Arrival in Key Largo

Team B&B arrived in Key Largo at 8:00 pm Thursday March 8th.  

 

Winds for the crossing from CP3 to Key Largo have been  relentlessly out of the east which tends to empty Florida Bay.

At 9:30am today SB and SOS sailed away from CP3 toward a southbound route down to Long Key to pick up the ICW bearing 060 up toward Key Largo.  Not wanting to give back any eastward progress, they first tried the route down Murray Key canal. 

The water was too thin, due to all that strong east wind that's been emptying the bay,  and the head winds made it difficult to stay in the narrow channel.   On the verge of getting stuck in the mud, they abandoned that route by drifting backward into a deeper channel that took them westward.  Thus they were able to head west to pick up the other southbound route that begins at red marker "2" (about 3 miles south of East Cape).  They sailed at 6-10 kts SE and reached the Long Key / Fiesta Key area at about 2:00pm.

By 3:30pm the "Mosquito" was passing Lower Matecumbe Key on its way up the ICW.   At that point they had about 23nm to go and seemed to be moving at about 7.0 kts.     

CP3 in Flamingo, FL

SB and SOS sailed from CP2 at Chokoloskee at 3:50pm Wednesday 7th.  They reached East Cape at about 12:50am Thursday morning and rounded that point to tack due east into the wind.

Weather forecasts I had read made me worry that they would be hitting 20kt winds and 6' seas when they rounded that corner.  Instead, they described calmer conditions with the east wind being only about 10kts.  I tried to stay awake watching the SPOT display but fell asleep around 2:30am. Glad to see they arrived at CP3 in good shape at 3:30am today (Thursday.)

You would think they would sleep then, but with various chores to do (preparing to anchor or preparing to make sail, having meals, other chores, etc.)  they may have gotten only two hours sleep before they called home at 8:30am today.

Before hurrying away from the phone to leave CP3,  they briefly described their sail from CP2 to CP3.
They hugged the shoreline as much as possible for flatter water and less wind.  They sailed fulled reefed the whole way, which means no jib and the mainsail lowered 8'.  (The top of the mast has a hook which catches the top of the mainsail,  and 8' down from that there is a reefing hook.)  Whenever they needed to tack or maneuver they roller-furled out some of the job. The boat tacks much more reliably with the job deployed.  The sailed fulled reefed because their speed was already adequate (7-10 kts) and the ride was drier.  SOS slept in the grand cabin for one and a half hours while SandyBottom single-handed on a long run.  At a different time SandyBottom slept on the trampoline for one and a half hours while SOS single handed.
SOS told me that SB was "very brave" going from CP2 to CP3.  SB told me "It was so scary. But Alan's skills and expertise sailing the boat are amazing" (or equivalent words)

The "Mosquito" has not been using much of its sails: main, jib, huge Code Zero headsail. It's a boat ready for light air.  Instead, this year we have huge relentless winds.  The reefing abilities of the "Mosquito" satisfy the WaterTribe's written rules for reefing, but I wonder if SOS is wishing he had a second reefing point in the mainsail so that he could be using a little mainsail and some jib most of the time.

At 9:30am today they sailed away from CP3.

CP2 in Chokoloskee, FL

SandyBottom and SOS reached Chokoloskee (CP2) at about 1:00pm on Wednesday the 7th.   Sailing from Indian Key through narrow canals to CP2 was one of the most difficult efforts so far:  thin water, currents,  howling head winds, heat, etc.    Lots of hard work.  The high tide at CP2 is at about 2pm. 

On reaching Chokoloskee Bay, they paused at one point because they were not making any forward progress there --despite exhausting effort. The tide was rising (high tide at 2pm) so taking a break may have been helpful; more depth being helpful.

They did not stay long at CP2.  By 3:50pm SB and SOS were on their way out toward the Gulf.

Caxambus Pass

After resting for 5 hours until 1:00am today, Team B&B passed under the 70' tall span of Sanibel Bridge and flew down the Gulf coast overnight to Marco Island.  There they entered Caxambas Pass at 6:45am and tacked through the pass to reach the Ten Thousand Islands area.   By 9:00am they were approaching Indian Key which is the gateway point for going inland to CP2 (Chokoloskee).
 

Caxambus Pass



Progress from 1:00 to 8:30am



No doubt Team B&B was delighted to reach Caxambus Pass. 

Sanibel Bridge

Team B&B reached Sanibel Bridge tonight. Here is an update.....
http://sandybottomkayaker.blogspot.com/2012/03/sanibel-bridge.html

Also, Steve Earley posted an update ...

http://logofspartina.blogspot.com/2012/03/mosquito-update.html

On your mark... Get set... Build!

News from the starting line of the WaterTribe 2012 Everglades Challenge and Ultimate Florida Challenge: Team B&B Make Strategic Moves

posted by DancesWithSandyBottom

WaterTribe adventure races such as the Everglades Challenge (EC) have two parts: (1) make it to the starting line, (2) sail and paddle from here to there.. Part 1 is often a race/adventure in and of itself. For example, many challengers aim to bring a new boat to the party. Just making it to the starting line typically feels like a huge accomplishment.

