Beach at Daybreak

Daybreak at Fort Desoto Park looked rather ominous for adventurous racers setting off on the 2012 WaterTribe Everglades Challenge and concurrent events. Low clouds were flying by overhead and a strong southerly wind was lashing the shore. At least it was warm, but that headwind would make departure and the first day of the trip difficult. The forecast called for a front to pass through overnight with a squall line and winds shifing around to NW and then strong out of the north the next morning.

The competitors and boats were all lined up above the high tide line. Most were engaged in last minute boat preparations, packing gear and watching the weather with some apprehension. They were looking at a tricky departure through the small surf followed by a wet slog upwind across Tampa Bay to start the race.

A stroll down the Fort Desoto Park East Beach at dawn as the WaterTribe race participants prepare to depart:

The sun rising above the Sunshine Skyway bridge and many sails going up as start time approaches.

Most of the kayaks were concentrated on the beach in this area and they left in a pack.

One of the first boats to catch my eye as we walked onto the beach was Mosquito, a custom trimaran made by a young man named Alan. (Update: his blog here) I remembered some discussion of this boat from the B and B Yacht Design forum, and a friend had told me to be on the lookout for it. Alan and his mother are doing the WaterTribe Ultimate Florida Challenge, a 1,200 mile circumnavigation of the State of Florida. The Everglades Challenge is just leg one of this larger adventure race.

WaterTribe has a number of funny rules, and they call them filters. The idea is to filter out large or complicated boats by making racers do things only a small or simple boat could do. The biggest examples are the beach launch and sections of the course where human propulsion (with masts down) is necessary, but the portage is another. The rules in years past had basically said that you have to bring along any portage equipment for the whole trip and you have to use the same boat for the whole trip. This time, they are allowing competitors to switch boats for the upstate river section of the journey, with shoreside crews transporting the boats back to the West Coast for the finish. I was wondering how they would portage Mosquito those 40 miles. The answer is: they will not.

One of the things that struck me as strange about Mosquito was the open holes in the transoms and on the tops of the amas. Amas are generally sealed. I asked Alan about them and he said they have a floor inside and underneath it is foam. The open portion is self-bailing.

A view of the wave-piercing bows on the amas of Mosquito. The boat is pretty wide. I asked Alan whether it would fit through the bridge at the first checkpoint, and he said he thought so, but was not sure. I found that answer pretty funny. He said that if necessary, they could go through what sounded like a complicated operation to demount an ama to get through, but he was trying not to think about it.

As I write this, our whole discussion has turned out to be moot. It is now Monday the 5th, and the latest SPOT signal WaterTribe Tracking Map shows that Mosquito is offshore of Sarasota and moving south. Meanwhile, over on the WaterTribe Discussion Forum, the Chief has announced that competitors can just sail on by Checkpoint 1 without stopping to check in. They will not have to demount an ama.

As I looked at the otherwise fine construction of this little boat, I could not believe it when I saw what appeared to be a bit of redneck engineering, and not very well done at that. Anyone knows you have to wrap the duct tape tighter to stop leaks! And what is this boat doing using duct tape on leaks in the first place?

I learned the answer a little while later, when I saw Alan putting duct tape around another waterstay base. He was making a cup to hold water next to the waterstay to try to determine which one was leaking. They took on some water sailing around from the boat ramp and also discovered several minor rigging problems. He told me that even with a poorly trimmed jib and a reversed ratchet block on the mainsheet, they were able to achieve a top speed of 16 knots.

They were trying to get some things done on the boat in a hurry, even though by this time the decision had been made to delay departure until the weather improved. One problem was the nonstop stream of people who wanted to ask questions about the boat. I admit to later becoming part of that problem myself. Alan acted like he had plenty of time to answer anyone's stupid question (I actually watched one guy peering around a daggerboard to ask him if it had one). My contribution was to ask about those poles next to the daggerboards. He said they were needed to carry the up/downhaul line, then launched into an explanation of how the boards were controlled by a single loop of line that ran all around the boat. I did not understand much of his routing explanation, but I liked the bottom line: pull one way, boards down, pull the other way, boards up. Cool!

I had to include this picture of the tiller. It's a work of art all its own, as is the rudder. That hatch lid has a carbon fiber reinforced rim and weighed only an ounce or so (I couldn't resist picking it up).

