2016 Everglades Challenge

Keith:
You are by far likely the most knowledgable person on the planet regarding that area, I would trust no one else showing me the way, maybe next season I'll sign up for one of your awesome adventures, I read about every one of them from the edge of my chair (serously).

Hopefully nobody is taking offense to my humor, I make fun of myself mostly, all the stupid stunts I've done.
FE

Thanks for your generous remarks, FE. Yes, it would be great to have you along. Pavilion out of Chokoloskee is a great trip & in Feb the mosquitoes and noseeums don't have to be bad--non-existent if you have a nice breeze.

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

It would be great to have you along, Bob (presuming, of course, that Sue and I aren't voted off the island...). I've been out to PAV 3 times now with virtually no bug nuisance to speak of. (I did see rabbits out there this past weekend and began to wonder how they get fresh water to survive...)

Keith is an awesome guide!!

I'm quite worried about Jim Czarnowski. His Tracking Map icon has not moved in 5 hrs. Strange. I hope everything is OK.

BobAgain--great you saw rabbits. There were baby raccoon tracks in our camp our last trip out. Those of you who are not aware, raccoons used to be the scourge of Pavilion Key, real PIA. Once when they were poisoned, there was a large blossom of rats, which lasted until the raccoons regained control. Recently both raccoons and rats have disappeared--pythons come to mind. In any case, nice that some small animals are being spotted.

BA--we are all waiting for the fishing report??

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

MutantIsland update via MrMako:


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

Update for all boats, 1:20 PM, Mar 9, 2016

All boats are pretty much hunkered down at the Everglades City Ranger Station or (most) are at CP2 in Chokoloskee. My friends DieTired/DieTired 2 have moved deep into one of the Chok canals to find some shelter from the wind. Triman, who came thru the "protected" waters of Whitewater Bay to Flamingo yesterday, has moved his boat from the freshwater side to the saltwater ramps, but has not moved further. 2 boats are moving in tandem (Tandems in tandem) slowly down the coast. They are just past Hog Key. One tandem, SuperTramp, a friend of mine, was moving quite well, but his SPOT seems to have stopped working--hopefully he is somewhere along the coast off Highland Beach, but don't know. Another friend, DancesWithWaves, has been moving quite slowly the whole trip. He is at the Ranger station. I'm afraid he is not feeling well. The wind is quite strong, ca 18 mph, right on the nose of the sailors. The winds will be stronger tomorrow.

Checkpoint 2 at Chokoloskee will close today at 4 pm. Anyone who does not check in by that time will be DNF.

PenquinMan, Jim Czarnowski, has not moved in 6 hrs, assuming his SPOT is working OK. No one has seen him. His Tracker icon is stopped in one of the densest parts of the Everglades.

Edit 1:54 PM: I now see that SuperTramp is making his way back to Chok. He must have had some boat malfunction.

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:
The area north west of key west is really shallow everywhere except where the narrow channels are dredged out, also quite a few of the Islands in the Mule keys are that way too (really narrow channels). Trying to tack against the wind there is pretty much impossible with the wind on your nose. We try to avoid that area if possible (It's also kind of boring up there, not much of interest btw).
Long story short, though I have never been there I'm imagining the Florida bay stretch between Flamingo and Key largo I'm wondering if its similar (narrow channels).
I've bummed around in east Florida bay quite a bit but never more than 3-4 miles from Key Largo, past there I call no mans land (lol).
The reason I'm asking is in my experience on a stock TI I simply can't imagine being able to make any headway at all with the wind on my nose in 18mph winds. Even my mighty Ultimate TI would struggle in those conditions.
Then again I suck as a sailer, maybe these guys have mad skills that I don't possess.
You know the area intimately and your a master sailer on these adventure boats, whats your advise.

The question is retorical at this point obviously. I'm just curious for my own knowledge if I ever get caught in that situation. Would you steer south then make your way up US-1 (50-75 miles out of your way) or just hunker down hoping for a wind change, looking at the weather forcasts, thats at least 3 days away. Tomorrow the winds will be in the mid 20's, thats Small craft advisory, and if it's shallow like around here thru most of Florida bay, those kind of winds equate to 8-10ft washing machine breakers off our coast anyway (Sarasota).
What would Keith do.
I think this year will go into the record books.
FE

No SPOT email from the system for Jim since 3 am. Odd that he appears to have been in a very narrow dead end area. Not the alligator tooth route as far as I know, but he likes the raised platforms for camping, so maybe why he went there.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

FE, I would do what SewSew does. Sail almost due south from Flamingo on a reach for the (always) easterly winds until I was south of Little Rabbit Key. I would then begin to sail close hauled north toward the keys, and then along the keys back up to Bay Cove, the finish. Just like SewSew.

BTW, the winds are apparently fierce. Almost no one is moving.

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 Jim went to any platforms, his SPOT has stopped functioning or is lost. My problem is, I don't like where his SPOT stopped sending messages.

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

Just reported in. All good. He is further south and just though what looked like Nightmare... alligator tooth.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/25%C2%B027'07.6%22N+81%C2%B008'33.5%22W/@25.4521,-81.14264,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Great news !!! I was starting to get a little concerned.

Yes, GREAT!! He is near the proper end of Nightmare. There ought to be some good stories.

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

At 5:30 PM, looks like Triman has left Flamingo on the SewSew route. He is now down along the Keys near Layton, working his way back north to the Bay Cove finish. Only the tandem of Tandems seems to be moving. They are along the coast, south of Highland Beach, and slightly south of Broad River.

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

_________________
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