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The Everglades Challenge |
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Photos by Chuck Leinweber-Texas
Bill Paxton-Minnesota
Helen Snell-Florida |
Part2-The
Race - Part1-The Start
This is a photo-essay which is meant
to be a companion piece to the article I wrote for
Small Craft Advisor magazine.
Saturday
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Barely into the Gulf of
Mexico, off Longboat Key, we passed the
Triton. It was a sweet victory and a rare
one. We would pass only two other boats
during the race. |
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| Later that
afternoon, we passed a class III boat. We
were running downwind in 15-20 mph of wind
and it was lumpy. This guy looked even more
uncomfortable than we were. |
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Sunday
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Sunday we decided to stay
in protected water but got becalmed in
Pine Island Sound. I took a nap in the
cabin while Gary steered. |
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| Sunday afternoon
saw a steady stream of powerboats as we
barely had enough wind to maintain headway. |
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|
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Occasionally big yachts
would pass us and all we could do was
hang on as the wakes shook the shape out
of our sails. |
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| We made it
through the pass at Sanibel Island and sailed
back out into the Gulf just as the sun was
going down. With Fort Myers Beach to Port,
we headed toward Cape Romano and darkness. |
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|
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I took the first watch
that night. I was glad to have my polar
fleece on over my lifejacket - it kept
me warm even though it was soon damp from
the night air. |
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| Gary slept
until about midnight. He got up and after
a snack, took the helm while I crawled into
the cabin for some rest - polar fleece and
all. |
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|
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About 4:00 AM I woke up
and asked Gary how he was doing. He was
on his fourth cup of cocoa so I decided
to get up and take a turn at the helm.
The wind had died to almost nothing so
while Gary got some more sleep, I steered
us around Cape Romano and into Monday |
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Monday
| As we drifted
around Cap Romano, we saw some kind of strange
building. Knowing we would soon be out of
cell phone service, I called Sandra to report
our position and tell her about the strange
structure. |
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Sandra was able to Google
our dome and found it was an abandoned
home. As we took a final look back at
the cape, we saw a kayak rounding the
point and heading our way. |
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| It turned
out to be a couple of fellows in a tandem.
They easily overtook us as we drifted along
in the still dawn air. |
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|
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Around 10:00 that morning,
the wind came back and we sailed in to
Everglades City and Chokoloskee by way
of Indian Key passing a few tour boats
on the way. |
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| We sailed
up a well marked channel to Everglades City
where we turned left (southeast) to run
about three miles down to Chokoloskee -
a resort/marina/fishing camp - our second
checkpoint. |
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Tuesday
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It's interesting to look
at the GPS track from this part of the
trip. Tuesday morning, we Left Chokoloskee
against a northwest wind and tacked back
up to the channel. On our first tack,
we hit an oyster bed but from there on
it went well. |
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| Once back
in the channel we were able to sail free
and passed a few kayaks around mid-morning
who were just coming into the checkpoint. |
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|
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Once past Rabbit Key,
we turned southeast and ran down past
the ten thousand islands toward Cape Sable
and Flamingo, the last checkpoint between
us and the finish of the race. |
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| It was a
long, day - rough until we got around the
three Capes but calm enough after dark that
we had to row the last bit into Flamingo.
There, we tied up and slept for the night. |
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Wednesday
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We got up at dawn and
left Flamingo so did not get to see much,
but the little town had been hit by hurricanes
the year before and was in tough shape. |
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| Once out
of the Flamingo marina, we found the tide
was out and the only water was in the channel.
Even the floating marker was aground. |
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|
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We had not gone far before
we came on a Sea Pearl that was stuck
in the mud. |
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| They were
able to get off the mud by using oars and
considerable determination and soon were
sailing with us toward the finish line at
Key Largo some 30 miles upwind. |
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|
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The Pearl took the lead
in Twistymile pass. You can see the mud
just beyond the channel marker with the
Osprey on it. |
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| Later in
the day, the tide came in and you could
only see the channels by the wooden markers.
This is the entrance to Jimmie Channel. |
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|
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Once we got into the eastern
part of Florida Bay, the water turned
an erie pale color. |
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| Now I have
to brag about Gary's Frolic2
again. The short tacks on the left are not
too great because we were looking for Manatee
Pass. But from there on, the tacks look
pretty for a plywood boat with a freestanding
balanced lug rig. |
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|
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We got to the finish line
right at dark and there were folks there
to meet us just as they did this kayak
a little later that night. |
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Thursday
| We made
it! We finished the race. In this event,
finishing is the big deal. Many folks, like
this kayaker do it as a personal challenge.
Chief tries to meet each finisher. |
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|
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Every few hours a boat
came in and most of the previous finishers
came down each time to congratulate the
tired crewmen. |
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| Even the
Sea Pearl that we passed on Wednesday made
it in. |
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Here is out little boat
pulled up to the beach at Key Largo -
it served us very well indeed. |
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Back
to Part1-The Start...
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