Have you done any "expedition" trips on the AI?

WaterTribe 2017 Everglades Challenge Update

Day 7—Mar 11, 8:45 AM This is the last update, but I will follow this with some pictures. 13 Tandem Islands and 4 AI 2s started. Summary of results for Hobie Islands:

Captgnarly, TI, was the first finisher. He was followed by LuckyMe & BoatBum, a father/son team in a Tandem. Next by a couple hours was Jim Czarnowski in his AI 2. One more AI 2 and 4 TIs have finished and one TI is still underway hoping to make today's noon deadline. In sum, 6 TIs and 2 AI 2s finished. 1 TI is in progress. 6 TIs and 2 AI 2s DNF/DNS.

A good year for Islands. Congratulations to all!!!

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, your running commentary and insights were much appreciated. Thanks. My congratulations to all participants.

Gulfman in a Revolution 16 (I think) also finished in 7 days, 10 hours, 29 minutes. A superb effort and proof that Hobie monohulls can make the grade in this great endurance event.

Thanks LB. Yes, Gulfman did very well.

WaterTribe 2017 Everglades Challenge Update on Bones

Day 8—Mar 11, 7:17 AM This update is about our friend Bones. It turns out he was rescued and spent a couple days in the Homestead Baptist Hospital. The last time he punched his SPOT he was behaving erratically. It was Day 4 of the EC. He does not remember the 10 hours before his rescue. He anchored his boat near the East Cape Canal and apparently swam to shore among the mangroves. As another WaterTribe sailboat passed, he was able to attract their attention by flashing his flashlight beam in the mangrove branches. His rescuers were Nomadic and Rover in a Core Sound sail boat. They got him into their boat and emptied his dry suit of water. They took him the 10 mi into Flamingo where Rangers were waiting. The Rangers took him to the entrance of the Park and transferred him to an ambulance, which took him to the Homestead hospital. He is out and attended the WaterTribe Finish party yesterday.

His AI 2 was recovered and brought to Flamingo where his wife picked it up. All is well.

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

Thanks for taking the time every year to do this report Keith. Always admire people who can take our boats to the limit.
It would be interesting to see what mods Hobie have made to the boats purely from watertribe feedback.

_________________


Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

Thanks Russ. I'm going to post a rather amazing and ingenious repair before long. You will enjoy it.

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

WaterTribe 2017 Everglades Challenge Follow-up

Captgnarly's Little Adventure As if simply doing the Everglades Challenge is not enough, Captgnarly had to add his own hurtle. Before reaching Ckpt #2, he broke an aka. Simply sheared the port aka off at its connection to the knuckle connector. You can see the clean break in this picture:




It happened in open water despite the fact that he was using tramps and hakas. His Tandem is an early boat of 2010 vintage, so it may simply been metal fatigue. Here is another view of his splinter repair.




Those pictures only tell part of the repair job. This video, which Captgnarly calmly took during the repair, tells the full story. (Had it been me, I would have been flailing my arms around in despair.)




If that video does not display properly, here is the full link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yPW3tGki0c

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

That's impressive!
Having to be resourceful, along with the difficult conditions encountered and racing is what makes the Watertribe event so great.
I've enjoyed reading your updates Keith. You have better info than the Watertribe site!

I'm interested in Hobie's response, or any other thoughts on the cause. My TI is the same vintage.
If you hear anything please let us know.

Thanks, Stringy, for you nice comments. I like to know what is going on like with Bones and Captgnarly's broken aka. I figure everyone else would like to know too, so I write it up with pictures if possible.

I understand that Captgnarly's broken aka is being sent to Hobie headquarters. I doubt we will hear a word from them. Recall? Never!

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

WaterTribe 2017 Everglades Challenge Follow-up

Randy Smyth always has one of the most interesting and beautiful boats in the Everglades Challenge. Here it and Randy are at the start of the last year’s Challenge.




This year, again, his boat was unique, sporting a wing sail.




As sleek and unusual as Sizzor was this year, it was much slower than last: 3 days 10 hrs 9 min vs 2 days 13 hours 8 min. Nevertheless, Randy and Sizzor were the first boat to the finish in Key Largo by almost a day. There were other very fast boats with 2 man crews on the beach at Ft Desoto, but after the aborted start because of weather, they chose to quit rather than make the trip down to Ckpt 1, the official start the next day.

In case you are wondering, Randy is a professional sail maker and world-class sailor.

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'm totally sold on wings, all my designs moving forward are only wing designs, I'm sold anyway.
FE
Edit: I would have used a furlable assymetric wing design rather than rigid symmetric though.

Great pics of SewSew Keith. What an amazing craft!
Now that's what the future TI should look like!

+1

Thanks, Keith.

I have to make a correction. Randy Smyth's WaterTribe's name is SewSew. His beautiful boat's name is Sizzor.

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

_________________
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