Day1

From 7:30 am to 10:30 pm Team RAF covered the 67 miles from the starting line at Ft. De Soto to Checkpoint #1 in Placida, FL.

They crossed Tampa Bay, sailed the length of Sarasota Bay and the intracoastal waterway to Venice Inlet.





Venice Inlet



At the inlet they switched to the "outside" route in the Gulf of Mexico down to Stump Pass.

Between the start and Stump Pass, they averaged about 6 mph. Maximum speed in the Gulf was 11.5 mph.

Along the way, in the "Fall" boat captained by Kotzebue, one of the two prongs of the fork on the end of the boom broke off.

Rather than take on the risks of a surf landing, they opted to make a quick temporary repair while out on the water. Avoid the surf and surf landings: wise choice.

It was dusk when they reached Stump Pass and they decided to duck into the inside route there. At about that time the leeboard broke on the "Fall" boat.

Team RAF was able to land "Fall" and "Rise" on an island in the middle of Stump Pass.




Captain SOS reported in for the team by cellphone at 7:15 pm. He reported that they were expecting to put on warmer clothes, make a repair to the leeboard and then finish the remaining 7 miles to CP1.

On the island, other challengers were camping for the night and camping looked tempting to the tired sailors.


In a split decision Team RAF decided to leave the island and come on in to CP1. They made it to CP1 by about 11:45pm.

It was a rough time as "Rise" had to tow "Fall" under sail some/all (?) of the 8 miles from Stump Pass to CP1. When close to CP1 and going under the low bridges, the masts were down and paddling into a 5-6 knot wind was required. Going the 7 or 8 miles from 7:45 to 11:45 they must have averaged about 2 mph.

The Team arrived at CP1 tired and ready to sleep.

Check Point #1 [stock photo]


















Under the bridges into CP1









The landing at CP1 [stock photo]

[DancesWithSandyBottom reporting]

Go!

The Everglades Challenge 2007 is underway!

With 15 knot winds at their backs and partially reefed sails, Team RAF launched from the beach at Ft. De Soto at 7:30am.



Available now, you can see 4 dozen photos of a few of the challengers preparing on the beach. Wizard who set a record the single-handed record in Enigma last year (EC'06: 3 days, 5 hours !) has a newer smaller entry this year, SandFlea, shown in the photos.

Tampa Bay was rough with 4-5 foot surfing waves. Very exciting. But at 5-7 mph, was crossed in less than 1.5 hours. Team RAF then took the "inside" route down into Sarasota Bay.

Wizard (in SandFlea) reported in the WaterTribe forum that Team RAF zoomed fast past him on the "inside" route at about 9:30am.

SandyBottom (in a Kruger Dreamcatcher) called in a report from near Sarasota Bridge having covered about 24 miles in 4 hours. Team RAF had recently flown past her hiked out on the akas. She snapped some photos of them. She said they were doing well.

The EC'07 challengers are riding a weather front that is moving south with them, bringing favorable winds for the next few days. Winds are streaming out of the North/NW. Skies are overcast.

It was hard to stay warm this morning with air temperatures in the 64 F to 74 F degree range, water temperatures near 70 F, most cloudy skies with little warmth from the sun, and continual spray from punching through waves.

In the Tampa Bay crossing, a few challengers had trouble. Manitou Cruiser (owner of Kruger Canoes) reported two kayaks recovering from being flipped.

Chief reported that the Sea Pearle "BanderSnatch" driven by SailBadTheSinner and RedOverRed was dismasted (mizzen mast?) and had to withdraw. Yep, they were indeed mizzen a mast. But they are safe. After being dismasted they saw MiamiProas signalling for assistance but could not get to him due to the dismasting. MiamiProas was in a shoal area and seemed OK, but had damage.

Last night (Friday) Team RAF visited a grocery in Saint Petersburg to stock up on food. SandyBottom helped them out by keeping the raccoons away from their gear and drybags. When they returned Kotzebue and SOS helped her fix a problem with her GPS and user-unfriendly Garmin BlueCharts.

