Blue, blue, sail on through. Green, green, you can make it clean. Brown, brown, SHIT! We are already aground! How do you think SandyBottom got her name? If you think this is profane you have no conception of the amount of potty-mouth the average WaterTribe event can generate. Thank you, Chief, for making it all so interesting (of course he has to handle the same crap we do) especially when it gets dark and dreary! From the commentary thus far it would seem that we are all talking about fifteen different passes! Indeed, we are as the personality of this navigation point changes depending upon many variables.
Bermuda Boy, Coastie, and Clamcounter seem to have the brute force approach to rolling across the sandbar to Stump Pass. Nice to have a rotomolded polyethylene hull to absorb the impact and no daggerboards with the Hobie Getaway. The Phantom sailboard would be nice as well, depending upon the depth of the fin. When I hit Stump Pass with a passel of Hobie TI's I figured I would just follow them in with my G-Cat. It was daylight, sort of, with the sun falling behind my back. One of the TI's took an abrupt turn away from the Pass and I could see waves breaking over the sand as we hurtled along. Discretion got the better of me and I followed the TI out further until he appeared to be satisfied that he had actually entered the channel. Not to be outdone by a plastic bathtub, I immediately sliced inside his track and blew past into his path while jibing to keep momentum up. Nice move, Ex Lax! I was full of it as my hulls rotated, the jibe rolled me up onto the leeward hull, and both rudders popped up just as I needed directional stability in the worst way.
We saved the capsize by letting the main and jib sheets fly and the hull crashed down into the water as we ran into the shallows on the south side of the pass. Nice! Must have been sand because there were no ominous cracking sounds accompanying my bonehead maneuver. We dragged the G-Cat off the sand into the channel and quickly passed the TI once more while dodging to the right of the island which most sane mariners leave well to starboard. We thumbed our noses at the TI as we were virtually guaranteed to beat them to CP1. Then we ran into the muck on the right side shore and the TI boys waved bye, bye! Then it got dark! But the mud stayed with us and we ran aground 4 more times before we spotted the marker leading into Cape Haze Marina. Of course we spotted the marker just as we went past it and being rookies we really were not sure if that was "the marker" until we were past it and this can be lots of fun with the tide flowing and the wind blowing you south. We eventually got turned around at the small craft beach on the south side of the marina. The one Chief warned all us bigger boats not to use. It took two hours of sailing, dragging, paddling, cursing, and swimming to cover that single block to get back to that marker. We ran aground 14 times in the process, the last 4 groundings on the north side of the channel just about 10 feet from the entrance to the marina. Some people had commented about fearing a collision with the catamaran that was entering, but we were hard aground with all sails up and spewing profanity as the ooze refused to release us from its relentless grip! I think ZeroTheHero and DonKeyHoTey brushed that marker and barely avoided colliding with other boats entering as they exited the marina. It was dark out there, but we were done in by the muck!
So! Everglades Challenge for Dummies! I do not have an answer to how best to get through Stump Pass! Do it in daylight if you can! Stay away from that first island when you enter and head east until you reach the main channel before turning south to Cape Haze Marina. Nail that entrance marker at all costs or be in a craft that rows, pedals, or paddles well. At least we will have a moon for EC 2015, now go try to catch the rising tide. I do know that I can't wait to take another crack at this puzzle pass in 2015! It is gonna be so much fun! I guarantee, you will love it! See you all on the beach.
