I Took a Beating

Account of Chief's short lived participation
in the Ultimate Florida Challenge 2010
in HulpateChobee, March 2010

By Steve Isaac (Chief)

I started the Ultimate Florida Challenge with the grand goal of sailing and paddling around Florida in 30 days or less. I had no illusions about winning. In fact, I knew I would probably be last or close to it. I felt pretty good on the starting line, but I didn't have much training time, I was confident in the boat, sailing rig, my gear, and my overall plan. I was already a bit sleep deprived getting very little sleep Thursday night and virtually no sleep Friday night. It wasn't jitters keeping me awake. It was more like joyful anticipation that my greatest small boat adventure was about to start.

A Heavy Load

The one thing I pride myself on is being prepared. Afterall, I am the one primarily responsible for the famous or sometimes infamous Required Equipment List. I had everything in the list and it is a fairly light load if done correctly. The load included my boat cart and an ALICE pack frame  for towing the boat in stage 4. But I also had enough food for 30 days. I might catch a meal at the major checkpoints, but I would never need to stop for food. Although the idea was good, my food choice was not so good.

I decided that I would use a military MRE pack as my main meal each day and supplement this with a goodie bag of breakfast bars, snacks, chocolate, individual coffee bags (like tea bags), a packet for hot chocolate, etc. The MREs also came with heating pouches so I could have a hot meal without stopping to cook. I carried a thermos of hot water for making cups of coffee or hot chocolate as needed. The total calories was about 2000 per day with about 1200 of that coming from the MRE. That doesn't seem like much but I also wanted to lose some weight during the trip.

The goodie bags worked great! For days with good sailing one bag per day was about right. For hard slogging days I needed two bags per day. And on one 30-hour day I used 3 of them. I figured no big deal because I would just restock at one of the checkpoints.

The MRE's were a big mistake. First, they are heavy and bulky. In the field the Grunts going out on patrol will usually unpack each MRE and get rid of maybe half the weight and half the bulk. All that packaging is a huge weight and bulk factor that impacted my boat. You can unpack them if you only need one or two, but the packaging is needed if you are carrying 30 of them for a long time in a potentially wet boat.

And here's the kicker. I only used one of them at CP1 (Grande Tours) and never used another one. Instead I used more of the daily goodie bags. I did keep one MRE packet in the cockpit at all times, but never used it. I was carrying about 75 pounds of wasted baggage. Freeze dried meals from SnoreBringGator's sponsor Natural High Foods would have been better.

I have never paddled or sailed my Dreamcatcher with a load this heavy. I believe this heavy load contributed to the damage I will discuss soon.

The Boat

HulpateChobee (Miccosukee for Big Alligator) is a Kruger Dreamcatcher decked canoe. Kruger Canoes makes one of the best single and double canoes available for long distance tripping. There simply is no doubt on this. My Dreamcatcher is a high volume model made by Verlen Kruger himself (along with some helpers of course) which I picked up in the winter of 2001. It has seen years of heavy use in storms with waves big enough to pitch-pole a 40-foot sailboat.

The only change I made to my Dreamcather was to install a real sailing rudder that was custom designed by Matt Layden (aka Wizard) and professionally built by Phil's foils. Phil changed the design just a bit from my original prototype, but it is still a very good sailing rudder for a kayak.

Sailing Rig

If you're going to have a sailing rudder, you need a sailing rig to go with it. At the time of the UF2010 the best kayak/canoe sailing rig was the Balogh BOSS system. I have used this system on my Dreamcatcher since 2001. It works very well although I would like better upwind performance and better light wind performance. I have been in some very big stuff with my 36-foot batwing and had high confidence that with proper rigging and a good skipper this rig was up to handling big water with a loaded kayak.

However, there is a limit to the stresses any rig can handle in some conditions. I believe the BOSS system is about right for normal use if you are very careful and have a light to medium load

But for very heavy use, I'd like to see a system using two akas (cross beams) fore and aft instead of just one. This would also need longer amas (floats). The sail could then be increased to 50 square feet or more with at least two reefs.

But wait! Why not have the mast configured for infinite roller reefing? Take a close look at the Hobie sail. Combine the best of the BOSS with a mast similar to Hobie's. Sweet! Where can I buy one?

So What Happened?

We all had lots of fun on the first day heading down to Grande Tours. Two sailboats capsized and ended up drifting offshore. A few boats sustained damage and either had to withdraw or take signifiant time to make repairs. I had a great time sailing fast and surfing the waves. It started to get a bit hairy and I buried the bow several time right up to and past my spray skirt. I took in lots of water, but not enough to be a problem. I started yelling at my boat like it was a misbehaving pet dog: "Stop surfing! No, no, no! Get off that wave." Even though you are never supposed to bury an ama, sometimes "stuff" happens and you do even with a reefed and depowered sail. Here is a video taken the first day: First day, rough water, Ultimate Challenge. The action starts about 3 minutes into the video. There is a list of other videos showing more of the first day action including a rescue at sea.

