2016 Everglades Challenge

Here is one of the more puzzling things I have seen in many years following participants in the WaterTribe Everglades Challenge. IslandMutant, who would have finished today and was near SewSew about 5 mi out of Flamingo (CK3) at 8 AM, has reversed himself and traveled back around Cape Sable and is now off Ponce de Leon Bay--about 25 mi north of where he was at 8 AM this morning. SewSew, who was near him, will finish in the next hour or so.

He does not appear to be going into Ponce de Leon Bay (an inside route to FLM), but appears to be travelling back up the coast. People push themselves so hard, they become confused, hallucinate, go in the wrong direction for a period, etc. I don't know if this is MutantIsland's case, but he is headed in the wrong direction.

Another check clearly shows MutantIsland is heading north. Currently he is just north of Ponce de Leon Bay and making 7.3 kn

At 4:20 PM, he is just south of Highland Beach, about 35 mi north along shore from where he was this morning. Still traveling north at 7.1 kn.

At, 6:37 PM, MutantIsland has stopped on Turkey Key about 15 mi south of Chokoloskee (CP2). I've checked the WaterTribe Results page, and he actually checked into Flamingo (CP3) and apparently turned around and headed back north. Never seen anything like it before.

Amazing!

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Keith:
You know the area better than anyone, I have never been there myself (I don't like gators or mosqueetos).
My question is it possible he doesn't know the area well enough and ran himself down one of the many dead end shallow areas and mud bogs we all hear about down there, and is now searching for a deeper water route. It's either that or the Ziki virus got him and now he has to think with a really tiny head, got to be one or the other.
FE

No. From my previous post, you can see that he actually checked into CP3, and then, turned around and headed back up the coast. I think he knows exactly what he is doing, but it is hard to understand why he did not finish the race. He is almost back to Chokoloskee (CP2).

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

This is so bizarre !!! Can't imagine what he's doing. Maybe he forgot something in Chokoloskee

We're going back and forth between checking the everglades challenge and the iditarod in Alaska. Following our favorite mushers and watertribe participants. Lots of interesting stories and experiences being made.

Gutsy mod. Look forward to seeing what comes next.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

I hope he makes it ok, because I really want to ask him what kind of tape he used to hold his hull mod on with, I'm goin to toss mine and make a new one like his (a really clever design).
Think about it, a Weta costs around $14 grand, a TI costs around $6500.
My hull mod cost me about $250 bucks to make, I'm pretty sure my new one (just like his) will cost me around $500-$700 bucks to make. I make all my own sails and they typically cost me a couple hundred to make, even figuring store bought sails at a thousand each for a nice reacher and jib system with furlers and hardware is probably fair.
That comes out to about $9 grand. You get a boat probably equal in performance to a WR-17 but half the weight (and way more versatile), I think the Windrider 17's cost around $9600. The best part is you get the wonderful Mirage drives and you can still easily car top (I car top my TI often), I've never seen anyone trying to car top a WETA or a WR-17.

My simple hull mod gave me an extra 100 lbs of flotation, I'm just guessing here but that full hull shoe will likely give me at least a couple hundred more pounds flotation capacity, and with my now widened stance (12ft wide) I'll easily be able to haul 4-5 adults plus gear. The re-enforced hull (from the mod) should cure most of the hull flexing problems I get with my current setup.
My current hull mod weighs about ten lbs, I'm just guessing here his adds maybe 15-20 lbs weight to his boat (not a show stopper by any means).
My favorite part about TI's is you can take all the extras off and you get a really fine and fast kayak as well (even with all the gadgets on ours, we often remove them and take it out in just kayak mode). Makes it nice when we travel to have one boat that does it all. We have had ours out in the ocean scuba diving one day, then two days later kayaked up the quiet Sante Fe river then a few weeks later we were running the class 2 rapids on the Huron river, then a few weeks later sailed out to Macinac Island (I won't do that one again though).
If nothing else I think this guy (Islandmutant, and others as well, especially in this years race) has opened up everyones eyes to what you can really do with these amazing boats that Hobie invented.
Ok I'll get off my soap box now.
FE

There is an odd loop-de-loop off East Cape in IslandMutant's tracks... Maybe he DID catch the Zika virus!
Or maybe he forgot to sign the log book at Chokoloskee...
Or maybe that's not really him and someone stole his boat while he was sleeping...
Or maybe he was disqualified for some reason and is now on a joy ride...
Or?????

_________________
Don Haynes
Aka TriBlue

2005 Outback Red
2011 Adventure Blue converted to an Island
2015 Tandem Island Red

E-mail: [email protected]

Yes very bizarre... will be interesting to hear the real story when it comes out!

Heard that they had to bring in quite a bit of snow by rail car to get the Idtarod started!
Also bizarre in the dead of winter in Alaska!

Don

_________________
Don Haynes
Aka TriBlue

2005 Outback Red
2011 Adventure Blue converted to an Island
2015 Tandem Island Red

E-mail: [email protected]

I like your possible explanations Don, especially the one about the boat being stolen while he was sleeping. The lucky thief need to ditch that spot tracker though.

Yeah, the last couple years the temps have been warm in Alaska and not much snow for the iditarod (at least the first part of the race). Last year they moved the start to Fairbanks it was so bad. We can view live feeds from checkpoints with our iditarod insider subscription. Weird watching the race start and people in short sleeve shirts !

+1 on the outcome of this one. Please more photos or video of sailing in such swamped conditions. Our first time out my wife left the plug out of her AI after 3 hours it still wasn't that bad. She was able to keep up with bailing by using a sponge. We had a good laugh after finding the issue.

MutantIsland is still stopped on Turkey Key about 12 hrs 30 min after he stopped last evening. That is also surprising, but he is apparently not in the EC anymore and may be just relaxing, or....

At 9:18 AM Tuesday, he is on the move again--north. Shortly we will see if he heads into Chokoloskee or keeps going north.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

If it's of any interest a drone video was taken of the EC start and posted on the Watertribe site.

Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2TN5g_ ... e=youtu.be

FE

At 11:07 AM, MutantIsland is going into Chokoloskee (CK2). Maybe he just wanted to go to Havana Cafe one more time before finishing the race.

At 11:19 AM, MI is at CP2 in Chokoloskee. After this impressive run, I wonder how many people will want more details about MI's modification to his boat and sails?

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Mystery solved, well, sort of. PaddleDancer, Chief's race manager, says that MutantIsland quit, and is headed back north to be picked up. That solves the current mystery. New question, why did he drop out with only 30 mi to go after traveling 280 miles??

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

I took a short video as I was approaching them. The video ended when I realized I wasn't just looking at a heavily loaded boat.

https://vimeo.com/158191892