The Team was up early this morning finalizing the packing of the building and packing of the boats. Having just finished the "construction" stage, when Chief said "Go!" they were ready for the next stage: "training".

However, with winds like these --if they stay favorable-- Team RAF may never have to learn to paddle.

[DancesWithSandyBottom reporting]

Winds for Day1 of the EC'07

The time has come to leave the beach and set sail.

The winds have turned to a favorable direction clocking 15 knots (17.26 mph) from the north.

This is good news for Team RAF.

The Everglades Challenge begins at 7:00am on Saturday on a beach beside historic Ft. De Soto in the middle of Tampa Bay. Here is the wind forecast for 7am.


VanMan wrote on the WaterTribe forum today, "The weather forecast on the course looks like the best ever and we may see new course records if it holds. Consistent, but moderate, northerly winds all down the course through Monday, with strong NW winds on FL bay on Sunday night. Blasting down Tin Can and through Twisty Mile under a full moon in 20 knots. That should keep em awake! The racers just have to keep moving. There are some fast multihulls, which we may see ahead early, but I think the boats that can keep moving consistently will get there first. Roo has the course record from last year at 2 days, 18 hrs. I think that will fall. I maintain that 2 days is possible, but I think it will take a multihull to do it. Matt has the single handed record at 3 days, 5 hours in Enigma last year. I don't think Sand Flea will beat that, being so much shorter. There are alot of singlehanded multihulls and the single class 3 boats. The key will be to keep moving. This is going to be exciting. Look for 1st boats at CP1 mid-late afternoon. "

[DancesWithSandyBottom reporting.]

On the Road to Tampa Bay

Team RAF is on the road today for 11 hours driving to Ft. DeSoto County Park on Mullet Key in Tampa Bay --the starting line for the WaterTribe's Everglades Challenge 2007. Their SUV, trailer and two boats are packed to the gills with the gear and supplies required for the EC'07.
















Wednesday was an all-day marathon of tasks for the Team as they rounded up the remaining equipment and supplies on essentials checklist, finished boat-building tasks on the to-do checklist, and began to load everything for the drive to Florida.

Great Outdoor Provision Company came through with more help on gear and supplies. Meanwhile, "SpinDrift" is loaning the Team a second personal location beacon (PLB). More shopping: small parts, two anchors, another VHF radio, lots of batteries, .... Packing until the wee hours. (Is 5am a wee hour?) They may have gotten 1 or 2 hours of sleep last night.

Today at noon the team reported driving in rainy conditions and taking turns driving or sleeping. But no sleeping while driving.

Team RAF safely arrived late today, 9pm, at the State Park's campground and beach. Arriving today will give them a good night's sleep...

Having arrived this evening gives them all day Friday for final preparations: packing the boats, gear inspection by ''Chief'', skippers' meeting, and getting to know other members of the WaterTribe.

"SandyBottom" will be there as will many other WaterTribe members who have helped Team RAF with equipment/costs (e.g., "Chief", "Captain of the O'Dark Thirty", "Etchemin", "CrazyRussian", "SpinDrift") and many other members who have provided advice and guidance.

Then more last-minute final preparations at o'dark thirty on Saturday morning. In the cool darkness on the beach on Mullet Key, dozens of WaterTribers wearing headlamps will have a little more time to sort things out before the sun rises at 7:00am "Chief" says Go!

And then with a big cheer from family and friends some will dash down the beach with their kayaks to sprint away, some will begin the arduous task of wenching their six-hundred pound sail boat the remaining thirty feet to the water, and some will continue packing/repairing their boat for another hour or two before leaving. Curiously, some will head south, some will head west, some will head southwest, and an observer might ask, "Aren't they all going to the same place ?"








Saturday morning we find out what Team RAF does. Will they pass Chief's inspection? Will they paddle away at 7:00am? Will it be too stormy for anyone to leave the beach? How will conditions be in the middle of 8-mile wide Tampa Bay and its shipping lanes? Stay tuned....

