I'd be willing to act as poster-child for all the "improved idiots" and I have an extensive resume to back up my claim to the title! Maybe we could even establish a new class designation so you could keep track of all of us in one grouping with Spot? That would go a long way toward relieving race management of criticism that they did not do enough to "protect" racers considering the exorbitant entry fees! I do recall vaguely that when I popped for the enty fee it was clearly stated in all three Challenges I have completed that:
Let me try to explain this one more time. By entering any WaterTribe Challenge or event, you are agreeing that all the people, companies, and agents associated with the event owe you nothing nor do we owe you duty of care or service or any other duty. We promise you nothing. We do not and will not even try to make this event safe for anyone. This event is not safe for anyone. This is no joke. We won't even try to warn you about every known danger or hazardous condition, whether we know about it or not. If we do decide to warn you about something, that doesn't mean we will try to warn you about everything. If we do make an effort to make some aspects of the event safer, we may not correct other aspects, and we may even make matters worse! We and our agents may do things that are unwise and dangerous. Sorry, we're not responsible. We may give you bad advice. Don't listen to us. In short, ENTER AND PARTICIPATE IN THESE EVENTS AT YOUR OWN RISK. And have fun!
For me, the Everglades Challenge is a premier event! Every Challenge has been! I am gonna die enjoying the fond memories generated by my participation in WaterTribe events, unless Alzheimer's gets me first. My expectation in every event is the same! Finish! But it hasn't been pretty, and it has never been safe!
With all the descriptive terms being batted about considering the truncated 2015 event you would think we stepped back from the brink of a disastrous cataclysmic event that clearly could have wiped out much of the Tribe if it had not been halted by Governmental Agencies. Thank you very much! The verbiage, hard feelings, criticism, and blame-slinging were all very amusing Now some time has passed and the flood of ideas, suggestions, recommendations, and rules-changing have us all in an uproar! Great! I love it. The more you post, the more I learn about various situations sailors and paddlers faced and the better I will be able to overcome my own shortcomings should I be faced with similar circumstances. A win-win situation for me.
On top of all this free advice I also will have the opportunity to attend remedial classes that will flense bad sailing habits from my sailing repertoire. And I can pay for them, too! Great! Summer camp for itinerant, retarded catamaran skippers! My cup runneth over!
Lest anyone mistake the tone of my post I just wanna say the 2015 Everglades Challenge (all two hours of it) will be renowned in Tribal history. Enjoy it, for it is unique! This smorgasbord of maritime mayhem does not promise anyone anything. Indeed, it pretty much promises you nothing, and that is exactly what you got unless you hied off to Key Largo for the post-event feast! Oh, I got a paddle and a t-shirt (that I am giving to the kid who spotted my yellow Watershed drybag 60 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico, and returned it! Nice people!) and food poisoning! And it was all worth it!
There are so many ways for me to piss away my Social Security check! But this one is my favorite! I can sit on my bank account and be thrifty or I can get out there and enjoy the little time I have left on the water with my friends and acquaintances in the WaterTribe. You makes your choice and you pays your money. You also get the opportunity to sit around and criticize and make suggestions. You may even see me at one of the skills-assessment courses. It is all good! Be sure to maintain a healthy sense of humor and I will see you on the beach!