Friday Morning at Ft. DeSoto Campground

Saturday morning at the Starting Line: the tallest mast is "Mosquito" of Team B&B

On Saturday at 7:00 when Chief said "Go!" dozens of sailors and kayakers sprinted off Ft. DeSoto beach into Tampa Bay and its headwind that grew to 20 kts. Some were still packing or repairing, some decided not to start, and some launched out only to return minutes later with broken parts or changes to make.

SandyBottom and SOS (Son of Sandy) continued their new-boat preparations/construction as the starting gun (er uh, bag pipes) sounded and challengers rushed away --or came limping back. For example, the 17.5' Norseboat returned with bailer problems. Danito returned with a bent rudder. "Oh look" I said to SB and SOS, "You've caught up with Danito. Good job."

We are all astounded and impressed with how quicking SOS built (and designed) the "Mosquito". Would having another week to work on it have been ideal? No problem; SOS knows he could "fix it", whatever it is, while racing toward check point 1. I believe he could. The phrase "extremely capable" comes to mind. He's a can-do guy. Really brilliant that way. But SandyBottom was having none of that. Already feeling challenged by the new non-kayak trimaran experience, and not wanting to die while going 20 kts this weekend, she rightly insisted on taking a day or so to get it right.

Weather turned out to be an additional reason that SB and SOS are both happy they waited to launch: The fleet that launched was beaten up all day long fighting a 12-20 kt headwind. WaterTribe events are all about making smart decisions regarding safety and strategy; indeed, there is no rule that says the challenger must launch when Chief says "Go!" and Chief is fond of telling how he and Verlan Kruger waited on the beach at the starting line for two days during one of the early Everglades Challenges that featured horrible weather.

Chief explains it all at the captains' meeting Friday

SOS posted to following on the WaterTribe Forum Sunday Morning ....

"We are still here in the campground at the start. Why havent we left yet?.....

After a test sail from the campground to the beach we had some issues. My mom (and crew) was not encouraged by her first trip out in 15-18knot headwinds and it was not the way I wanted to introduce her to the boat. On top of that the rudder downhaul was not worked out well, the jib sheeting was not good, roller reefing the jib was difficult and the waterstays slackeded under load and became too long to lash properly. All this meant that we had a hard time on our first time out in very tough chopy conditions. Oh and the boat leaked badly through the waterstay holes that I haden't checked for leaks and didn't show themselves in our 30 min test sail in Vandemere.

We decided that this was not acceptable or safe sooo. we didn't start at the start. And instead called a weather hold for ourselves. This decision may have been our best yet seeing that many of the challengers (many elders) have already dropped from the race or had breakdowns battling the 20 knot headwinds on Saturday. Today (sunday) there was a massive front that came trough at 5am and collapsed our tent in the campground. I suddently realized that I had not staked down the boat on the beach and was sure that that was then end of our mast and ositive that the front had blown the boat over on the beach. We rushed to the beach and found her sitting just as we had left her. Another triber who had returned to the beach in a Kruger canoe had left his boat next to ours had his boat spun 180 degrees in the sand by the wind.

Bullet dodged.

Today the wind is NNW and 25 to gale force with very big seas so we are not going today either. Rather we will leave early tomorrow morning in very cold (47) temps but with managable and favorable winds such that we will make gasparilla pass (the entrance to CP1) after sun up. It is really tough to sit on the beach knowing the race has already started but with only challengers at CP1 so far and gale force winds for most of the day today we have little doubt that it is still anyones race and that we are making good decisions.

We used yesterday (Saturday) to work on the boat and needed ALL of it. Today we will spend pushing the boat in the water to test for leaks and to practice dropping the mast on the water (while anchored to the beach) and then to go for a short test sail in Tampa bay sometime this afternoon. We have had to be careful not to receive any help from our shore contact (my dad) DWSB who is here with us and is no longer allowed to help us with the boat in any way.

Changes made to the boat:
-sealed all waterstays and forestay chainplate (NO MORE LEAKS!)
-Improved the rudder downhaul system.
-Returned to classic and reliable 2:1 jib sheeting.
-upgraded to a 2:1 jib furling system (much better)
-improved the mast rotation controls
-shortened the waterstay splices to propperly tension the rig"

And Then....

That's the latest news from SandyBottom and SOS. Those final rigging tasks are expected to be complete by mid-day. The gale-force wind should be dying down to a loud roar around midnight. SOS suggested launching this afternoon with the strategy of crossing Tampa Bay using their tinyest sail (the bare mast itself which has a wing-shaped cross-section) to handle the gale-force wind. Somehow that idea didn't fly well with the crew ...

Will Team B&B ever make it off the beach ?

Late breaking news: At 1:20pm SOS reported that Danito has relaunched from the starting line in his Kruger Sea Wind. This means Danito has retaken his lead on SandyBottom and SOS.