[ Reporting on behalf of Team RAF, I'm "DancesWithSandyBottom" ]

AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some updates:

We are using today to gather all of the gear that we have left to gather and to pack up the trailer and go over the checklist for good in hopes that we won't have to spend ALL of Friday out at the stores in Fl. We plan to leave Raleigh at 8am on Thurs. morning.

We will be making 2 stops along the way to help deliver a couple of aluminum catamaran trailer boxes to some sailing buddies that ordered them from our friend Trey. They have also been following the adventure and cheering us on from the beginning.

In other news, Matt, Mike and I who all had Aerodynamics II lab reports due this Friday were dreading having to turn the reports in early. With less than 24 hours until go time, there was no way we could do a good job on our reports. I made a call to our instructor and after describing our predicament he graciously granted us an extension on the reports until after spring break. WAAHOOO!! With that huge load off our shoulders we are free to do laundry, and start shopping and collecting gear that we still need.

We also were graciously granted an extension on our storage unit usage until after the race which is good because we won't have to worry about leaving stuff behind in the unit when we leave.

Finally, everyone think good thoughts for Chris who is occupied today until about 5pm with his critical design review for architecture. Good luck Chris.

Batten down the hatches!

The team awoke this morning at 7am to get some time on the water today before the storms rolled in over Raleigh. We opted to put in at Lake Wheeler where we did the initial paddling tests for some sailing since it was closer and we were expecting good wind. It turned out to be a great day of sailing and paddling with winds that started around 2knots and built to around 8 with 10 knot gusts. I was sure to take lots of pictures and video from the boat that we would like to share with you RIGHT NOW. See below.

(1) Sailing along
(2) More wind close hauled
(3) The Fall cruising along
(4) Under a bridge at Lake Wheeler

Our top speed was 7.5 knots in about 8 or 9 knots of breeze. We sailed down to the end of the lake and back (about 3 miles) and then we reefed the sail and paddled down to the bridge at the downwind end of the lake and then under it before reaching a dead end and turning around and paddling back upwind before putting up the sails once more for some heavier wind sailing. We averaged just over 4knots paddling with the breeze and a steady 3.3 back upwind. Our short experimentation mostly confirmed what we expected that when we want to get upwind, it will be faster to paddle as the crow flies than do the zig zag.


The sails are awesome but we are definitely going to extend the batten pockets for some better shape on the leech. The Fall's sail was the newer one (Matt and I got the "better" amas by a coin flip so they get the "better" sail, not like it matters since we are only as slow as...yada yada yada) and it performed slightly better only because the crispier material held its shape better but with longer battens it is obvious that all will be equal.


Did I mention storms, the forecast today was rain with a 100% chance of big storms after noon. We got to the lake early and lucked out with the rain right up until about when we got to the bridge. After that, it came. Sailing in the rain was fun...at first. Actually we really enjoyed it and were well equipped for the elements thanks to everyone who lent us gear. We thank you. We packed up in the rain too but got out before seeing anything really threatening.


In all we did about 7 nautical miles on the lake (3 sailing and 4 paddling) and truth be told, the answer is yes, this is the most training we have done thus far. It was hard to do anything other than work on the boats and for weeks no one had to ask what we were about to go do since the answer was always "go work on boats".


I think we all have our own idea of what it will be like after the first 15 minutes of the race and saying, "hey guys, one down, 299 to go". But I think we also know that it will be NOTHING like that. We can't wait!

UPDATES!!

Just 4 more days left before we head for Florida. So exiting. Yesterday the whole team used their combined powers to complete the following items left on the "TO DO" list:
-glue in seat mounting boards
-Attach leeboards
-install rudder control pedals
-finish rudder controls
-Install hatch closures
-Install backrests
After that, there was only one thing left to do. GO SAILING.

We had only a little wind but it was enough to make about 2mph with the sails alone. Batten gremlins seem to have cut our battens to short sometime in the night which is really hurting our sailshape but one more trip to Mr. Hubermans should see the end of that problem.