After getting inside Venice Inlet things calmed down considerably. The rest of the trip into CP1 at Grande Tours was uneventful. My original plan was to checkin and go, but the lack of sleep for two nights leading up to the race changed all that. I slept at Grande Tours and left the next day after a rather lazy morning heading for Chokoloskee. The tide was coming in Boca Grande so I decided to take the inside route down to Sanibel and then go outside to Kice Island, hang a left and hit Indian Key Pass.

The trip down on the inside was very good with nice winds and easy water. After stopping on York Island I was ready for a long night in good wind and relatively easy water down the coast. By nightfall I had cleared Sanibel and was in open water between Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach. I was reefed and making 4-5 knots. Wind was not too strong and waves were only a foot or so. I was suited up for night time and drinking some hot chocolate just after full dark. And I mean pitch black dark. No moon, no stars, nothing.

I remember thinking that this was going to be a very fast and pleasant trip to Choko -- then in the blink of an eye without any warning what so ever the boat was crashing down on top of me and I was underwater. As I was going over I remember seeing the ama getting pulled off the aka. I popped out of the cockpit and the first thing I see was the ama floating away. While I was out there I first thought the the ama came off and that allowed the boat to capsize. But upon reflection and reliving the event, that wasn't right. It wasn't a normal capsize. The boat flipped over and the violence of the flip is what shredded the ama off the aka.

The closest I can get to how it all felt is to imagine flipping a pancake. You lift it quickly and then flip it over. The pancake rotates 180 degrees quickly. It was like that. It was not a rollover like a normal capsize. What could have caused damage like this?

• Left side aka bent
• Cross tube aka mount bent on left side
• Left ama ripped off and floating away
• Kruger seat is broken on the left side
• GPS mounting bracket is broken
• Charts are gone
• Seating pad and backrest are gone (which also double as my sleeping pad)
• Food and water in the cockpit are gone
• My coffee cup and mount are gone
• Expensive sunglasses are gone
• BlackBerry waterproof bag is ripped open and BlackBerry is dead
• My best paddle is almost gone but I grabbed it just in time
• I am bruised all over with one big bruise from my butt down to the back of my knee on the left side covering the whole back half of the leg. The other side of my butt and right leg also have large bruises but not as bad as the left side. The other small bruises and small cuts are spread out on all limbs. Although I felt some pain in all these locations, I did not know the details until the next day.

It's easy to see from my bruises and the broken seat (in a Kruger!) that my butt and body took the brunt of the impact. At the time I was thinking it must have been a rogue wave. But that just isn't right. A rogue wave is the confluence of two or three regular waves to make one big wave. They are actually more common than some believe, but with the normal waves only being a foot or so it would take a large number to make a wave big enough to do all that. No, it had to be something else.

I started thinking it was more likely a startled animal. Probably a large ray, or maybe a whale, or perhaps a large Manatee. My current guess is that I crossed paths with a very large ray and his wing actually flipped the boat as he was surprised by my boat being directly over him while he was napping near the surface. Manta rays can reach 25 feet across and are seen in Florida Gulf waters. Normal "flight" of a ray looks very benign, but a startled ray taking off would be something else. I believe this is the most likely suspect. Being an engineer I have to assign probabilities. So using my own version of Pareto's Principle I give this about 40%.

Whales are also seen along the Florida coastline from time to time and a quick flip of a whale's tail would easily have this sort of effect. However, I think I would have seen a whale or maybe heard it. So this is the second most likely culprit. I give this about 40%.

And finally a large Manatee could have done it. But I also think I would have seen something if it was a Manatee. And I think the capsize would have been more of a rolloever and not so violent. I view this as the least likely of the three. I give this one about 16%. Perato can be applied recursively.

So there is still about a 4% probability that something else did it. Mind you, I did not see what did it. This is only speculation based on the observed damage. But lacking any further evidence I'm going to assume a ray or a whale flipped me over.

What Did I Do

After being flipped I almost let go of the boat to grab the ama that was floating away. A voice in my head said - DON'T DO IT. The first axiom of survival in a capsize is stay with the boat. The wind was blowing and the ama rapidly disappeared along with all my other stuff that wasn't clipped in or tied down. It was hard to see all my stuff floating away and not able to do anything about it.

Fortunately, I was dressed appropriately and I had my PFD on when this happened. I cannot say enough about my first layer from Mysterioso.  This is great stuff! Over the Mysterioso I had a Mountain Hardwear Bedlam Vest and an NRS Endurance Jacket. I had a polartec skull cap and my headlamp on. Both of those stayed on my head. I didn't really feel cold in the water, but I wanted to get out of the water fast. At that time I wasn't thinking that an animal did this, but I was thinking about sharks.

So I scrambled up on top of the overturned Kruger and grabbed hold of the leeboard sticking straight up in the air. I leaned back but nothing happened. No movement at all. Ooops! the mast was pointing staight down and the sail was acting like a deep water keel. I ducked under the boat and releases the sheet so the sail could rotate.

Scramble back on top, grab the leeboard, lean back, and she rolls rightside up. She is full of water and floating at the surface so it is easy to reboard. I start to look around and assess the situation --- and over she goes again.