One of the boats I had come to the 2011 Everglades Challenge start to see was the trimaran Sizzor created by sail maker Randy Smyth (WaterTribe name "Sew Sew"). I arrived just in time to see him depart. This time I got a closer look at the scissor like mechanism that allows him to swing one ama forward and the other back on the big beam anchored in the center of the boat. It is a neat solution to the low, narrow bridge filter, but looks a bit fragile to me. As I write on 3/5/12 at 5 pm, I'm checking the WaterTribe tracking site periodically, and the first boat has finished. It is a Tornado catamaran. The next one is not too far behind, approaching the third checkpoint down in Flamingo. That boat is a Hobie 18. Sew Sew seems to be having some trouble reaching the second checkpoint and a lot of boats are right on his heels. Even the lowly Puddle Duck Racer is charging down Pine Island Sound less than 60 miles behind. I guess something on Sizzor broke.

There were some really interesting non-homebuilt choices for the competition this year. An A-Cat? There is almost no boat there! It will be like a high speed swim down the Gulf Coast, I suppose. This was far from the craziest boat we saw on the beach.

I started laughing when I saw that one competitor had chosen a Sunfish for the race. I just could not see how it could possibly carry the gear needed for the Everglades Challenge. I later learned in a forum discussion that the sailor is very experienced and is only doing the WaterTribe FL Ultra Marathon, which is the first 67 mile leg of the EC. That is not all that crazy, especially if they had any other weather forecast. The hard part will be crossing Tampa Bay into a strong headwind, but it can be done and the rest will not be so hard for a Sunfish.

He has several layers of charts taped across the stern of the boat. The plan apparently is to peel off layers of his "chart table" as he progresses. Pretty clever!

Another interesting off-the-shelf choice was this Precision 14. They are no longer made, but like the current Precision 15 model, this is a family daysailer and a good training boat. It is not a high performance machine and would really have a long, wet struggle trying to beat across Tampa Bay. Recognizing its limitations, these folks are putting it back on the trailer after aborting the race prior to the start. The rules say you must launch by yourself, but at least you can get a pack to help if you must go through the disappointment of preparing for a race and then aborting at the start.

This is more typical of the kind of thing I expect to see on the beach for the Everglades Challenge. I do not know what it is, but while it looks home-built, it definitely makes use of some stock parts. Those appear to be Hobie Adventure Island masts. Update: according to a caption and looking at this picture I found online, those are masts from a Tandem and Solo Adventure Island, and the boat also has a Mirage Drives. It's a Super Island!

This expedition canoe type craft carried a crew of two. The sail looks a bit small for the load, but is reefed down. There is another section that goes between the two battens that are right next to each other.

The thing I like best about this event is that it draws a swarm of little boats that make me ask, "What's that?" This guy was busy and I did not ask him, but his little red boat caught my eye and made me wonder. It looks like one that just might be able to make it!

These people brought this E Scow all the way from upstate New York to compete in the Everglades Challenge. I heard that they had to drop out on the first day after discovering or creating some new leaks trying to beat across the nasty chop in Tampa Bay. I think that if they had waited for a tailwind, they might have had a shot. It's still a pretty unusual choice for the race, but that is what is neat about this race. Everyone has different ideas about how to deal with all the filters put in place by the rules.

I think this large outrigger canoe was paddled by a crew of five people, but I'm not quite sure. It won my award for "most interesting lighting setup." A Mag Lite flashlight lashed atop some kind of bracket that also holds red and green flashlights. They must have a hoard of batteries someplace aboard.

Perhaps because of the upturned ends on the hull and ama and the curves of the akas, this one reminded me of a plastic version of some kind of Polynesian war canoe. I think it had a crew of six. With their long waterlines and the power of multi-person teams, these two should be able to do pretty well in the Everglades Challenge. Sort of makes me wonder why I did not see any last year. Maybe it is not as good an idea as it seems. I guess they are finding out!

Ranking high in the "craziest entry in a crazy race" category was a familiar face for me: Scott, the winner of the 2011 Sun Cat National Championship. Impressed with the performance of Puddle Duck Racers in events like the Texas 200 and disappointed with his failure to complete last year's Everglades Challenge in the catboat Lil Gem, he built a custom Puddle Duck Racer designed just for the Everglades Challenge. One thing it does not do very well is point upwind in a fierce chop, and Scott was nervously watching the weather and trying to decide whether or not to attempt departure. I gave him my cellphone number in case he needed local logistical help with a rescue.

Update Tuesday 3/6 around noon: Scott capsized the PDR and lost some equipment. He is safe on the beach, but is withdrawing from the race.

