Been to long…and too damn busy
I’ve fallen into the world of small boats recently. These two were entrants into the tenth annual Everglade Challenge. It’s a wild race for crazy people who race kayaks and small sailboats (a nine footer shown above) from St. Petersburg Fl down the west coast, around Naples, into the thin waters of the Everglades, across Florida Bay and finish in Key Largo….300 miles to be exact. I covered the race for Small Craft Advisor, a magazine out of Port Townsend, Washington.
One guy I interviewed who won the race a couple of years ago said “I’ve raced all kinds of sailboats for years and won my share of races. If you win a race, you might think about it a couple of weeks. If you win the Everglade Challenge, you remember it for life.”
The race is loosely organized and run by the WaterTribe. Everyone races with a tribal name like Krank, Lugnut, Woodcutter, or Krunch. The boss is, of course, Chief. I took the name Cyclops as I spent much of my time looking through a single lens reflex digital camera. The race turned out to be windier than predicted with a number of capsizes, sinkings, and damaged boats washed up on various beaches to be recovered by wives, friends or family. The winning boat, a Toronado catamaran crewed by Bumpy and Machoman completed the race in 26 hours! Others took four and five days.
In all my years I have never seen anything quite like it, proving once again you never stop learning to sail. I have had some other amazing experiences and finds in the small boat world so I will share a few more soon.
Hey Bill,
Sounds like a wild event we might have undertaken in our youth! I’d like to see some of your photographs.
Roger
Hi Roger,
I skyped Will a week or so ago. He looked and sounded good. We are coming back May 10-15, thereabouts. When are you and Kathy going to be there? I want to organize our annual Woerfels Woods meeting and would like to include you.
Bil