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Watertribe Everglades Challenge
http://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=41377
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Author:  Chekika [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

After not working for the last hour, Tidetraveller's SPOT did just work 10 minutes ago. He is in sight of the finish. He was about 600 yds in front of ArdieO and 1.5 mi from the finish. Again he is going to tack into stiff headwinds; ArdieO is going to have to paddle a straight line into those winds.

Josh is probably just finishing as I post this.

Keith

Author:  CaptnChaos [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

I had some thing I was supposed to do but am not leaving until I know the final outcome between Josh and Ardie. And minutes behind them are the 6 young men in the hawaiian outrigger canoe (my wife thought they were the absolute coolest when we were at the Ft. Desoto start of the race)

Author:  Chekika [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Jim,

You must have Toby & Crew confused w/ the other 6-man crew. Toby & Crew who are finishing about now are ALL 55 (60?) and over.

I've had a 5 sec call with Josh, but he was just landing--I told him to call me because the internet world was waiting. He hasn't called back--show where I stand!

Keith

Author:  CaptnChaos [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Keith we must have wrongly assumed the group of young guys in the outrigger was NiteNavigator_Nitesong_WP_693. Too bad there isn't pictures of boats and crew on the wt site to identify with.

Author:  Chekika [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Josh aka Tidetraveller, the kid, the rookie, got in to the finish about 5:57 pm; ArdieO the super paddler got in at 6:16 pm. So, the Hobie AIs came in 3,4 overall and in the EC2012. ArdieO is actually in the Ultimate Florida race, so we will hear a lot more of him.

Also, SandyBottom & Son are in the Ultimate and they are literally streaking into the finish. It is getting dark here, so I hope they are watching for obstructions in that busy part of the keys.

Well, the most exciting part of the race is done for us Hobie people. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day for kayakers--they are stacking up in Flamingo much as today's finishers did last night. You can be sure some of them will leave Flamingo in the middle of the night. They will be vying for first place in the EC2012 Class 1 & 2 (simple kayaks, simple kayaks with small sails).

It has been a fun day.

Just had a quick talk with Josh. He confirmed that ArdieO got in "about 10 min" after he did.

We do have 2 more Hobies on the course. AhMaChamee pressed his OK SPOT button at 3:08 pm today about 12 mi east of Flamingo, but there has been no tracking info on him the rest of the day. Hopefully, we will hear from him before too long. He is piloting an AI.

Pelican on an AI, the perrenial EC and Ultimate competitor, was on the Gulf outside Chokoloskee this evening. He will probably be stopping on Pavilion or Mormon Key. His last tracking info was for about 20 min ago. He is doing the Ultimate Florida race so we will hear more from him.

Keith

Author:  Tom Ray [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Wow, that's an amazing performance from DogsLife and Tidetraveller! Congratulations to them, and to Hobie!

The 3rd and 4th place finishes show the potential of the AI and Tandem AI design. Hobie was trying to make us a fun toy, not a long range expedition racer. They succeeded brilliantly, so well that our toys were able to carry these guys to the finish before a lot of really good boats of all kinds.

Jolly Roger took a step in developing the design with his large Mirage Drive equipped ketch, but there are a lot of other ways it could be made faster.

Author:  chrisj [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Tom Ray wrote:
The 3rd and 4th place finishes show the potential of the AI and Tandem AI design.

Well, the AI design, at least. :roll: :roll: :roll:

Author:  Chekika [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Good point Chris. I thought the same thing. I think there were 3 tandems in the race this year--1 DNF because of a broken mast frame, 1 DNS because of a cracked hull. I don't know why the 3rd did not finish. Perhaps even more significant is the fact that 2 people, who used a Tandem last year, switched to AIs this year.

Keith

Author:  ASDASC [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

I actually had to leave before they finished, but kept checking this page and the WaterTribe forums on my phone during dinner.

Did we find out what happened to Bob and where he got his speed? How about AhMaChamee? i see his is moving again, although slowly. I bet he got stuck in the mud?

Also, it looks like Pelican turned back? He is almost back to CP2 now.

Author:  Chekika [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

AhMaChamee's tracking has come on and he seems to be moving. Pelican is going back into Chokolskee. No one knows why. Pelican is notorious for things breaking on his boat. Can we assume he has an equipment problem?

Backwaterbob is safely in Flamingo or maybe a motel in Homestead or Key Largo. A stinkboat must have brought him in. No news as to whether they brought his boat in.

Keith

Author:  Tom Ray [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Chekika wrote:
Good point Chris. I thought the same thing. I think there were 3 tandems in the race this year--1 DNF because of a broken mast frame, 1 DNS because of a cracked hull. I don't know why the 3rd did not finish. Perhaps even more significant is the fact that 2 people, who used a Tandem last year, switched to AIs this year.

Keith


I've gotta keep up. I thought DogsLife was in a tandem. He switched? Why?

Regular Adventure Islands are not immune to Mirage Drive well cracks. My old boat cracked there, but Hobie replaced the hull.

Author:  Roadrunner [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Chekika wrote:
Good point Chris. I thought the same thing. I think there were 3 tandems in the race this year--1 DNF because of a broken mast frame, 1 DNS because of a cracked hull.
Let us not forget that TIs have successfully completed ECs the previous 3 years (yes, before they were formally introduced) and one made it all the way to the portage on the UF in 2010 before its loaded weight eventually sagged the hull and locked up the wheels (a use for which it was not designed) -- done in by land!