I thought he might be the craziest until I saw this little blue pram type vessel. Another whatsit, it is completely open. Waves are almost guaranteed to come aboard crossing Tampa Bay, and if he capsizes, righting a swamped boat can be difficult. At least Scott's Puddle Duck has buoyancy compartments along each side. Joining these two in the micro-sailboat category was a previous participant sailing a little boat called Sand Flea, but the only picture I got was blurry. In the background is a Hobie Getaway, a rotomolded plastic family beach cruiser. Another interesting choice for the race.

There are a lot of different kayak sailing rigs, many with inflatable amas, participating in the Everglades Challenge, but this one caught my eye. The aka bar is fairly long and the mast is quite tall for a kayak. Also, it is a roller furling sail and the leeboards and rudder look a bit more serious than some of the other sailing kayak rigs. All of those things tell me it is probably faster as a sailboat than most of the rest. The paddle is one of the old Eskimo kind, just a piece of wood with small blades at each end. Those paddles do not look like much compared to modern ones with curved blades and carbon fiber shafts, but in the right hands they are very powerful. I have been on the receiving end of a couple of lessons in that fact, so I know firsthand.

Another sailing/paddling boat that was a real eye-catcher was this wooden beauty. I do not think I could build something this nice and then set it down on a salty, sandy beach. It looks too much like fine furniture for that treatment! The sailing rig is small and the boat is pretty beamy in the stern, but it still looks like it would be an exciting ride in the 15-20 knot headwinds. That enormous leeboard should help! I like a man who believes in some back support in a small boat, but this guy has gone a bit further than even I would go. That seat is starting to get beyond back support and into headrest territory and the sheepskin cover is a bit over the top. I bet it is comfy, though!

Next to that boat was another entry in the "sailing fine furniture" racing fleet. It looks a bit like a Skerry from Chesapeake Light Craft, but the transom is wrong. I'm not sure what it is, but it is another boat I would not want to set on a salty, sandy beach. I'm also not sure foam noodles are classy enough for this boat as a floatation method, but I have never been a great judge of classy.

There were several Core Sound boats in this year's race, including a gorgeous one with a green hull and a custom dodger, but I thought this Core Sound 17 named Bandaloop was the best looking of the bunch. The Core Sound designs from B and B Yachts have done well in several Everglades Challenges in the past, and this boat's big sister, the Everglades Challenge 22, holds the Class IV record for the course. I have it in my head to build one and do the race, if I can ever find the time and money to do so.

I understand that the homebuilt catamaran Slider aborted the race prior to starting. That's too bad, but understandable. It does not appear to be a good boat with which to beat across Tampa Bay in a strong breeze and I have to wonder just how they paddle this thing. Not very well is my guess. I'm not sure it could get out to deep enough water to get going if they tried to start.

Still, that is the kind of boat I come to the Everglades Challenge to see. I'm usually not a fan of asymmetry, especially in boats, but the idea of having one ama open with a Bimini top for those nice days and one with a little pilothouse enclosure for nasty days seems like a practical idea, especially up in the Florida Panhandle where this boat lives. They have year-round sailing up there like we do down in Punta Gorda, but not exactly like we do. It can get darn cold up there. OK, so the house is a little boxy and that daggerboard is at a funny angle, but it is all very practical. To those who can't stand the funny looks I would say, "Look in some other direction."

This one is really the kind of boat that I come to this event to see. It's like he went down the list of possible weird sailboat design choices, got to the bottom, and checked "all of the above." Well, it's not a proa, but that might be too weird to even be on the list. There are a lot of strange things about it, but all seem to me to make it uniquely capable in this race.

It's a lug rig, which solves the problem of how to split the rig of a small boat without the clutter that results from any flavor of ketch rig. Splitting the rig allows a larger small boat, since rig size is a major factor in the ability to step the rig to get under the low bridge. It also has very low freeboard for its size, especially for a boat that is obviously not intended as a racer. Cruisers are higher, but that means more boat, which means it is harder to shove it off a beach or row it. Speaking of rowing, I can not see where they go, but the name Oaracle suggests it is intended to be a pretty decent rowing boat, and it looks like it is to me. That low cabin would make many cruisers say, "Why bother?" but I guess it was pretty cozy when the cold front blew through. The ability to let one crew member rest while the other presses on is important in this race, and many of the racers were likely trying to sleep while cold and wet.

Best of all, when this boat left the beach it took off at surprising speed sailing much closer to the wind than I expected. I do not think it was going to be passing the Lightning upwind, but the performance seemed pretty respectable to me. It is leaving at the end of the video below.