--posted by DWSB

Thanks to Calvert Sails

This post is a big thank you to Dave Calvert and everyone at Calvert Sails in St. Petersburg Florida.

Dave Calvert has been building and designing sails in Florida since 1976 and has a history of success racing windsurfers and designing race winning sails for multihulls. Calvert Sails was an obvious choice for a set of custom sails for my Trimaran and Dave was enthusiastic about the project from the start.

We were on the same page throughout the consultation process and it was a pleasure to exchange dimensioned drawings and ideas with Dave which he used to create the final sail plan. In no time the new sails were on order at a price that I was more than happy with knowing what I would soon receive. Just 2 months and 10 days after my first email to Calvert, the sails arrived.

The Mosquito trimaran has a Triradial cut pentex mainsail, dacron jib, and large Code Zero headsail for a combined sail area of 240 square feet.

UFC 2012 Sponsor Murray's.com

A big thanks to Steve Murray of Murrays.com in California. Be sure to check out their online store for all of your sailing gear, hardware or line needs.

Steve has been a long time supporter of Team Velocity sailing and when I asked him for help with outfitting us for the Ultimate Florida Challenge he was more than willing. All of our new lines and a lot of our gear, hardware, and specialty multi-hull parts came from Murray's and they stock many of the hard to find or replacement factory parts for your Beach Catamaran be it a hobie 16,17,18 or Nacra models. If you own a catamaran or small trimaran, they are THE one stop shop.

We are big fans of Murray's Barz optics goggles and sun glasses for keeping the water and sun out. They have a great selection of Robline Cordage with high performance blended sheet lines that float and don't absorb water and small dyneema lines for lashings and stays. In addition to gear for Kiteboarding, windsurfing, SUP boarding, and sailing, they have lots of cool toys from solar chargers to hero cams. Here is a shot of our loot from Murray's.com check it out.

More Pictures

Some more pictures from the build.

Dagger trunks are now installed. You can see now my finished foils CNC machined on the Shopbot. I went for a simple 0012 and the trunk is glass. The foils will ride on strips of hard felt inside the trunk.

Also visible is the forestay chainplate integrated into an angled forward bulkhead tied into the hull and glued in under the bow deck. Below is the finished main cockpit coaming. The coaming was fist shaped in 5lb Airex foam (did I mention there is a lot of scrap around here). Then carbon was applied with 3m spray adhesive before wetting out and vacuum bagging.

Mosquito...it Lives!!!!

In case everyone figured I was just goofing off for the last few weeks here is the latest. My mom has been down here almost every weekend for the last 2 months and she has been a great help. It has also helped to start familiarizing herself with the boat. This weekend my dad came down and offered his assistance cutting out parts and gluing them in. It's amazing how much more you can do with 2 people.

We have finished up the cabin sole or sleeping shelf of whatever you want to call it. I prefer "great cabin" and this weekend we installed the main deck with it's hatch opening. The deck is made of a strip building product called duracore. It is 3/8" end grain balsa sandwiched between 1/16" strips of western red to give it some longitudinal stiffness while planking. We laid up a 25" wide cambered panel of it on a curved mold (bent plywood) all in one shot in a vacuum bag last weekend. The panel was 9lbs before fiberglass which is a little more than 4mm plywood (0.4lbs/sqft versus 0.6lb/sqft) but the advantages are that the inside of the "cabin" has a smooth roof for sleeping comfort while still giving the deck adequate stiffness for tromping around and raising/lowering the mast. The deck could have been a foam core layup but this stuff was laying around and about to become firewood.

The daggerboard tunk halves are laid up and ready to be joined and then installed in the amas. The daggers are ready for a final fairing and last coat of epoxy.

The Amas will get some 2lb expanding foam and then the decks will be going on as soon as the trunks are complete.

The next big milestone will be the first float and test paddle sometime in early december. I will be going out of the country over the christmas holiday so work will be on hold until I get back to finish all the rigging and get her sailing sometime in February with the race the first week of March. Yikes.


Current weight breakdown (I know your curious): drum rollllll....

Main hull: 105lbs plus bow deck, hardware, more epoxy (looking like it will end around 125)

Amas: 45lbs each plus some expanding foam, decks and trunks. (looking like around 65lbs a piece) Daggers: 12 lbs each

Rig: recently purchased a carbon stick that was on a Bimare Javeline 18HT catamaran. maybe 30lbs

Add sails and rudder, rigging, lines and some more epoxy and she is closing in on 350 at an alarming rate. I am doing my utmost to keep this in check. I'm still emotionally ok with the her weight. We will see. Whatever it comes out at you'll wish it was lighter but thats just the way it goes.

She has also earned her name. 'Mosquito'

Aside from the many mosquitoes that have met their end by flying into my wet epoxy and become part of the hull (and those that I have swatted), she will be a fast racing machine in all wood and so a nod is given to the de Havilland Mosquito which was a wonder in it's own time. Once the fastest plane in the world at 400mph and constructed of all wood. Pretty Amazing. I often feel like I am building a fuselage as much as a sailboat. Mosquito video link