Another very well made paddle adventure film.

The Gwaii Haanas in the Killer Whale Month (Sgaana Gyaas) from Doi Nomazi (TraveloTherapy) on Vimeo.

Not sure why Canoe&Kayak made such a short video about Steve Landick but never the less its interesting, especially if you have read All Things Are Possible: The Verlen Kruger Story: 100,000 Miles by Paddle.

Wanted to get away from Lake Sinclair and the holiday boat traffic so I loaded the Kruger Dreamcatcher into my truck and headed for the Oconee River. It was a spur of the moment decision and the only research I did was to find a boat ramp. Closest spot turned out to be in Milledgeville. When I got there the water was moving fast. A lot like a ripping tide near an inlet in the ocean except a little up stream was a bunch of rocks and a shoal with a 4 – 6 foot drop! It was very interesting. There were spots where I could stationary paddle my boat at what felt like a full sprint. When I made my way up stream I had to balance trying to make strong strokes with not hitting big rocks lurking just out of sight below the surface. The trip turned out to be mostly exploring. I am looking forward to going back to this area soon. I will have to start working out the milage for a longer trip and figure out how dependent the water depth is on the dam’s release schedule.

There is a little video at the bottom. Enjoy!

Its been really busy this past month. Work and other obligations have kept me out of the new boat. This Memorial Day weekend is my first chance to try it out. First order of business was to run new foot control cables.

Second was to try out my set of yellow amas I acquired with the Kruger Cruiser. Sometimes I think rigging a boat for the first time is like putting together a puzzle. Lots of testing pieces where they don’t fit. Chief also did a lot of customization to the boat. Like anything you get second had some of it is great, some is hard to figure out and other things you choose to do your own way.

Next was to get out on the water. Unfortunately by the time I had the boat rigged the wind had substantially died off. It had been white caps earlier in the day but now all I could muster was a few gusts. Still enough for my brother to take some pics.

Amas do not mount perfectly symmetrical. I chose to mount them with the extra flotation aft. Not sure if this will be the best choice but it did tack nicely in this configuration.

It was suppose to be a workout but it was more like an excuse to eat pancakes.

Erika and I took the solo canoes up to Deleon Springs State Park and put in for a two hour paddle. Temps were a brisk 45 degrees when we started but warmed up quickly. We didn’t get a whole lot of distance in but Erika is still get use to paddling her own boat and did outstanding. After our paddle we at at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill on the Deleon Springs State Park property. I can not recommend this place enough. It should be on every paddler’s must visit list.

Sign by the water indicating the park boundry. Someone made a swamp creature out of moss!

Erika paddling the Saywer Loon. Boat fits her perfectly.

Yum! Pancakes!!!!!

Food or art? You decide……

Cool canoe movie. Well produced but not so professional that it loses any of its authenticity. Enjoyed the family aspect a lot. The videography is amazing.

Return to Moose Pond from Paul Frederick on Vimeo.

A last minute change of plans found us taking the family to the keys for a spring break vacation. We ended up at Key Lime Sailing Club only a couple doors down from the Bay Cove where the Everglades Challenge finished each year. KLSC was great. Each room comes with a Catalina 22 sailboat which we were able to take advantage of while staying there. My daughter Erika and I also used the trip as an opportunity to get some practice time in our Kruger Cruiser. Hope you enjoy the video.

Most of this has been on the Watertribe Forum before but I like it enough to highlight it again. Please comment with other great adventure sailing videos if you know of any.

Laser2 sailing 2000km,36 days Slovenia-Albania-Slovenia from igor Stropnik on Vimeo.

Project Scandinavia 2012-Sailing from Nordkapp to Stockholm by Igor Stropnik from igor Stropnik on Vimeo.

Hold Fast from Moxie Marlinspike on Vimeo.

Thats Boater’s Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I have a bad case of it. One boat is not enough. I lose interest in most boats very quickly. No boat is ever the right boat for everything I try to do….. All jokes aside. Sharing another decked canoe with my WaterTribe friends. This one peaked my interest as a possible boat for my 11 year old son.

And I should be working on my 2013 Everglades Challenge video. I did get it all into my MAC and iMovie so I am making progress but somehow stumbled on this very cool decked canoe. A Wenonah Canak. In my opinion its a decked canoe not a canoe kayak hybrid so not a fan of the name. But I am a fan of the boat!

Here is the ad for one for sale in Florida.

Website:
http://www.wenonah.com/Canoes.aspx?id=116

Nice Video

So we left civilization somewhere around Marco Island and couldn’t send out updates due to poor coverage. The short version is we finished this morning at 5:23 AM.

Now more details…..

We left Estero Bay Monday morning around 7:30 AM. An unusually late start for the race but it was brutal cold and we were trying to stay warm. Once up we headed off shore and picked up a nice north west wind which allowed us to fly symmetrical spinnaker we passed several boats including Lugnut and Chuck the Duck.

We had scouted Marco a couple weeks beforehand and that knowledge gave us a great run throug this shortcut. Hopefully some good GoPro of this part show us jibing the spinnaker in the pass!!!!

All the way down the coast we crunched the numbers trying to figure out if we could make favorable winds and tides at Indian Key Pass and Chokoloskee. The alternatives like going in Rabbit Key Pass and back tracking to CP2 we’re risky. We got there about an our after high tide at the pass and made a decision to go the traditional route of Indian Key Pass. Somehow the tide was still flowing in. Maybe it was the wind from the north west but it turned out perfect. We sailed in to CP2 and rode the outgoing tide in Rabbit Key Pass to the outside. On the outside We hit the gulf and were headed to CP3 by around 10 PM only to find no winds for about an hour or two. We got to the gulf about 10 PM only to find no winds for about an hour or two. After that we had 8-10 knots through the night and we took shifts to get sleep.

CP3 was a quick turn around with a check of the weather and quick stop at the store.

We made the decision to go through FL Bay. About 1 hour in the conditions changed. The wind went dead calm. We had 25 mile to go and our only option was to ROW the sailboat! Per and I rowed 90% of the distance from Flamingo to Key Largo over night! This is what my hands look like today with fresh caluses. (They are worse than they look in the pic)

We did get a brief amount of wind that let us rest for about 4 miles but it was a row into the finish. You can see the tired look on my face here.

We are happy to have finished. Last year we busted a rudder and dropped out. This year we made repairs and resupplied. We lost our chance at a class victory and a part of the record times posted by other teams but that’s ok. Redemption is ours and overcoming adversity feels like a personal victory.

Us with the damaged rudder discussing the trip.

One last comment. Need to say thank you to several people. Simon Lew for being our shore contact. Our wives for supporting us. Will for coming to get us in Key Largo. Watertribe for putting on this awesome event. Thanks to everyone who did anything that helped get us to the finish.