WaterTribe Ultimate Florida Challenge 2006 – Wayfarer’s Short Story

My 2006 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. Add to that some jet lag and a lot of stress.

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 and 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 completed 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.