40 Mile Portage During Ultimate Florida Challenge

Sat - January 7, 2006

I converted my routes from Garmin MapSource into Google Earth map to show the course of the 40 mile portage between upper St Mary River (St. George) and the upper Suwannee River (Fargo). Actually, the portage seems to be a little shorter somewhere between 37 and 38 miles. You can click the picture for a larger version.

I didn't point out one very important thing about this portage in my previous postings: whatever rig you choose for the portage you need to carry it in your boat for the entire race, i.e, about 1160 miles. You can pack a bike into Sea Wind canoe but no into a kayak. There are currently 10 entries in the UFC roster, all solos: 5 Kruger boats (4 Sea Winds and one Dreamcatcher), 3 kayaks, and 2 light sailing boats in class 4. I believe that at least 3 of the Kruger boat racers will be using bikes (SandyBottom, Pelican and ManitouCruiser). One paddler will be using his wheelchair (ThereAndBackAgain).

I am planning to use inline skates, possibly, combined with some walking if necessary. My overall cruising speed will probably be not higher than 3 mph judging from my EC2004 paddling. So, even in the case of walking, I will be traveling not slower than my average speed on water.

It is also possible to look at that portage from another perspective: 40 miles of portaging during 1200 mile trip is just like 1 mile portage during 30 mile paddling.