2015 WaterTribe Everglades Challenge, Mar 7-14, 2015

Cwolfe wrote:

Accepting Responsibility..........

So it is safe to say that this years EC was a disappointment to all. Anyone who has participated in one or has been the friends or family of a participant knows all too well the all consuming dedication, preparation both physical and mental, time and financial commitment. We put our heart and soul into the event and we are paid back exponentially in our experiences and the relationships that develop from our parallel solo challenges. I think it is safe to say that the time in and around the first weekend in March is something that makes us step a little taller, work a little harder and have more passion in our lives the other 51 weeks of the year. This was a big deal.

The race or challenge is different things to different people. For some it is an adventure trip at a challenging but not competitive pace, for some it is a bucket-list event, for some it is driven by a very competitive drive to push themselves through physical and mental barriers to test themselves while simultaneously wanting to be best in class. It is not a race for all, but it is definitely a race for some.

So first and foremost we need to acknowledge that people have a right to be disappointed and angry. Not that those emotions are helpful but they are real. I think that things could have gone better on many different levels. Blaming the Coast Guard for being the Coast Guard is one of the least productive pathways on our road to recovery. Accepting that a better job could have been done on all levels from having the required permits and notification to local authorities, to some participants being better prepared. Or for me, just to have made it down there despite not being able to race this year. The EC is important to me, I should have been there. I could have helped.

The bruises of cast stones rarely lead to change. Acknowledgement of our mistakes is the only true way that we minimize the chances of repeating them.

Respectfully,

Cwolfe

I was on a Hobie TI. I made the mistake of starting out in the front seat. Kept burying the nose under water. Was always in control but sure slowed the boat. After rounding Anna Maria I hove to, moved to the back seat and took off. Hit 11.8 top end until Stump Pass and then hit 17 knots surfing in the breakers. I was in about 17:20. Dropped out due to the cancelation. When I took the boat apart at number 1 I had about 8-10 gallons inside from burying the nose. Lesson learned!

Even more unfortunate is a rumor that has started which paints many of the Hobie Islands as the ones that required rescue.

It was posted on the facebook page of a competing boat company. I don't want to paint it as being intentional - I don't think it is, but I don't like seeing the Islands painted in a bad light as if the conditions were too much for them or their pilots.

I know how public forms and facebook pages can get, with people going off half cocked at anysemblance of a perceived slight, so I'd prefer not to have a bunch of people jumping on someone that may just be repeating something they heard or were told. I posted a matter of fact response and have sent Matt the information.

I'd have to disagree with that to some extent anyway. I've seen other manufacturers' boats denigrated here as well, also unfairly. I have stood up for a couple at various times, just as I stood up for the Island yesterday when I saw what I saw.

If you choose to believe I have made this up, do so.

Matt Miller A retraction is in order here. The news reports showed a lot of Hobie Islands at the checkpoint... because the largest class of boats in the event... were Islands. Not because they had to be rescued. Come on guys. Not cool at all, misleading if not slander. We are unaware of a single Adventure Island or Tandem Island that was "rescued".

Weta Trimarans of Florida: Initial reports turned out to be incorrect. One adventure island owner did beach his boat as he feared eminent break up.