Forging ahead, learning as they go

It's 4:00 p.m. and we're heading south. The breeze has picked up as we're tracking towards the Venice Inlet.

In 2001, during the inaugural Everglades Challenge, making this point was our goal for the first day. But we hope to blow by it and make Boca Grande -- and Checkpoint 1 -- by nightfall.

We were making good headway and then the wind died. But we noticed that other sailing craft were passing us by. So obviously, wind wasn't the problem. Apparently we didn't know how to sail. But, through trial and error, we are slowly figuring it out.

Now, once again, we're moving forward at a good pace. We will undoubtedly be paddling well into the night.

Around dusk, we'll slow down and put on our night paddling gear to ward off hypothermia. We'll strap lights to both our bodies and the boat, and make the push of the next 20 miles or so to Boca Grande and Check Point 1. Once there, we'll heat up some food, guzzle some hot coffee and pop a couple of NoDoz.

Then we'll climb back into the boat, continuing our journey south.

Comments

[Dead weight]

Just keep paddlin...I'll have a beer for you tonight!!

[allana]

Keep pushing guys!

[Trigirl]

Stay strong~you are all amazing!

[Paul Sedwick]

You Insomniacs are moving along great! Blogging underway,,,too cool Terry!
Photo from this morning...
http://www.paulsedwick.com/EC09/EC02.jpg

[tnt]

Keep it going, little brother. Remember what Les of the Woods always said - keep a good posture...
Stay safe, Insomniacs!

[treehugger]

I am totally impressed by your journey. I look forward to reading about your progress! Stay warm! Thank you "trigirl" for sending out the link to the blog. ;)

[Glenn]

Good to see you guys off this morning. Have fun.