I haven't looked at times in a while, but it seems like in the past any crossing around 10-12 hours is pretty decent. I'd say you guys are ready!

I was up around 3 am packing my boat on my cart and watching the water. I decided to wait until sunrise and get some rest. I have seen Flamingo in the daytime from the marina, but really wanted to see it on the water in daylight.

Well all the boats came and went, so I let them have the ramps, then the tide kept falling, so I went for it around 8:20 am.

Bad decision for efficient paddling, but a great decision for almost worst case exercise or drill. I intentionally paddled very far South out of Flamingo to the South boundary of my course, knowing I would return on the North channel. Once I got into Tin Can, the tide was running off of the mud flats into the cut slowing my progress significantly. See my pictures of the mud just a few yards South of Tin Can'smarkers. Videos I have show the mud adjacent to the North Tin Can markers where I filmed dolphin feeding. See my link to older Florida Bay Loop post that takes you to my photobucket slide show.

In Tin Can my progress, which can avg about 4.2 mph, was knocked down to 1.4 mph in center channel and i was lucky to hit 2.3 mph (I think) on the edge whe my paddle could occasionally hit mud.

Overall, it took me almost 11 hours exactly to go 35.5 miles from Flamingo, Can, Dump Keys, Twisty Mile, Jimmie Channel, Manatee Pass, then my secret mangrove tunnel through Shell Key (I think), to Bay Cove Motel on Key Largo.

As Dolphingal says, time the tide to leave Flamingo well, then about 10 miles in at Dump Keys it is just you and the wind.

The tides hit me last year at a bridge between Siesta Key and Venice. I now know there may have been a second cut behind the boat ramp on the West side of the bridge, but I was fighting for my life to get through that bridge (don't start EC without sleeping for 2 days and with Bronchitis). Then Venice cut was something I decided to sleep on. Luckily Dr. Kayak and Sandollar came along to direct me to an island in Venice called Snake Key? Where many of us camped. I think this use to be CP1 in old EC events.

I have learned if you are on the Gulf coming back inside through a pass, come in with the tide. You still may get 6' breakers and have to go farther Southeast, then cut back to find a safer channel coming back in.

In WW, tide can get you a bit. I am hoping to catch a ride from Lostmans on my way to Broad River, but the flow comes against you along that route where it heads out to the Gulf while I stayed on the WW.

POSTED 4 SECONDS AGO # EDIT QUOTE

9.5-foot oars and facing the wrong direction.  Yup, that would be challenging for sure!  You rock.

DolphinGal

I'd attach the gpx file to an email, but I'm such a neophyte I can't figure out how to find your e-mail address.  But if you go to the link, then Save the page as a file, you should have a copy on your computer.  And yes, I have way, way too many waypoints, 390 in total.  I've thought of taking a laptop so I could download just the waypoints I need, e.g. coastal or Florida Bay separately, but  have decided my laptop, which isn't a toughbook, is just too fragile.  But the Garmin 78sc does a great job of handling the waypoints, and they don't intrude on the display of the cartography very much.  And the charts the come pre-installed on the 78sc are first-rate, accurate and of sufficient detail to display the channels of Florida Bay much better than the NOAA charts do.

I'm very aware of the effect of the wind on water levels, but in so many class 4 competitor's journals I've read of the struggles against the tides they've undergone in the Florida Bay channels, so I'd like to be prepared. I wouldn't be nearly as concerned if I were in a kayak or canoe.  I enjoy paddling upstream, and once paddled 53 miles up the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park, just for the fun of it. But with 9.5-foot oars and sitting facing the wrong direction, I don't think I'll be able to play the eddies as well in my Norseboat.

If you can't get a copy of the gpx file saved on your computer, email me, smitty@smittypaddler.com, and I'll reply with a copy.

For some reason I can't figure out how to put the file through GPSBabel to convert it to an kml file - keep getting an error.  That aside, I hope you're not planning on putting this file into your GPS for the EC!  Waaayyyyy too many waypoints IMO.  Your screen will only show a couple of them at a time, depending on your zoom level.  And with FL Bay luck, the ones the GPS decides to show you will not be the ones you're interested in.  Get good at reading charts and your compass, then cut way down on your waypoints.  If is lumpy out there or dark, you don't want to be trying to zoom in and out and scanning your route for this or that waypoint when they won't show up unless you're zoomed all th way in.  Would love to get a look at the file, though.  Could you email me the GPX or KML file direct?

Florida Bay is different.  Wind is the primary factor. Forget tidal current unless you're within about 10 miles of Flamingo.  The bay is a minefield of craters, long strips of islands or sandbars that stop, slow, or redirect currents. Those craters/pockets can create back eddys, foreward eddys, sideway eddys, and really really shallow water if you're not careful.  

Flamingo is a secondary station whose data are calculated off the Key West reference station (the Gulf). Closer to Bay Cove Motel, Crane Keys and Tavernier Pass are also secondary stations, but their data are calculated from the reference station at Government Cut in Miami because they're affected by Florida Straight on the outside (Atlantic, basically).  Flamingo is where you'll feel the most affect from incoming (~WSW to ENE) or outgoing tides wrt current direction and water depth (or lack thereof).  Wind is your primary concern. Unless you head south to the Key chain from Flamingo and up the chain close to all the inlets, you'll be going across the middle of the bay where tide flow is not of concern. It's more tide - rise and fall of the water level - and that's minimal, than tidal current.  Wind is your primary concern.

If you can catch the incoming tide at Flamingo, great. If  it's an outgoing tide and you want to wait an hour or two for it to change, the marina store has the best cheeseburgers. Once you get past Dump Keys, around mile 11'ish, any flow dissipates pretty quickly - unless, of course, assisted by the wind direction.

Oh, did I mention that wind is your primary concern? E to SE primarily, which means in the face all the way.

DolphinGal

http://smittypaddler.com/cds/cdr/ec2012/charts/Waypoints_N207.gpx

Now I have a request.  This is my first EC, and I've only been in Florida Bay once, and that in a power boat.  I get confused looking at the charts which way the tide is flowing in the various channels.  For example, if it's a flood tide at Flamingo, which way is it flowing at Jimmie Channel or Manatee Pass?  And what's the time delay compared to Flamingo?  Are any of the old-timers willing to share?  I'll bet I'm not the only newbie that is confused.