Some video of the 2012 Everglades Challenge start at Fort Desoto Park Beach:

And away it goes! The breaking waves just in front of the Norseboat's sail indicate a small sand bar out there, only about knee deep or so. That funny looking lugger sailed right across it going upwind nicely. I do not know what kind of board it has down, but it can not be down very far and it is working well. I expected them to row some distance off the beach, but they just shoved off and started sailing upwind.

One of the later departures shown in the video below was this catamaran called Teak E Torch. I read somewhere that this boat is equipped with Hobie Mirage Drives in each hull. It is about time someone did this! The Mirage Drives in our Hobie Adventure Islands are an excellent auxiliary propulsion source when the wind is not blowing or we have to go straight upwind. I can pedal significantly faster than I can paddle in my AI, and with much less effort.

A pair of stock Mirage Drives with Turbo Fins will probably drive Teak E Torch pretty well. They could make Mirage Drive well plugs with built-in daggerboards for sailing upwind when the drives are not needed, and flush plugs for sailing downwind. I also think the idea could be applied to a lot of other small sailboats if there were a Mirage Drive that was operated from either side instead of from a seat behind the drive. Many little sailboats carry 2 hp outboards because paddling is ineffective and oars that would work are too long and cumbersome to store. They just need a Mirage Drive like device that slips in the daggerboard slot to harness the power of the sailors' legs.

The Core Sound 17 Bandaloop looked a bit bow heavy as WaterTriber Mister Moon rowed out over the small breakers on the sand bar. The bow of the boat is no doubt stuffed with provisions and gear. These boats can actually stow those oars, but I note that there is still an outboard bracket hanging on the back. I wonder if it is a candidate for a modified Mirage Drive or two?

Once past the bar, Bandaloop was a pretty sight sailing away into Tampa Bay in the morning light. I'm not sure my camera or photography skills do her justice.

I saw this beautifully maintained Sea Pearl 21 named Moon Shadow at last year's race and it was back again, but this time with a solo sailor, WaterTriber Jarhead. He struggled mightily to get the boat rolling down the beach on inflatable rollers then had a bit of a time getting her out over the sandbar and sailing. Once he got in and started sailing, he still had his rudder up and people on the beach were yelling for him to put it down, but he was steering pretty well with the sails and I think he might have left it up on purpose just to get a bit further from the sand bar.

Unfortunately, Jarhead's race came to an end later in the day off Anna Maria Island, when a large powerboat wake and a sudden gust conspired to nearly capsize him and shoved the boat into a channel marker, ripping his new sail.

This guy had a bit of a struggle rowing upwind across the small breakers on the sand bar, then sailed off into the sunrise like it was a good idea or something. He is really asking to have a few of those "Oh God thy sea is so great and my boat is so small" moments. Anyone this crazy probably has a whole necklace full of the shark and alligator teeth that the WaterTribe hands out to those who finish the Everglades Challenge. You have to venture through part of the Everglades National Park Wilderness Waterway called "The Nightmare" to get one of the gator teeth, apparently. I think I may skip that part if I get to do the race. Too similar to my back yard.

This Lightning is amusingly named Hare On Fire and it looks like it is loaded with enough stuff in dry bags to soon be a very wet wabbit. These guys were here last year and know what they need to bring.

Once it got over the bar and into enough water, I expected to see the Lightning take off pointing high upwind, but they sailed along a bit lazily with the jib barely trimmed for a little while after they left. I guess they were still sorting and storing stuff and blasting along at full speed upwind in the wind and chop they faced would require concentration.

One of the last boats to go in the water was this Windrider 17 trimaran. It looks a bit ungainly on the sloping beach due to the keel shape, but I hear these are fun to sail. It's a reasonable choice for the Everglades Challenge if they can paddle it effectively. Unfortunately, I read that this boat had to drop out after some leaks developed while pounding across Tampa Bay.

This was one of the scenes that I thought must appear odd to those just arriving at the beach last year, and it seemed the same this year. There is a sprinkling of boats scattered along the beach, most of them unmanned, and one man is tugging this little sailboat's bow back and forth, allowing the boat to creep a bit down the hill each time he manages to wiggle it back and forth. Meanwhile, several able-bodied people stand around and watch, with some taking pictures. If you do not know what is going on, it must seem kind of cruel.

As the boat fell down the gentle slope of the beach, it pushed up a small sand dune in front of itself, so the man had to kick sand out from under it before wiggling it back the other way. It reminded me of a little boat called Mullet that was launched last year by spinning down the beach. Not the most graceful entry, but hey, it worked! The video below shows part of the struggle and some of the other late departures.

