under the Bimini top with the little dog standing guard on the bow. The boat may look a little silly with the sail stuck way up in the air like that, but it sure looked like a nice way to tour the bay.

Petting A Manatee

There was a group of people clustered around a small powerboat down the beach and I heard someone say something about a manatee down there, so decided to go check it out. Sure enough, this manatee had decided to cool off in the shade underneath the boat and seemed to be enjoying being petted by all the people. They were rubbing the algae and stuff off the leathery skin and the manatee was scrubbing itself against the boat a bit as well.

Egret Beached

Just down from the manatee petting area, Egret had returned from sailing and was on a little sand bar sticking off the beach. Yep, definitely a shoal draft vessel!

North Pelican Bay

I stitched together two pictures to get all the boats in this shot taken from the north end of Pelican Bay.

Peep Hen Ashore

This is the other Peep Hen, whose owner was aboard when I walked up. It apparently arrived here on a higher tide. This one had the rudder with end plate at the depth of the keel. I talked to the owner for a while and he asked me how I got out there. I pointed across to my Hobie Adventure Island, figuring that a man who appeared to be at least 70 years old would probably not know what one was. He told me that he also owned one. While we were talking, one of the Sea Pearl owners walked up to join the conversation. He also asked me how I got there, and it turned out that he was another Adventure Island owner. He had attempted the Everglades Challenge in his, but had to abort around Marco after 5 days. We talked a bit about what life is like when you wear a drysuit for 5 straight days. It is still not on my bucket list.

Peep Hen Refloated

Although the tide was higher when the boat arrived at that spot, the picture above was taken almost at high tide. We have strange tides around here. The next really high high tide was scheduled to occur after dark, so a determination was made that now was the time to move the boat into deeper water. A team of guys quickly appeared and started dragging the little boat toward water. The little end-plate rudder was hanging us up, so it was removed. Once it was off and we got the boat spun to point out, moving it out was no problem.

Departing Pelican Bay

Walking back around the bay from the Peep Hen refloating operation, I took a look at my watch and realized it was time for me to depart. It would take at least an hour to get back to the ramp at Bokeelia and another to drive home, but I did not feel like pedaling like mad for an hour and wanted to sail home. With a light opposing wind and the tide turning against me, that would take a couple of hours. As I was leaving, I took this picture of an old MacGregor sailboat named Mental Floss just arriving. Great name, and a good description of how the event felt. I need to start attending these WCTSS gatherings! I checked the website, and the next one is at the Cortez Small Craft Festival, an event I attended last year to see all the funny homebuilt boats.

Stuck Double Ender

As I left Pelican Bay, the wind died out and I had to pedal across the channel and up onto the flats, but then it came back and with just a few lulls I had enough wind to sail home. It was mostly on the nose so I took a few long tacks and pedaled a bit in the light air, but I had a good time sailing across the flats in the clear water. As I approached the north end of Pine Island, I heard a motor revving in the distance and could see a small flats boat attempting to free this sailboat. I could see some white water flying, but the big sailboat did not move. The flats boat then took off at high speed and ran over to a nearby TowBoat US vessel. Soon the tow boat was headed over to the stuck sailors.

As I went by, I could see a man from the sailboat boarding the tow boat as the woman and dog went forward. After a while, the man got back aboard the sailboat and the tow boat left the area. Maybe his price was too high? I'm not sure. The tide was falling, and if that boat did not move soon, it would not move until late at night. I expect that is what happened. The boat appeared to be in the channel and should have had six feet of water where they were, but it was a double-ender of a style that did not appear to be from around here. It may be from a deep water location and have a draft of six and a half, which would be the difference between being able to depart on the daytime high tide and the nighttime high tide in this particular place.

A look around upper Pelican Bay during the occupation by the West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron in March 2012

Another video made by a WCTSS gathering participant:

The post West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron Pelican Bay Gathering March 2012 first appeared on Tropical Boating.

On the Winds of Irene

A nearby tropical weather system that is not a threat always causes great sailing weather, and today was no exception. After a morning look at Hurricane Irene's rain bands determined that none could reach our area before noon, I went down to Shell Creek to launch my Adventure Island. I was pleased to see the water so high because a strong NE wind can blow the water out of the harbor, making launching at this spot a difficult and muddy process.

With the boat in the water and ready to go, I had my wife follow me down to Ponce de Leon Park at the tip of Punta Gorda to drop off the truck and trailer, then returned and got in the boat to leave just after 10:00 am.

Narrow Creek Branch

The branch of Shell Creek where I launched is very narrow, but because the wind was strong and favorable, I was able to start sailing almost immediately after leaving the dock. Sailing is a lot faster than pedaling the Adventure Island, but I left the Mirage Drive in place. I was going to need it soon enough to get under the US 17 and railroad bridges.

Sailing In Shell Creek

Once I got out into the open creek and away from the shore a bit, the wind quickly took me up to Adventure Island humming speeds for the reach over to the US 17 bridge. Once under the bridge, I took the most direct route to the railroad bridge, even though it crosses through some pretty shallow water. I figured the tide was high enough to make it, and I was eager to get out into the harbor and splash around!

