E.C. Traditions

Apologies for the delay in posting updates on the Florida-bound KiwiBird. Technical difficulties.

KB arrived at Fort Desoto Park about 6:30 pm yesterday in the company of SandyBottom, DanceswithSandyBottom and SOS, with the Core Sound 20 Dawn Patrol that DwSB and SOS will sail in tow. The photograph above is in the El Cheapo truck stop parking lot at the exit ramp from I-95 for Midway, Georgia.

Why there? Fried chicken. At a small stand in the back of the convenience store two ladies serve up some the tastiest cluck you’ll find, along with a selection of fine southern country sides. Last year they hit the spot going both directions, and I expect they will again. For this crowd, the Everglades Challenge is all about traditions. The first is the Wednesday night dinner at SB and DwSB’s, the second is a tardy departure Thursday morning, and fried chicken at El Cheapo comes third. There will be more.

At 7:00 last night, a party commenced at SavannahDan and Paddlemaker’s campsite, so make that tradition four. This year, as last, the E.C. commences on the new moon, and the challenge, if you’ll pardon the expression, at the party is to avoid tripping over raccoons in the dark. Last year we all repaired to the recreation center because it was so cold; this year the mozzies might have forced the same retreat.

First light Friday finds the crew heading for tradition five: eggs benedict at the Village Inn. I’m not entirely sure what DwSB (far left) and SOS (far right) are eating, but KB and SB are clearly upholding the tradition.

With tanks full once again, it’s down the street to the supermarket to pick up the last bits of food to pack for the trip. It’s an even mix between picking up treats (sardines anyone?) and KB talking SB into buying more granola bars.

Back at Fort Desoto, it’s time to get the boats on the beach and pack them. Boats go just above the high tide (WaterTribe rules and common sense), and 15-20 kilos of gear and water get toted down in Ikea bags and then stowed away. Food generally waits until the morning, as the raccoons are ingenious and persistent.



Left to right, these three fellows are Hammerstroke, Sundance and Paddlepeddler. The four of us can tell (and have told) some stories about a sleepless night on an island during last fall’s North Carolina Challenge.

This year sees a record number of entries for the E.C. (71) and the Ultramarathon (13). Since many of those entries have two aboard, the total number of entrants exceeds 100. It’s a busy beach and even more crowded beach shelter for the Captains’ meeting at 1500.

Finally, be sure to check Steve Earley’s blog regularly. He’s the shore contact for SB and DwSB and SOS, and he has a way with words.

All packed, I think

Andrew and I went to REI last night, to spend my outstanding dividend and a gift card on a few kilos of energy bars for the 2011 WaterTribe Everglades Challenge. We love REI. And it's always better to go on a week night with a nearly-four-year-old, as there's fewer people around when he rides the bikes.

The new Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx arrived mid-morning yesterday, courtesy of an overnight UPS service, and thanks to fellow paddlers KneadingWater and Seiche I now have a set of routes, waypoints and tracks to steer me by. I've even read the user's manual...

For the first time I weighed a few things. I've 6.87 kgs (15.5 lbs) of food, which includes bottles of Ensure for an evening swig, a few freeze-dried dinners, dried mangoes, a few Hammer gels, and lots of bars. I find if I don't eat at least every hour, I tend to fall over.

The rest of the gear weighs in at just over 11 kgs (c 24 lbs), which includes Macpac tent (1.8kgs), Exped sleeping mat (1 kg), sleeping bag (1.4kg), toiletries (1.16kgs, including three WagBags!), gas stove and related (1.36kgs), wet weather jacket (846gms), first-aid bag (286gms), sacrosanct dry gear (1.1 kgs), repair kit (730gms), under deck bag with head lamps, mozzzie head net, bug spray, etc (902 gms), and a tow belt (532 gms). This doesn't count what I'll be wearing, such as the PFD.