Some of the late departures from Fort Desoto Beach for EC 2012:

When we were done watching the departures, I went to breakfast in St. Pete with my friend and his wife. At around 11:00 I was driving over the Sunshine Skyway bridge on my way home when I spotted what could only be an Everglades Challenge participant sailing close to the southern base of the bridge. There is a park and fishing pier there, the remains of the old bridge that was hit by a ship. I decided to pull over to see if I could get any pictures.

When I got to the end of the filled causeway at the base of the fishing pier, the boat was getting close. It also looked a bit like it might not be able to tack in these conditions. The shoreline here is composed of oyster-covered limestone rocks that they used to prevent erosion when they filled the causeway. It seemed to me that a blown tack might land this person on those rocks, probably inflatable part first. I decided to drive down to where I thought that might happen, just in case.

I got back in my truck and drove a short distance. When I got back out the boat had tacked and was making way away from the shore. I was relieved that I would not be climbing down any sharp rocks. A later look at the area NOAA chart revealed that this was probably a good strategy. It allowed him to get the largest waves of Tampa Bay over with in one long tack, then stay close enough to shore and shallow waters to avoid large waves the rest of the day. I imagine waves are real speed killers for the boats carrying those inflatable amas, so avoiding them was a good move. A short video of this encounter is below:

Everglades Challenge 2012 participant near Southern Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier Park at 11:00 am

The post WaterTribe Everglades Challenge 2012 Start first appeared on Tropical Boating.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge at Dawn

The Everglades Challenge is an annual event in which kayaks, canoes and small sailboats race from Fort Desoto Park at the mouth of Tampa Bay down to Key Largo. It started as a paddling event, but more sailors become interested in competing every year. This is not an ordinary sailboat race, and making it to the finish line is considered a major accomplishment, regardless of position in the fleet.

The event is run by the Watertribe, a group of extreme outdoor enthusiasts who do things for fun that others would only choose to do if they were involved in a war and had no other choices. They have a lot of rules to keep the competitors safe, and they have funny rules just to make it interesting. Crews must launch their boats from above the high tide line, carrying with them any equipment used to do it. Sailboats must be able to lower the mast on the water and proceed under human propulsion of some kind in order to negotiate parts of the course.

Each boat has a SPOT tracking device, and you can watch the whole race on the Watertribe website. At least, that is the idea. In practice, the tracking system was overwhelmed and useless this year, making the job of running the race very difficult.

The Everglades Challenge first attracted my attention because of the funny rules and the quirky boats and people it attracts, and also because I live and boat in this part of the world, and have some idea of how difficult it can be. This year, I decided to go up and witness the start of the race.

I arrived at Fort Desoto Park East Beach shortly after dawn, after getting off a bit later than intended from Punta Gorda. I was hoping to have time to peruse the fleet before they left, but I got there with just a few minutes remaining before the 7 am start of the Everglades Challenge. I started to wander through the fleet on the beach toward the tallest masts, looking for the famous Sizzor trimaran built for this event by sailmaker Randy Smyth (Watertribe name: SewSew). I had just spotted it when the guy in front of it clapped, the horn went off, and away it went! Turns out the guy was Randy, and he was ready to GO! If you want to see Sizzor, watch the video below of the start of the race and you will get the same quick glimpse I got.

Everglades Challenge Fleet On Beach

The beach was bristling with masts and swarming with kayaks and people. Who would have thought this many people would think it is a good idea to take a small boat most of the way down Florida's Gulf Coast to the Keys? Yet here they are, along with a sizable contingent of spectators and enablers.

Everglades Challenge Fleet

I started to wander through the fleet, and was immediately intrigued by the wide variety of boats. A beautiful wooden tandem kayak here, a fancy fiberglass one with a sail rig and inflatable amas beyond, and a home-built wooden trimaran, each of them making me wish I had arrived a bit sooner. Competitors were saying their farewells to friends on shore and once the first rush of boats got off, it was the most relaxed start of a sailboat race I have ever seen, and I participated in the Sun Cat Nationals!

Everglades Challenge Kayaks Launch

The bulk of the kayak and sail-assisted kayak fleet got off the beach promptly, if not as quickly as Sizzor, and began to leave the beach in a large group. Many of the kayaks were carrying small sail rigs with inflatable battens, and there were single and tandem paddling kayaks, canoes and others. Some of the boats were competing in the Watertribe Ultra Marathon, which runs concurrently with the Everglades Challenge and ends at Boca Grande.

