2016 Everglades Challenge

Why not enter the Everglades Challenge? they said.
Have the adventure of a lifetime! they said

Glad to hear that Jim made it out ok, but jeez, what a harrowing tale!

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

The statistics suggest that EC 2016 was tough for everyone. The overall completion rate in 2016 was only 34 per cent, compared with 78 per cent in 2014 and 71 per cent in 2013. (EC 2015 was called off in the early stages by the US Coast Guard).

Of the 16 Tandem Islands, 4 Adventure Islands and two modified Adventure Islands that started in 2016, only three Tandems and one modified Adventure made it to the finish. In contrast, in 2014 only four out of the 19 Hobie Islands that started did not finish.

The combination of tides, ocean swells, shoals, tight bay entrances, head winds, mangrove mazes, mosquitoes, alligators and the distance of 300 miles makes the EC an extraordinary test of sailors and boats.

I tip my hat to those who finished and those who tried, especially to the ones like PenguinMan who took the inside route.

Personally that's not my cup of tea, even a small 7ft gator or croc can climb onto a kayak and drag you out, I don't even know how hungry those giant pythons and anaconda's get (thanks to hurricane Andrew), but if they can eat a 7 ft gator, they may try to get me just for sport. We drive thru there probably 10 times a year goin to our key west place, and have seen quite a few 15-20 footers (pythons) just hangin by the side of the road (definately an invasive species problem down there, and they are not scared of us at all,,,,top of the food chain). With no drinkable water, or roads, or people, it's not for me. I would much rather follow the Mississippi to it's headwater, or go explore Thunder bay, at least you won't be eaten alive. Yea there are mosquitos up there, but nothin like the glades. But that's just me, to each their own. I got nothin to prove to anybody, just want to have fun...more fun for me to survive, and live to explore another day.

FE

You've got the right idea, Fusioneng!

The problem this year was headwinds, period. They were bad to begin with and got worse. Truly, mosquitoes, noseeums are tolerated and part of the EC. The inside route that most kayakers & Jim C took, have alligators--lots of them--but no one (EC) has ever been attacked. Crocs can be on the beaches of East Cape Sable, but not until the end of March. A large alligator




A very large croc near East Cape Sable




Keith

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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