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Nov 19, 2007 12:04 PM
©
©
Sun - April 2, 2006
WaterTribe Ultimate Florida Challenge 2006 - Wayfarer's Short Story
My
Ultimate Florida Challenge didn't go as planned
...
I entered the race after exhausting 32 hour non-stop driving from Colorado to Florida catching just a few hours of sleep before the race. Due to the work situation and my recent working in France I didn't have much chance to prepare correctly for the race and drive to Florida as planned.
The first couple of days of the race were not bad, although, it was not possible to recover from my sleep deficit. However, after the Chokoloskee checkpoint I met tough weather conditions with high headwinds. This lead to further sleep deprivation. I started to miss checkpoint deadlines. Finally, tired and disoriented in Florida Bay I accepted a ride from Coast Guard boat. It was about 10 miles from the finish of the first stage at Key Largo.
I had a possibility to sleep and rest at Karen and Matt Layden house at Jensen Beach and, later, at Fort Clinch State Park campground. Fully recovered, I entered the stage 4 of the race across Florida. I paddled from Ft Clinch upstream of St Mary River, completed 40 mile portage, and followed Suwannee River downstream to Cedar Key where I completed my paddling. My portage gear (pushing the boat on inline skates) worked great. I completed this stage in 7 days and 3 hours, exactly, as planned.
I spent a few days at Mermaid's Landing at Cedar Key waiting for Connie who was flying from Colorado. Finally, we completed our journey on April 4th night in Fort Collins, CO.
I paddled 692 miles within 15 days of paddling. It includes 40 mile portage (which in reality is a little shorter: 37.8 miles). We made almost 5000 miles by car.
All time, I was carrying my Pentax Optio WP, Canon EOS 10D camera, Canon Optura camcorder and a tripod. I shot more than 1300 pictures, mostly, with Pentax, and not so much of video tape (less than 2 hours).
I am sure I will spend a lot of time editing my pictures and videos and analyzing my case of progressive sleep deprivation during the race. However, before putting all this is some of presentation or report I will be showing some pictures with a commentary in my blogs starting with these three pictures from the Suwannee River.
I entered the race after exhausting 32 hour non-stop driving from Colorado to Florida catching just a few hours of sleep before the race. Due to the work situation and my recent working in France I didn't have much chance to prepare correctly for the race and drive to Florida as planned.
The first couple of days of the race were not bad, although, it was not possible to recover from my sleep deficit. However, after the Chokoloskee checkpoint I met tough weather conditions with high headwinds. This lead to further sleep deprivation. I started to miss checkpoint deadlines. Finally, tired and disoriented in Florida Bay I accepted a ride from Coast Guard boat. It was about 10 miles from the finish of the first stage at Key Largo.
I had a possibility to sleep and rest at Karen and Matt Layden house at Jensen Beach and, later, at Fort Clinch State Park campground. Fully recovered, I entered the stage 4 of the race across Florida. I paddled from Ft Clinch upstream of St Mary River, completed 40 mile portage, and followed Suwannee River downstream to Cedar Key where I completed my paddling. My portage gear (pushing the boat on inline skates) worked great. I completed this stage in 7 days and 3 hours, exactly, as planned.
I spent a few days at Mermaid's Landing at Cedar Key waiting for Connie who was flying from Colorado. Finally, we completed our journey on April 4th night in Fort Collins, CO.
I paddled 692 miles within 15 days of paddling. It includes 40 mile portage (which in reality is a little shorter: 37.8 miles). We made almost 5000 miles by car.
All time, I was carrying my Pentax Optio WP, Canon EOS 10D camera, Canon Optura camcorder and a tripod. I shot more than 1300 pictures, mostly, with Pentax, and not so much of video tape (less than 2 hours).
I am sure I will spend a lot of time editing my pictures and videos and analyzing my case of progressive sleep deprivation during the race. However, before putting all this is some of presentation or report I will be showing some pictures with a commentary in my blogs starting with these three pictures from the Suwannee River.