Proa Sailing Away

Another boat that made me wish I had arrived earlier was this proa, getting off to a pretty good start in company with the kayak and canoe group.

Hobie Tandem Adventure Island Launch

Another boat I really wanted to see was the Hobie Tandem Mirage Adventure Island trimaran sailing kayak. We own a pair of the solo Adventure Islands, but I had not seen the two person boat except in pictures. I got there just as Watertribe member DogsLife was hauling his boat into the water, with the proa launching in the background.

Tandem Island Departs

And away he goes! You can see in the background that the proa has made it to knee-deep water a short distance from shore. The sailboats were unable to put rudders and centerboards or daggerboards all the way down until they cleared the shallow area near the beach.

Lil Gem and the SCAMP

Down the beach, I could see a tiny gaff-rigged catboat going into the water as a strange and tubby little red boat with a lug rig sailed away. Strange little boats capture my attention every time! It turns out that the little catboat is Lil Gem, built by my trailersailor catboat forum friend Scott, who is also President of the Sun Cat Class Association. The tubby red boat is a SCAMP, and they were in for quite an adventure! They made it to the 3rd checkpoint down in Flamingo, FL before being grounded on a mud flat when the wind blew all the water out of Florida Bay. They were stuck for a couple of days before other Everglades Challenge participants, volunteers, and Park Rangers managed to extract the crew from the boat. The boat remains stuck in Florida Bay as I write this on March 14, 2011. (The EC began on March 5th.) You can read the whole story on the Small Craft Advisor Forum discussion of SCAMP in the Everglades Challenge.

Lil Gem Rowing Away

Lil Gem moved away smartly under oars and once safely clear of shore the two little boats sailed away.

I550 Hot Canary

Meanwhile, the custom I550 built by the Meade and Jan Gougeon and their crew at West Systems Epoxy was in the water and the brothers were preparing to depart. You can watch the boat come together in this time lapse construction video.

I550 Loading Up

The Gougeon brothers used three inflatable tubes to roll the boat down the beach and in this shot they are loading them aboard just prior to pulling away. In the background from left to right, you can see a strange little trimaran, 12' catboat Lil Gem, and a Hobie Adventure Island sailing away. This is an extremely rare picture of Lil Gem actually beating an I550 in a race, if only briefly!

With the early departures gone, the beach remained somewhat crowded with strange little boats and participants who seemed to be in no particular hurry to leave. This video shows some of the stragglers getting under way, or at least trying mightily to do so.

Stragglers on Beach

The remaining boats on the beach included a rowing kayak, a wooden trimaran with inflatable amas, a flat bottomed sailing skiff from Texas and a few others.

Sea Pearl Launch

The cat ketch contingent made it into the water, with cheers erupting as veteran competitor Moon Shadow, a Sea Pearl 21, rolled down the beach. Beyond is a Core Sound 20 cat ketch already floating at the shore.

Core Sound 20

Here is a side view of the Core Sound 20 preparing to leave. This one has been modified from the original design with the addition of a rather long bow sprit, allowing them to fly an asymmetric spinnaker to improve the boat's light air performance.

Sharpie Beam

These Sharpie Cat Ketch designs from B and B perform very well in races like the Everglades Challenge, and one reason is the narrow beam of the boats. Look how skinny that thing is! 6'3" is pretty narrow for a 20 foot sailboat, but the resulting hull shape is easily driven under sail and easier to paddle or row than wider boats.

Sea Pearl 21

Moon Shadow looked great with her black hull topsides. Here is a nice shot with the sun rising behind the Sunshine Skyway bridge in the background.

Sea Pearl 21 Leaving

As the Sea Pearl 21 pulled away under reefed sails, I was watching this boat prepare to depart. I am not sure what it is, and I do not mean just the make and model. I mean, is that a kayak? A sailboat? A canoe? I am not sure what to call it, but it looks like a pretty neat little boat.

Lightning Racing Dinghy

This Lightning racing dinghy struck me as a sort of strange choice for the Everglades Challenge. It is fast, but hard on the crew in such a long race. They got off the beach pretty fast, but wound up in the "stragglers" group because an error in rigging was discovered after launch. Here they are rerigging the boat as others depart around them.

Lightning Departs

After fixing the rigging, the Lightning took off and was quickly out of sight. I just barely got this distant and somewhat fuzzy photo of them as they zoomed away.

