KiwiBird left Tampa Bay this morning under rather good conditions with NNE winds at 9 MPH and projected high of 63 degrees F. She called in at 1:47PM from the middle of Sarasota Bay to say that the mouthpiece to her water bladder busted and she lost most of her water. She's operating on a spare liter she keeps and luckily has a back-up mouthpiece to put in place once she hits Check Point 1 and can refill her bladder.
Floatsome reported at 4:17PM that her rudder, that was recently repaired, also busted. She is continuing to CP1 this evening, paddling along with SandyBottom and Floatsome.
At 5:17 KiwiBird reported that she was at Venice Inlet and had repaired her rudder by ramming her boat in to a sandbar and then climbing in to make the repair with a ziptie. Kiwi ingenuity! She also said that winds were at about 12 knots and she was sailing at about 5-7 MPH and having lots of fun!
Once again this year KiwiBird is being sponsored by BubbaGirls (http://www.bubbagirl.com/) and their new BAD girl initiative that encourages young women to Be Adventurous and Daring. Special thanks to Mary Holsenbeck and her mentorship of women of all ages through Bubba Girls.
For the first time, KiwiBird plans to paddle with an Ad Hoc team that includes Floatsome and SandyBottom. Floatsome is new to the EC this year, but did participate in the NC Challenge last year and has a strong record of tenacity through his triathalon events. Pictured are the trio at 5:30AM on Thursday as they were leaving Durham, NC for Fort DeSoto.
1 comment:
Go KiwiBird & SandyBottom!!!
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