Saturday, February 11, 2012

We are Working Hard

Alan's seems to be feeling better, my head colds getting the best of me, but work has to continue if we are to be ready in 3 weeks.

Paul and Alan continue to work hard on Mosquito our Trimaran, it's going to be a build that goes right up to race day.  Today Alan had me cleaning our carbon fiber mast, getting it ready for a nice clear coat.  It's 33 ft long.  Is a mast supposed to be longer than the boat :)



My personal goal this weekend was to see if both bikes would fit in the trimaran.  I know they'll fit in the Kruger Cruiser (everything can fit in that).  With the drought in Northern Florida, there's still no water in many sections of the Suwanee River.  The St Mary's River will probably also mean we are in and out of the canoe and with lots of dragging.  The 40 mile portage section of the WaterTribe Ultimate Florida Challenge (UFC) might end up being 100 miles, so 2 bikes it is even if it means taking an extra 50-60 lbs of bikes and boat cart the whole 1200 miles, we need to be prepared for all contingencies.


As Paul wrote about on his WaterTribe Blog, I'll just adopt the phrase 'No Whining' as my mantra.


We even have KiwiBird's kayak here at the B&B Yachts Design Boat Shop where Alan lives and works.  She's  going to give the Flat Earth Kayak Sail a try in this years Everglades Challenge (the first leg of the UFC).  Alan and Paul volunteered to strengthen her underdeck where the mast step will go. That's a portable heater trying to dry out the epoxy.  It's going down to 23F tonight, not ideal for boat building.

I'm really pleased she is giving the FEKS sail a go, I've been really happy with mine.  I really need to get some better pictures and find more time to blog about it.

Sailing in Currituck Sound with Jokey's Ridge in foreground

Mick, the owner of Flat Earth Kayak Sails (who graciously sponsored me with one of his sails) has joined the WaterTribe, he's become active on the Forum and now has a blog there as well, he's posted some great videos there, worth checking out.

1 comment:

Canoe Sailor said...

Yes a mast is almost always longer than the boat. Even on my slow 24 foot cruising boat the mast was about 30 feet long.

Mosquito looks very fast. Hope it goes well!