O'Day Daysailer Kedge Launch

This sailor was racing an O'Day 14 foot Daysailer DS II, and here is attempting to launch the boat using a makeshift kedge with rope purchase and sliding the boat down skids made from PVC pipe. I thought the scene must look kind of funny to the people who were arriving at the park to participate in a Diabetes benefit event. They would look down the beach and see one poor fellow struggling to launch his boat as a whole bunch of us stood around, some taking pictures, none helping out.

As shown in the video above, the kedge launch attempt failed to budge the boat, but it was eventually manhandled down into the water, prompting cheers from the crowd.

O'Day Afloat

Persistence and a lot of grunting by the sailor finally paid off, and the O'Day was floating by the shore and ready to go.

Blue Jay 14 Mullet

Of all the participants, the one who put on the best show at departure from my perspective was this guy on the Blue Jay 14 named Mullet. Watching his launching technique, I was pretty sure he had not thought about it very carefully and had never tried it before. He basically spun the boat downhill, each half-rotation gaining a foot or so of progress toward the water. It was painful to watch, and the sand was tinted blue in places with his hull paint by the time it was over. The little hard dodger and tarp to stretch over the frame at the back of the boat was pretty practical for a little boat, I thought. At least he could make a little cabin of sorts if weather conditions demanded it, or if sleeping away from shore to escape the bugs seemed a good idea.

Mullet Spin Launch

Usually, when sailors refer to a "spin launch" one assumes they are talking about raising a spinnaker sail, not spinning down the beach, but this character is a bit different from most sailors, it seems!

Mullet Without Rudder

The spin launch was followed by a departure that was interesting, to say the least. He got aboard and the bow of the boat immediately blew off downwind, toward the beach. The sailor calmly started setting his rudder pintles into the gudgeons. Click the picture to enlarge it. I was wondering whether I could sprint over and help him when he crashed back into the beach, wondering whether that would violate the rules of the competition (which allow seeking help from locals in some cases), and most of all wondering why in the world the people from WaterTribe would allow this obvious novice to set off on such a dangerous race.

As I was wondering, he got his rudder in place and immediately turned a bit further downwind, toward the beach! He managed to build a little speed with this technique and then turned and sailed off across the wind under barely hoisted mainsail until he had enough room to raise his sails. It was really nicely done, and I realized that his departure was no accident - it only looked like one! I later learned in online forum discussions that the guy is an Everglades Challenge veteran. I would have been surprised at the time to learn that he knew what he was doing, and that was just the way he does it!

Adventure Island with Sail Out

Another kind of unconventional departure was executed by this sailor with his solo Hobie Adventure Island. I am not sure why the boat was launched with the sail already deployed. It is a roller furling sail that only takes a second to deploy, and the boat is capable of leaving under MirageDrive power and then setting the sail. I usually back mine out using the paddle, put the paddle away when I have enough water to insert the MirageDrive, and set the sail once the drive is set in the well.

Rowing Kayak

This rowing kayak with fold-out oar supports looked very fast as it departed the beach, but then the paddler slowed down to get comfortable just as I got my video camera pointed at him. Oh well, a moment too late again!

Dune Tandem AI

The Hobie Cat people really got the "Dune" color right on this tandem Adventure Island hulls, as this picture shows. Blends right in with the actual dune! As the sailor prepares his boat, some guy is checking out the rudder closely. A few minutes later I learned that the guy is Keith, aka Chekika from the Hobie Adventure Island forums, a person I had "talked" to online quite a bit, but never met. Keith takes his Adventure Island on long trips down in what is arguably the worst part of the Everglades Challenge race course: the area around Flamingo and Everglades City. His interest in the new, more robust rudder design from Hobie was understandable once I learned who he was!

Tandem AI Sailing

Looks great under sail with the Dune hulls and blue/white/smoke colored sail! Click to enlarge the picture and you can see that the sailor appears to be crawling aft. I guess he is shifting from the front seat to the rear one.

Trimaran with Inflatable Amas

This was one of the more unusual boats on the beach: a trimaran featuring inflatable amas and a strange offset tiller arrangement. It is also carrying what looks like a spare mainsail, complete with booms. I was just staring it the boat as he got it ready and wondering where you go to buy inflatable amas. Ebay, I guess. They seem to have everything else!

Trimaran Sails Off

The boat must be fairly light, because he wrestled it down the beach with little trouble and sailed away. That rig looks a bit on the small side to me, but the boat was moving along OK. Maybe that other sail is the big one.

