Tribe Family,
My son Max (aka LilyDipper, 19 years old) and I were looking forward to another race, where we hoped to better our EC2018 performance.
On Monday morning, while breaking down camp near Lover's Key, we were informed that Max's mom, Patricia - who had battled cancer for many years - had died during the night.
Before the race, Max and I had talked about this possibility, and his pre-race desire, was to complete the race in a tribute to her life.
While grieving her loss, Max re-stated his desire to continue.
Against the tide and wind, we hammered out to the Gulf at Carlos Pass and hoped that we could sail and paddle down the coast, reach Cape Romano, then run all night to check point 2 in Chokoloskee , aided by the north wind that was forecast for 9pm Monday.
By 11am, I knew that our plan was in jeopardy. Max was having difficulty holding a heading, he was not taking the deep strokes needed to maintain speed, he was complaining of nausea, falling asleep, and reluctant to eat.
His ability to stay focused, gave us both great concerns that we could safely complete the race.
I called my parents who live in Naples and asked that they meet us at Laudermilk Park. We beached around 3pm - surrounded by his grandparents; brother Alex; and step-mom, Jenny - Max made the wise decision to withdraw from the race.
Those last 18 miles were some of the toughest he and I ever paddled. I am extremely proud of his efforts. In someways those 18 miles from Lover's Key to Naples were tougher than the whole 300 mile race last year.
As I write this, my mind is still on the water. I have not fully processed the last couple days. We paddled 127 miles in 2 and a half days. The southern winds at the start of race were challenging, but we were making our daily goals and were on track to finish per our race plan. Compared to last year we were 3 hours slower than the prior year - were we had favorable winds at the start.
On Friday, we will head down to Key Largo to celebrate with the rest of our Water Tribe family. My other aquatically-bent son, Christoper, (aka GloriousAura) finished the race Monday with Larry Ferber (aka LROCK). Additionally my friend, Andrew Hustrulid (aka Colorado) and his son Stefan (aka Prometheus) are still in the race and are headed to Check Point 2 as I type this sentence.
The race and life continues,
Mister C