RR Bridge Astern

Leaving the railroad bridge across Shell Creek behind meant I could leave the mast up from there on out, but more importantly, it meant I had reached the more open section of the creek where it joins with the Peace River. There is nothing much out here to block the wind, so it suddenly felt much stronger when I got the sail back out.

Buried Ama

How much stronger was the wind? The picture at right shows what was happening. This is the boat's way of trying to tell me that reefing would be a good idea, but I am preparing to turn further downwind and decided to just carry a bit too much sail for a short stretch.

The reach down the Peace River was fun, but I did not really get wet, which I kind of expected in the open parts. Approaching the Interstate 75 bridge, I pulled the Mirage Drive out of the boat and secured it in the well behind me. Removing the Mirage Drive at 4-5 knots is a good way to get wet, and I took a hefty splash up through the well before I jammed the well plug in place.

There was a peculiar wind funnel effect at the bridge, which I really wish I had caught on video. The area around the bridge pilings usually just has disturbed air that is not quite as strong as the surrounding breeze, but as soon as I got under the bridge today, I was hit by a powerful and steady flow of wind and the boat took off. I'm pretty sure it was the fastest I have sailed an Adventure Island, and it was wild! The flow died as quickly as it had started once I reached the far side.

The run between the I-75 and US-41 bridges was the first time it got wet enough to really need my Canon Powershot D10 waterproof camera. I bought it just for days like this one, when the fun of sailing an Adventure Island gets too wet for normal cameras. The boat started diving through chop and a few of the wave tops slammed into the akas, which always makes for a good splash.

Approaching the 41 bridge, I could see the sails of my friend Tom's Morgan 30, Whimsy, prowling around in the upper harbor. I had invited him to come Adventure Islanding, but he felt the need to stretch his own boat's legs before I even made the call. We agreed to meet out on the harbor.

Whimsy Reefed Down

Tom had his main reefed down and his smallest jib on, and was still moving along with plenty of power. He came by on a beat, which I captured on video, then jibed around to follow me down the harbor. He may find it fun to pound upwind in his old Morgan, but there is a reason I started the day by moving my truck to the downhill end of this run: I don't want to try to sail the Adventure Island upwind in this wind and chop. It's a blast to go downwind; upwind is for pickup trucks.

Following Whimsy

Our two very different boats were averaging more or less the same speed, though his was lumbering along very sedately and consistently while mine dove through waves. At one point, as the bow of the Adventure Island took another long, deep swim, I could hear Tom singing, "We all sail in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine!" That one cracked me up.

Hurricane Irene Outer Band

As I approached the channel into Ponce Park, I could see off to the east the top of the outer band of showers associated with Hurricane Irene. Over in the Abacos, they were experiencing winds of 115+ and it is likely a great deal of Grand Bahama island was flooding when I took this photo, with a strong north wind blowing water over the Little Bahama Bank and right over the island. This is about as close as I want to be to a category 3 hurricane, and I only want to be this close if I know it is leaving the area. Thoughts and prayers are with those in the Bahamas who are hanging on for dear life, and those still in the path of the storm.

This is a short video I took with the Powershot D10:

And some video taken by Tom on board Whimsy

Stuffing the Bow

Update: Sailing Again August 26, 2011!

Conditions the following day were nearly as good for Adventure Island sailing, but with a significantly different wind direction, so Sonja and I decided to sail our boats from Laishley Park in Punta Gorda to our place on Shell Creek. The NW wind would provide a nice reach the whole way. We considered sailing all the way from Ponce Park, but decided we did not want to get back all that late, so opted for the shorter trip. It's a good thing we did!

We pulled out of Laishley Marina at around 5 pm, and immediately Sonja started having trouble. The heavy, steep crossing chop we were experiencing was yawing our boats sideways quite a bit, and if you twist an Adventure Island around in the water without the rudder locked down, you can twist your rudder right out of the water! That is what happened to Sonja, and she lost steerage. Despite the strong NW wind, she was slowly making westward progress, toward the US 41 bridge! This should have been my first clue that we had a seriously strong opposing current, but I was concerned more with getting her out of the situation. I sailed over and told her that her rudder did not have a broken pin, as she suspected, but was kicked up ninety degrees and hanging sideways above the water. She pulled it down and locked it and had no more trouble. I do not like to lock mine, and found that I had to keep tension on the rudder downhaul line to make the turnaround in the chop.

We were soon skipping and surfing over and through the harbor chop, more through than over, as the pictures show.

Adventure Island Nosedive

Sliding down the steep harbor chop and burying the bow in the next wave is good entertainment! Kayaking Bob over on the Hobie Cat forum says that his spray skirts will stop the bow from submarining and make for a much drier ride, and many others corroborate his claim. My problem is: I LIKE stuffing the bow of my boat. It may not be as fast or as dry, but it sure is funny!

The adverse current meant that our speed up the harbor was much slower than anticipated, and it took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to get to our boat ramp. I have made that same trip in an hour (a really wet and wild hour). Had we launched at Ponce Park, we would have had to abort the mission and call for pickup at Darst Park or something. We would not have made it home by dark.

Some video of our trip, including diving the boats in chop and stepping the mast after passing under a low railroad bridge:

The post Sailing the Edge of Hurricane Irene in Hobie Adventure Island first appeared on Tropical Boating.