Sailnaway

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Day 18 Goodbye Suwannee River, Hello Gulf of Mexico

Tuesday morning March 22, SOS is 19 miles --roughly 5 hours-- from the Gulf. SailFlow says early morning winds on the river will be light. And then there are the 3-foot tides to think about ...

SOS started the day and was moving downriver by 5:00am Tuesday. By 8:30 am he was out in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

SOS at mile 19

Favorable tides for exiting the river are from about 2:03am to 8:42am

Monday, March 21, 2016

Day 17 Sailing downriver to Fowler's Bluff

Sunday night at his campsite at mile 92, SOS took an hour to rig his boat for sailing. Monday morning, he was glad. "Doing 8 mph right now!!! Should have put it up ASAP. yesterday!"

Sailing and Paddling

Sailing downriver

photos by SOS

non-sailing mode

non-sailing canoe mode

expedition sailing canoe on the Suwannee River

73 miles down the river, 19 miles from the Gulf

From 7:30am to 11:00pm SOS sailed/paddled from mile 92 down to mile 19

Most of the day SOS trailed by about 13 miles LRock and CrazyRussian, who were paddling their classic aluminum canoe. The gap gradually narrowed and then when LR and CR stopped at a Fowlers Bluff boat ramp (mile 16.8) to switch from canoe to I-20 catamaran.

LRock and CrazyRussian switching back to the I-20 catamaran at 8:00pm

SOS caught up with LRock and CrazyRussian at 11:28pm

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Day 16 -- Suwannee River Paddling Maps

Looks like SOS is camped for the night at mile 92.

Here is a map set of the Suwannee Rive paddling trail from Fargo (mile 291) to the Gulf (mile 0).

Overview: Suwannee River Paddling Map

Upper Section

Lower Section

MicroTom passing St. Augustine on Day 16

MicroTom aiming to reach the checkpoint at Ft. Clinch on Monday March 21.

Day 16, MicroTom at the Castillo de San Marcos

Passing the fort at noon on Sunday March 20

Day 16 -- the long and winding road in the Suwannee River

By the end of Day 16, SOS is aiming to reach the half-way point of the 220 miles from Fargo to the Gulf. Based on when they passed a landmark at Suwannee River State Park, SOS is 4 hours behind the boat of LRock and CrazyRussion.

Approaching Suwannee River State park at 1:43pm Sunday, March 20

Forecast for temperatures falling to 40 F

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Day 15 -- SOS paddling and rapids-portaging down the Suwannee River

river paddler. photo from Day 12

By about 9:00pm Friday SOS was sleeping on a screened-in porch in a public building by the river overnight. He slept through his 2:00am alarm clock (a good thing) and was on paddling downstream on the Suwannee River by 6:30am today, Saturday March 19. He will paddle 220 miles down the Suwannee to the Gulf of Mexico. Travel on this river will be downstream!

Suwannee River put-in at Fargo, GA

arriving by bike

leaving by boat

SOS track as of 9:25am on Saturday. Red star marks the position of LRock and Crazy Russian.

portage around Big Shoals rapids near White Springs, FL

Aerial view by John Moran

SOS reached the Big Shoals area at about 6:00pm Saturday.

At 7:00pm he texted about the portage around the rapids...

"OMG it was so hard. Fortunately there was a group of kids camping there and one of them helped me get the boat over the cliff at the beginning then I had to belay the boat down at the end. The hardest part was probably getting back in the boat on the other side I got my pants all wet. I'm going to have to pull off and switch into night clothes and do some better boat packing because I had to assemble the cart."

By the end of the day, SOS had paddled 60+ miles

Campsite Saturday night

Friday, March 18, 2016

LRock and CrazyRussian

LRock and Crazy Russian are now on the Suwannee River, just a few miles ahead of SOS.

LRock and CrazyRussian with the I-20 catamaran
photo by RidgeRunner or Chief

Switched to aluminum canoe for the rivers

Exiting the St Marys River at St. George

beginning of the 40 mile portage

portage

Portage finished! Now into the Suwannee River at Fargo, GA. Only 220 miles to the Gulf.

MicroTom's trip report on Day 14

WaterTribe friends are the best. Check it out ...

MicroTom's 3-day track

It turns out Tom has friends in every port

MicroTom

Here's another outstanding video report from MicroTom;
it's a really great summary of everything that has happened.

Posted by MicroTom 2016 Ultimate Florida Challenge on Friday, March 18, 2016

SandyBottom off the water, time with great friends

WaterTribe friends are the best. Check it out ....

Dr. Kayak, SandDollar, Sandybottom in St. Petersburg, FL

PaddleDancer kindly transported SandyBottom back to Ft. DeSoto

unloading the boat

time to clean and dry gear

Day 14 -- packing the boat

In the past 2 days this guy just paddled 50 miles
and biked 40 miles towing a loaded boat.
How did you feel the last time you did that?

On arrival at the Suwannee River in Fargo, GA, Friday evening at 6:07pm, SOS had dinner and then spent considerable time re-organizing and re-packing the bike in the boat along with other provisions in preparation for an early morning departure on Saturday. Then early to sleep.