The rudders worked flawlessly and the 2:1 uphaul makes raising the rudders very smooth. The auto releasing cleat from duckworks worked perfectly on their first actual rudder strike when we tried to paddle over some mud that didn't budge so that was a relief...litterally. The leeboards seem to be placed well but more wind will reveal more about how the helm responds. We did all the calculations but in the end we just had to say..."well, here looks pretty good" and go with that. No problems yet.

We will be sailing again early tomorrow morning on Lake Wheeler (a smaller lake closer to Raleigh) and hopefully get some bigger winds for our sails.

And now some sponsor updates!

Identi-Tape has agreed to sponsor the Team with 40 feet of their USCG approved 3" wide reflective tape for us to plaster our boats with and make them easily visible at night when spotlighted. This will make up us the passive lighting system on the Wa'apas. Loads of quality products from Identi-tape can be found on their website. Thanks Karl for your help over the phone.

Orion safety products is sponsoring the team with a generous budget for purchasing Orion safety equipment locally such as flares, lightsticks, signal mirrors, and air horns. Thanks so much Bob for your help over the phone.

One step closer

Last night we finished assembling the seats. They're ready to glue in, and we're hoping to do all the final epoxying all at once. We also installed the rudder footpedals and tracks so we'll be able to steer from our cockpits. The rudder control lines (sheathless E12) will run from the footpedals into plastic tubes that run straight through the waterproof compartments into the aft compartment, then through to the outside.

Here Alan and Chris work on threading the lines through the guide tubes. We haven't quite worked out the details of linking the two boats together, but we have some ideas for completing the connection.












Having the seats in gave us a chance to try out seating and sleeping arrangements. Right now the back person can remove their seat and lay down in place, tucking their feet through the center bulkhead under the forward person's seat. The front person can do the same thing, but in reverse. Alan and I tried it out for a photo; Mike tried it a different way (he's actually screwing in a rudder pedal track.)











This evening we'll go back to the storage unit and epoxy in the leeboard brackets and seats. We'll also finish connecting the rudder pedals and control lines. We've just got a little more to do before we're finished, and we'll keep you posted.

Talk to you later,

Matt

It's Crunch Time

And not the kind you do in gym class. We're really coming up on deadlines fast, but we're knocking out our tasks at a pretty good clip, too. It's a little rough schoolwise as well; a lot of profs are giving exams in the next two weeks. Chris has a test Thursday we're hoping he can take early.

This afternoon, Chris and Mike used the lasercutter to mark the boards that will hold the seats at various heights. I came by after doing some work in the Aerial Robotics lab, and by the time the Design School shop closed, we had them all cut out and mostly sanded. We didn't take any pictures (not enough time), we'll post some of the completed seats... They should allow for a range of comfortable positions for sailing, paddling, resting/sleeping, etc. We need to complete the seats, leeboards, and rudder control system for this weekend, so we can go sail/paddle/camp for some practice in the boats.

Later this evening we had a good meeting at Shanghai Express, the greasiest Chinese joint on Hillsbourough Street. We talked over what gear we still need to gather and our race strategy. Right now our plan is to pick a pace we want to maintain over the length of the race (ie. 4 knots minimum 24 hours a day), and just try to make our pace. When we can go faster (under sail, etc), we'll just consider it a bonus. We think this technique will help us keep perspective during the 300 mile journey.

In other news, I've been thinking about ways to enhance our 'cool' factor for the race. Jack suggested we wear suits and ties (under our paddling gear, of course) so every time we come to a checkpoint, we look like a million bucks and psych out the competition. For a graphical representation, see figure 1, James Bond stepping out of his drysuit into a very natty dinner jacket... Anybody else have some good ideas for us?

Signing off for now,

Matt

Hot Seats

The seats arrived today thanks to my Dad who slaved away for the last 2 weeks on these beauties. They are amazing and verrry comfortable. Last night Mike and I measured the location of the seat support poles in the different sitting configurations that we found comfortable so that we can make the seat mounting boards and get them in the boat. The foot control rudder pedals also came today with mounting studs as well as some warm fleece tops and bottoms that my mom borrowed for us to use. More later .