Update April 18, 2011: that trimaran sailor is Wade, who contacted me to get photos of his launch. He reports that the other sail is actually the smaller one. The sail he is using is 54 square feet, and the smaller lug sail that is lashed down is 37 square feet.

Strange Sailboats

An unusual event like this one attracts a more diverse collection of strange little boats than you will see anywhere else!

Dressing for Weta Tri

Some more conventional boats also make the race, including a Hobie 16 and this guy in his red Weta trimaran. Here he is dressing for the rather wet ride to come.

Setting Weta Sails

All geared up and setting the sails.

Cluttered Weta Tri

I was thinking that perhaps he should stow his gear before setting the sails, but if you look at the forward hatch, it is already stuffed! I guess this is what the boat looks like when the gear is stowed! The Everglades Challenge is a long race, and both rules and practical concerns dictate carrying a lot of stuff.

Sorting Gear

These guys appeared to have a few things left to sort out and stow before they could leave. In the background is an interesting shoal draft sailing skiff. I went over to have a look at it, and found that it came all the way from Texas!

Texas Sailing Skiff

The varnished post on the bow stood in contrast to the utilitarian appearance of this sailing skiff from Texas.

Solo Sea Kayaker

Many sea kayakers like to travel with a pack of other boats, especially when crossing a major shipping channel like the one in Tampa Bay, but this guy seemed comfortable setting off by himself a bit behind the crowd. I guess the knife on his leg is for harvesting alligators for food along the way.

Kayak Video Blogger

This guy had a good excuse for getting off a bit late: he was making a video of his departure, most likely for a blog about sea kayaking in the Everglades Challenge.

Sailing Sea Kayak

Here is a sea kayak with some very long, skinny, inflatable amas. Where are these guys getting all these funny-shaped inflatable amas? UPDATE 4/1/2011: I learned on the Hobie Cat discussion forums that this is the Watertribe's Chief departing in his Kruger Canoe with Balogh sail and inflatable amas. Thanks, Keith!

Standup Paddleboarders

Just when I thought I had seen all the weird and crazy things there were to see at the Everglades Challenge, I looked out over the bay and saw these characters, who obviously failed their sanity test. I do not know if they are competing in the Everglades Challenge or the Ultra Marathon but either way they have a long way to go on a standup paddleboard. The wind seemed to be affecting them quite a bit, and soon after I took that picture both were kneeling on their boards, presumably to lower windage. Standing or kneeling all the way to Boca Grande, let alone Key Largo, does not sound like a fun challenge to me.

Triak Sailing Kayak

I guess the Triak sailor is counting on the speed of his boat under paddle and sail to catch up with the fleet and make it to Boca Grande before the time limit expires, or maybe he is just a late sleeper or had to run to the store for one last thing. No one was loading or launching the boat while I was there.

Tiny Kayak

Fast kayaks that can travel long distances with ease tend to be very long and skinny, but this guy builds tiny kayaks with good performance and the ability to compete in long adventure races like this one. Where he puts all his gear is a complete mystery to me.

Trimaran Clarity

They were still getting things prepped for departure on this trimaran named Clarity as I got ready to leave the beach for my own adventure.

Remainder of Fleet on Beach

One last shot down the beach as I walked away. By this time the scene on the beach must have looked quite strange to people just arriving. A smattering of strange little boats scattered down the shore, with a few others disappearing into the distance out on Tampa Bay. No wonder people think sailors and kayakers are a bit strange sometimes!

Adventure Island Trailer Launch

My version of a fun adventure for my Hobie Adventure Island is to explore someplace new for a few hours and then go home for lunch, so I decided to bring my boat along and do some sailing in the back bays behind Fort Desoto. I found a kayak rental outfit and a short distance down the dirt road was a small ramp, suitable for trailer launching the boat, if not quite big enough for my truck. I sailed out into Mullet Key Bayou, where a kayak fishing tournament was under way. The fishermen were not enjoying the stiff breeze across the bayou, and I saw several working pretty hard against it, but it made for a fun sail in the Adventure Island. It's a very shallow place, and I put a couple of new scratches in my daggerboard, but that is to be expected when exploring Florida backwaters.

De Soto Kiteboard Beach

After my sail, I took a quick drive down to the end of the De Soto Park road, where kiteboard sailors gather to play. I did not think to take any pictures at the beach, but did shoot the video below. I took this picture from the rest area on the Sunshine Skyway causeway, looking back across the bay at the kiteboard beach.

Some video of kite boarders at Fort Desoto Park Beach:

The post Watertribe Everglades Challenge 2011 Start first appeared on Tropical Boating.