I depart tomorrow afternoon for an adventure with Alan Stewart aboard his custom built 22' trimaran "Mosquito". We're taking part in the Everglades Challenge which is part of several challenge events run by the Watertribe (watertribe.com). The race starts just north of Tampa Bay in Fort Desoto Park and finishes in Key Largo. Other than requirements for safety and survival gear, the only real restrictions are that you must launch your boat from the high tide mark (restricts boat design somewhat) and there are three checkpoints we have to visit along the way. In years past, some of these checkpoints were behind bridges that restricted the boat designs (dropping masts, maximum beam, etc.) but this year there are no more bridges or other obstructions along the way. You don't have to do anything other than sign a log book and ping your Spot tracker while "presenting your boat" at the checkpoints. You can stay a while and reprovision if you wish...or just turn around and keep on trucking. Two of the three checkpoints are relatively easy to access but the middle one, Chokoloskee, requires navigating several creeks and over extended distances of shallow mucky water. The backside of the keys in Florida Bay can also be a real challenge and we will have a choice to either pick our way through the shallow Florida Bay or sailing around it and essentially take the Key Largo Steeplechase route back to Key Largo. This race has 144 entries (last I checked) that range everywhere from stand up paddle boards, kayaks, kayaks with sails, to our 24' trimaran and everything anyone can come up with in between. Boats are divided up into 6 different classifications for the race. We're in class 5 "small sailing multihulls" and we're hoping to present a threat to be near the front in Class 5. With regards to our sleep and rest plans...that all depends on how close to the front we are or how closely we're being chased . Every competitor has a Spot tracker and you will be able to follow the race here:

http://www.watertribe.com/Events/ChallengeGMapper.aspx?RaceID=EC2014

Here's a video from last weekend and a couple of pictures of Alan's trimaran we're sailing. We haven't had much time to test and tune since we made several changes to the boat. My early impressions are that we may struggle a little going hard to weather until we get a chance to work on some trimming techniques but the boat is proving to be a real monster on reaching angles (especially with the giant code 0 Alan has equipped it with). We're carrying sails on a recycled F18HT mast with a square top main, roller furling jib, roller furling code 0, and an F18 spinnaker. We were able to do better than double wind speed on Lake Keowee last weekend and we'll be able to figure some new things along the way.

Alan's blog will also have some information here and I'll probably be posting some stuff to my facebook wall (Jake Kohl).
http://www.sailnaway.blogspot.com/