Scramble back on top, grab the leeboard, lean back, and she rolls rightside up for the second time. This time I am prepared and have my weight mostly on the side that still has an ama. I begin to rig a backup ama for the left side. I take half of my backup kayak paddle and blow up the paddle float. The paddle shaft gets stuck in the aft catamaran tube and I tie it off so it can't come out. Now I have a stubby little float on the left side. I can't rely on it too much, but it helps as I begin to pump out the water. Here is a short video taken right after I got the stubby float installed. Please note at this time I still thought it was a normal capsize due to the ama coming off. I even say the ama popped off and I went over in the video clip. That choice of words is a bit misleading. In fact, the ama popped off as part of the flip over not as a cause of the flip. I would have taken more video, but I thought the camera was not working so I stopped using it. On the water, and capsize off Ft. Myers Beach.

A Kruger can hold a lot of water since there is no forward bulkhead. I had a a couple of flotation bags forward of the mast which helped to keep her level while flooded, but it was still a lot of water. I pumped and pumped and finally got most of the water out. Then I sailed and paddled her to Fort Myers Beach. I picked that location based on the wind coming over my port side (left side) with my remaining ama on the starboard side (right side).

It took about 4 hours to get to shore. Although wet and sitting on the broken seat in a couple of inches of water, my clothing kept me from getting hypothermic. I did break out a space blanket to wrap around my legs.

I landed on a beach in front of a condo. Randy and Jan from Michigan watched me coming in and were right there when I landed. They gave me a hot shower, hot soup, and a couple of shots just for good measure. They offered to let me stay with them but I said a motel would probably be better because my stuff was such a mess so they gave me a ride to the nearest hotel. Thank you Randy and Jan!

I drove home to replace my charts and try to get another cell phone. I called Etchemin to borrow a Kruger seat and maybe get a straight aka tube for the left side. Many thanks to Etchemin and Dana for all the help. BTW, did I mention I had a spare ama with me? Yes, I did. But it is not smart to go swimming and try to replace it on the water. At least not in shark territory and in windy conditions that could easily seperate you from the boat. I could have replaced it once I was on land, but the aka tube AND the mating cross tube were both bent which meant the combined bend was too much and would drag the ama across the water. I needed a straight aka tube at least.

Anyway, I got most of the stuff fixed or replaced and left Fort Myers Beach roughly two days later. TWO DAYS! I lost all the good wind. Looking back, this was my biggest mistake. I got fixated on the lost charts and cell phone. I could have done without the charts since my GPS was tied in and has the charts loaded. I just got fixated on it. Also, I ended up buying a cell phone at 7-11 anyway. The attempt to get my BlackBerry replaced quickly was a total failure. TWO DAYS! Stupid, stupid, and stupid.

The Second Mishap

When I left Fort Myers Beach it was dead calm. No wind at all. So I started paddling and praying for wind. When my prayers were answered, they were answered by the Devil. Right on my nose, heavy, and gusting heavier. I spent 30 hours battling the winds and finally reached Chokoloskee. I was very beat up and sore. I could feel tingling in my right hand which I knew was due to two herniated disks in my neck beginning to act up. DrKayak was there with a room and lots of help. I tried to take it easy, get some sleep, and hope that the disk problem went away.

I still had some gear to replace and the seatback needed to be rerigged. DrKayak took me all over Everglades City and Chokoloskee to get me ready for departure on the next day's high tide. But the wind was still blowing hard in exactly the wrong direction.

Finally it was time to hit the water again. The wind was going to be a real problem at about 25-30 knots, but I wanted to get going. If I could make any progress at all, I was going to head south. If not the fall back plan was to camp at Jewel Key and wait for the wind to die a bit. It all depended on the exact angle of the wind to my course when I turned the corner at the bottom of Chokoloskee Pass. The Kruger/BOSS rig is great, but beating into the wind is not one of its strong points. The stronger the wind the worse she points.

As I came around Chokoloskee toward the pass I knew the full force of the wind would hit me. I had my 28 footer sail up instead of my 36 footer. I also had a reef in it and my weight was leaning to the left side. I wanted to relieve as much pressure on the right side ama as possible because I had been noticing a lot of bend on that side in the gusts. I was ready, but the gust that hit us was bigger than normal. It slammed the boat and I heard a weird crunching sound. The sudden gust had put a permanent bend in my right aka tube.

At this point I lost all confidence in my equipment. I still had a bend in my cross tube on the left side. Now I also had a bend in the aka tube on my right side. This was with my smallest sail with a reef and depowered to boot. Not a good sign. Was my entire system plagued with metal fatigue? What was going to break next? I thought about just taking down the sails and outriggers and just paddling the Kruger. But I knew my neck issues would go very, very bad if I tried that.

It Was Time to Pack It In

I turned around and went back to the beach at Choko. Many thanks to Denny and Lori from Anacortes, Washington who had come down to the launch and Choko to view the race and do a little bird watching. They gave me a ride home.

It was a real disappointment for me. All I can do now is make sure I learn the proper lessons from the experience and look forward to 2014 (or maybe 2012).

Copyright ©2010 Steve Isaac