I'm curious as to those who failed to complete their first EC.....why? What advice would you give a EC rookie?
Why you didn't complete your first EC?
(13 posts) (11 voices)-
My first EC I should have failed to finish. It was my first distance event of any kind. I had almost zero experience with salt water. I had no local knowledge.
I was lucky to finish.A good case of dehydration sickness is enough to finish you off. After a few days of not drinking enough, it can catch up to you. When it does, you will not be happy.
Do not let that happen. I can see how many people would drop out. When I let it happen, I had no decent option other than to pass out near Gordon pass. When you are not entirely sure you will wake up alive the next day, you just might drop out if you do not sleep on it.Learning a few too many lessons mid challenge can cause some problems. Like shallow water is a huge problem (follow the channels) or diaper rash can finish you off (bring and use desotin) or your feet can turn raw (bring 2 pairs of shoes to not wear on the same spots) or your hands can blister badly (use lots of sun screen on all of your body including the palms of your hands).
Keep it as a challenge just to finish in your mind. Do not think of it as a race.
Most important thing to do is listen all you can. I had a good number of Challenge saving pieces of advice at fort desoto. And I received a lot of other just good advice.
One of the best things to do to finish, is make it half way across florida bay. It’s a great feeling when you realize the easiest thing you can do is to finish.
The one thing that saved me is determination.
Let’s see what happens after my near zero training for this year’s EC.Posted 5 years ago # -
MicroTom
Key Master
I completed my first two so I will modify the question slightly to be; "Why didn't your complete a challenge?" There are a lot more of us in this category. One year an elder commented that you are not an elder until you have finished one or more challenges and dropped out of one too. Finishing a challenge is a difficult task and a big accomplishment but nothing teaches you more about equipment, preparation and mental toughness like a DNF. If you really enjoy these events a DNF will motivate you more than you can imagine to overcome the issues from a previous year.In my case my first DNF was due to a rudder failure just south of Boca Grand Pass. I was sailing with another WaterTriber as a two person team. We had pushed the envelope pretty hard in day 1. The 2nd day was going the same way when the rudder broke. I just wasn't mentally prepared to change my expectation of finishing the race in under 4 days and having a vacation the rest of the time down in Key Largo. I had family checking into the finish and waiting for me. The decision to go on was also impacted by the fact that the winds were not going to let up. This meant if we did make a repair it would have to hold up under more severe weather. I didn't have the confidence that we could do it so we pulled out at the next boat ramp.
Was it a good decision? Probably. We were in 1st place for our class when we broke the rudder. Conditions continued to be sporty. Off East Cape (or near that location) the boat that assumed the lead was capsized and broke its mast. They DNF-ed with a much bigger problems. But two issues ate at me after the race. First, we weren't prepared to make the necessary repairs. Any job we did had a high likely hood of being questionable. Second, I didn't have a back up plan for doing anything other than winning our class. Once we were no longer going to win or finish with a fast time it was easy to give up.
The next year we broke our rudder again! This time on the first day. We were able to limp into Venice and find a marina that let us work on repairs. We got the rudder into serviceable condition and were a day behind early in the challenge. We made enough progress to acquire a back up rudder about 50 miles further down south. From there we finished the EC.
And.......The next year after that I moved into Class 3 sailing canoes. At CP2 I backed my boat up with the aluminum rudder down and bent it about 60 degrees! Not deterred I disassembled the rudder. Found a picnic table, a log to use as a hammer and proceeded to bend it back. Took about 90 minutes. During the disassembly and reassembly I was in the mangroves and eaten alive by skeeters. But we finished and won our class.
Both of those finishes are a direct result learning to handle adversity from the mistakes that happened in a previous year.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Below is the account of my 2014 EC.
https://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=328606
Posted 5 years ago # -
Puma
MemberFirst Challenge 2012 ,
1 Not prepared
2 Boat was not set up for a 300 mile event .
3 I thought it would be easier conditions . The front that came thru Sunday, 30 knots gusts . Big jybes in Pine Island sound . Mast fitting failed . Had to abandon the event.