IMO, success in this race is 70% participant (skill, knowledge and tenacity), 20% luck and 10% boat. You can have the best boat ever made and still get hopelessly stuck along the way or be doomed by poor decisions. Conversely, as Wizard continually demonstrates, you can have virtual bath tubs successfully complete the race with a skillful skipper. 8)

Author:  Chekika [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Of course, the tandem is a good boat. But it is big--that is why a couple people switched to an AI this year. If you have a big boat you tend to fill it up--bad choice for the EC. The tandem's that finished the EC were owned by Hobie--Jim Czarnecki & his wife (sorry if mispelled, Jim.) Jim is the engineer who designed the Hobie Tandem. Jim did have his problems also, but of course he fixed them. Last year, I'm not sure who it was, but they broke their tandem mast frame screw in just about the same area that Backwaterbob's tandem mast frame broke this week. So, as a group, the tandems have had more than their share of structural failures. Just an observation.

The race this year, with very heavy winds, stressed the sail boats. One monohull sail boat got knocked and damaged down off Cape Sable. Bill Fite, in a Sea Pearl, crashed into a channel marker because of a combination of winds and sea conditions. The puddle duck, shown earlier on this thread, capsized and was knocked out of the race. Randy Smyth's beautiful and superfast cat was knocked down off the keys within 10 mi of the finish. The marine police came to aid him and ran over his sunken mast, probably knocking him out of the Ultimate Florida race. I'm sure there are other sailboat disaster stories this year.

Overall the Hobies did fantastic. It just was a shame that Backwaterbob had an equipment failure. While he is a very experienced sailor, he had just purchased his tandem, and this was the first camping/race he had ever been in.

No question, things happen in the Everglades Challenge. And, yes, the participant is the main key to success, but I think the Hobie AIs showed, this year, that the boat is a significant part of being a top finisher. Wizard is, well, a sailing wizard--that is how he got his name. He is also a very skilled small sailboat designer and builder.

Keith

Author:  Tom Ray [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

Roadrunner wrote:
Chekika wrote:

IMO, success in this race is 70% participant (skill, knowledge and tenacity), 20% luck and 10% boat. You can have the best boat ever made and still get hopelessly stuck along the way or be doomed by poor decisions. Conversely, as Wizard continually demonstrates, you can have virtual bath tubs successfully complete the race with a skillful skipper. 8)



I think your percentages apply to Wizard but to few other people. He can take almost any boat, but almost any fool can take an Adventure Island. Many people who have done this race and who will do it successfully in AI's in the future could not do it in the boats he has used. That's why he's the Wiz.

OK, I may have gone too far with the "almost any fool" thing, but my point is, an Adventure Island makes this race easier than a lot of other boats. Still very hard, as DogsLife's experience last year shows.

My other point is, these are all more or less stock boats. Consumer grade toys. They were not made to be fast. Fast trimarans can be flipped by gusts of wind and will break if you roll them in the surf. As far as I can tell, a gust won't flip my AI or I would have already done it, and a few have survived tumbles in the surf. The boats were also made to be just stand-alone kayaks.

If a carbon fiber boat based on the AI design were made just to be fast in this race, it would be a serious competitor. The hull and amas would be different shapes, more sail area, etc. It could be made to be fast (and unforgiving) like a race boat should be.

Author:  Chekika [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Watertribe Everglades Challenge

AhMaChamee, who spent most of yesterday mired in the mud shallows of FL Bay, got underway very early this morning and is now in relatively open water. He is on the same track that Dogslife and Tidetraveller traveled yesterday. He is sailing generally SE about 5 mi from the keys. Once he hits the keys, he will tack NE to the finish. He should be in about 1:30 pm.

Winds are calming--currently, 15 mph out of the east.

Pelican started to leave Chokoloskee late yesterday, but noticed his heavily loaded AI had water in the hull and that, combined with the rough seas, caused him to go back. I know from personal experience, that if you are loaded to the gills, there is a tendency to have the forward hatch area too full. This can put some upward pressure on the front hatch cover, and the hatch cover leaks. It takes very little backpressure to cause this leakage.

Pelican is doing the Ultimate FL--circumnavigate FL. I don't want to knock Pelican, he is the super persistent competitor, but it will be great to see someone like Dogslife or Tidetraveller take on the Ultimate FL. Tidetraveller can't do it because he is newly married and has a real job--fireman. So, I guess it is up to Dogs.

Today, many Class 1 boats--mostly sea kayaks--are making their way across FL Bay to determine the top finishers of that group.

The super paddler, sea kayaker ArdieO has already left Key Largo this morning on the next leg of his Ultimate FL. I think he will set a record for sea kayakers around FL. The boat in the Ultimate which looks like the one to beat is Sandybottom and Son on their self-built, stitch & glue trimaran. They are still laid up in Key Largo.

Tom Ray wrote:

If a carbon fiber boat based on the AI design were made just to be fast in this race, it would be a serious competitor. The hull and amas would be different shapes, more sail area, etc. It could be made to be fast (and unforgiving) like a race boat should be.

Nothing wrong with dreaming Tom. I like it! (The boat you describe is essentially Randy Smyth's Scizzors--but it is a carbon fiber AI on steroids!)

Keith

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