I'm not bringing a kayak cart. Race rules have been tightened up this year. Usually, there's been a cart of some sort at Flamingo's CP3, and that's helped us get from one side of Whitewater Bay to Florida Bay--a distance of about 200m. But now we're on our own to make the portage. Instead, I'll unload all my gear into two big Ikea bags, carry those over, and then carry the boat over. The boat weighs 24kg and fits snugly over one shoulder. I'm usually staggering a bit by then, but this should be doable, particularly after one of Flamingo's micro-waved hamburgers and an ice-cream!

So, we leave tomorrow morning for Tampa Bay, Florida, and the race starts at 0700 on Saturday, March 5.

Floatsome will be updating this blog, the Forum's always a good place to keep an eye out for what's happening, and you can watch our SPOT progress on WaterTribe's Challenge Mapper. I'm Kiwibird ;)

Photo: KneadingWater, SandyBottom, KiwiBird and Seiche, at CP2, Chokoloskee, EC 2010.

The last minute, oh, oh's

I finally managed to start packing yesterday afternoon for this year's WaterTribe Everglades Challenge. Considering I need to deliver everything—including boat—to SandyBottom's on Wednesday night, and we leave pre-sparrow fart on Thursday to drive to Tampa, FL, and the race starts Saturday morning, this isn't bad timing.

Except when you start testing gear and it doesn't work: case of the oh, oh's, which inevitably leads to $$$...

First up was the GPS. My wonderful Garmin Map60CS—lasting four ECs—was the first not to turn back on. (Yes, I should have downloaded all my routes as soon as I returned from last year's EC...) After a few hurried conversations with Floatsome, SandyBottom and DancesWithSandyBottom—and a few discouraging frowns from FliesWithKiwiBird, I am now the (hopefully) proud owner of a Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx (could have sworn it didn't say "Discountinued product" yesterday), with pre-downloaded BlueCharts. I've also downloaded Garmin HomePort, and I should be good to go (when the GPS is (hopefully) delivered tomorrow). Just have to figure out how to get all my routes and waypoints transferred...

Then my costly Princeton Tec Apex Pro headlamp decided to quit. I've never been happy with this bit of gear, always breaking down on me (even with replacements), and it's supposed to be top-of-its-class. I've replaced it with a (slightly) cheaper Fenix HP10. Having a Cree product in it (local company) encouraged me to buy it. The HP10 looks very cool on the Web site, but a bit "Made in China" (which it is) when you finally manage to get it out of its protective thankgoodness-I'm-not-90-packaging, but I'll test it out and see how it goes.

So, let's hope that's all that I'm going to have to replace pre-start this year...

Everglades Challenge 2011

It's happening again. WaterTribe's 2011 Everglades Challenge launches off the beach in Florida on March 5 at 0700.

This will be my fifth year of competing in the EC, and once again very gratefully sponsored by BUBBA GIRL (more of that to come).

In a nutshell, we have seven days to paddle or sail (depending on which class you're entered in) to paddle the 483kms (300 or so miles) from Fort De Soto's Tampa Bay, south to Key Largo. And once again I plan to paddle via the Everglade's Wilderness Waterway, an additional 48kms (30 miles).

Over the next few days, I'll post on what gear I'll be packing and what training I have (or not) been doing.

(Top photo: the finish of the 2008 EC, before I discovered Hydropel)

Looking at new gear

If you read this blog off and on, you'll know that I'm a sucker for new gear that looks useful for sea kayaking. Reading this month's Sea Kayaker magazine, I discovered Aussie company CGear and their very cool sand mats. Some of my favourite kayak camping is on a beach, overlooking North Carolina's great coastal waters. But pitching a tent on sand, and traipsing damp sand through all my tent gear's a pain. CGear's small 1.8meter squared (6'x6') mat looks as though it just may do the trick--sand falls through the mat and doesn't came back up again.

These mats should also be perfect for our WaterTribe Everglades Challenge. Throw the mat out, strip off, clear all the sand off the damp, tired body, and jump into my pit--this should make for much better in-and-out procedures.

The small mat weighs 1.65kg (3.65lbs), which sounds just fine.

I'll keep you posted...