2nd Attempt 2013
Big wind in the Gulf off Venice the first day. Holed the Prindle 19 lost the boat . Picked up by the Coast Guard.
Lesson learned dry suits save lives.
3 rd Attempt 2014
Finished . It finally worked when I realized that this is a Challenge not a race . and the Challenge is testing your self to deal with what ever the course brings .
4th Attempt 2015
Event Canceled by The Coast Guard .
I have finsihed 4 other Challenges 2 OkoumeFeast Challenge 2 Black Beard Challenges
That being said so far 7 Challenges 5 Finished Failed to finish .
Good Luck My best advice would be to be the turtle not hare . Get your sleep . And of course Puma
says Full Speed Ahead , see you on Beach .
Posted 5 years ago # -
Mindset is key to finishing a challenge. Part of the mindset that seems to work is keeping the goal of finishing first and all other goals as secondary. Mindset should also be to protect yourself, your crew and your boat.
In 2014 my crew member had never been at sea on a small boat for days at a time. By CP2 he became so bruised up from falls in the boat that he could not physically cross to the windward side of the boat during tacks. His feet and ankles had swollen up to where he could not wear shoes. Also one of the chainplates started pulling free from the deck due to incessant pounding at sea. We were set up to fail for either failure of health or equipment.
To finish, we changed our approach. We slowed down the pace to allow some rest and recovery. We also made decisions to protect the boat rather than push the limits.
These changes in mindset and behavior worked and we finished.
Posted 5 years ago # -
My skipper's boat had a leak on my first EC 2009, and it probably always had one but this was not discovered until two men with expedition load tried to squeeze aboard an 18 inch wide x 23 foot long outrigger canoe. We slowly sank for about 6 hours and aborted at Anna Marie after walking the boat through the water the last quarter mile, accompanied by dolphins :-)
My solo abort of EC 2011 happened most immediately because my rudder blade dropped off the other hardware because I forgot to safety-wire the thing in the rush and confusion of start day. This was 3:30 in the morning at Venice Inlet. I thought I might proceed any waybecause I had a cat-yawl rig (sail-trim let's you steer), but sailing rudderless through the squall on Sunday morning convinced me maybe I didn't want to do the remaining 270 miles without a rudder. Lesson = prepare well for lost rudders (I had spare pintle/gudgeon hardware but no plan for lost blade). My outrigger from then on carried a spare rudder-blade in a storage compartment. Not to mention checking the safety-wire :-)
The less immediate decision was I didn't know enough about the issues of not making the first checkpoint on time. I felt I couldn't get another 30 nm by noon Sunday and would be disqualified. Turned out there was an extra grace-period because of light-wind-in the-face conditions, and I actually had until Sunday evening, but I hadn't known about it or even conceived of it -- lesson = know the Watertribe rules better.
Finally, I did exactly what Chief had told us NOT to do -- make an abort decision when exhausted and hungry. I had just slept 3 hours after sailing for ~22, and had not slept the 2 nights before at Ft Desoto, and maybe if I had rested and eaten shipwrecked there on Venice Beach (where it was illegal to beach a boat -- did have some pressure there), I would have had a better imagination to effect repair and maybe continue, or continue as a "tourist cruise/unofficial EC."
Wishing you all better luck/preparation! Have fun; wish I could get away again for #3. (Am building a new outrigger meant for an EC, just need a way to finagle issues with work). -- Wade
Posted 5 years ago # -
CleanSlate
MemberGo at a pace that is right for you and your boat. In my successful 2013 EC finish, my goal was not to have anything break including myself so I tried to sail conservatively all the time. I didn't push it. I stopped each night for adequate sleep. Most finished ahead of me but I did finish - and had a great time. Think of it as a 30 day adventure where you are just doing 5 or 6 days of that 30 days. Go at the pace you would for a 30 day adventure. That was my strategy.
Posted 5 years ago #
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