DS2 in the Everglades Challenge

[jeadstx]

Mistermoon from this forum is sailing in the Everglades Challenge in his Daysailer 2. The event starts March 5th and is a 300 mile race down the west coast of Florida. All boats have to be launched from the beach (no trailers) at the high tide mark to start the race. If anyone wants to follow his progress, his blog is at http://www.mistermoon.blogspot.com/

For Everglades Challenge info go to http://www.watertribe.com/Default.aspx and http://www.watertribe.com/Events/Evergl ... fault.aspx
All boats in the EC are required to have a SPOT unit, the tracking map for boats is at http://www.watertribe.com/Events/Challe ... eID=EC2011

John

[algonquin]

Mistermoon - Your personal fan club from northern Maine is rooting for you. Brad

[jeadstx]

I found some pictures of mistermoon's DS2 at this site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tropicalbo ... 216016608/

They appear to pictures from the start of the race.

John

[GreenLake]

SA forum had a video of the start in their Everglades Challenge thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwzFbxyQdjo&feature=player_embedded#at=340
It shows how much hard work it is to lauch a DS from the beach...

[GreenLake]

I've not been able to get the challenge mapper to work, I'm getting server errors at that link.

Here's a link from mistermoon's own blog that shows just his track:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0NzN9qgj2Q8XGXC7KF0YzI2SazE5iTYxQ

[mistermoon]

Thanks for the kind words. I didn't make it, but I think we did OK anyway. We made it as far as Marco Island, but I lost an oar coming in at Caxambas and that ultimately put me out of the race. I'll be writing a full account later.

The boat was pretty fast and quite capable. I needed more reefs in the main, though. I had a lot of trouble coming out of Tampa Bay into the Gulf as well. It turns out the boat points a lot better with the centerboard all the way down. I sailed sideways for about 7-8 miles with little or no board out, costing me a lot of time and distance. Pox on the design of the DSII centerboard cables!

Best,

JB

[talbot]

Why couldn't you put the board down? Was it too shallow, or did it get stuck?

[mistermoon]

It would go down fine. I cleated the uphaul line instead of the downhaul line and the board rose up on its own during the reach out of the bay where we were exceeding 6 knots. The problem was operator error.

[TIM WEBB]

Mistermoon,

Don't feel bad: my buddy Cliffy (sail kayaker) didn't finish either. Just be proud that you took on the challenge!

I posted some pix of my DS2 CB up/downhaul solution in my gallery ...

- Tim

[talbot]

OK. Right. I've done that. Proud to say that I do things just like the sailors in the Florida challenge.

I'm going to color-coded lines. Now I just have remember which is which.

[Gus]

Here's more of the Day Sailer II story sailing in the Watertribe Everglades Challenge sailing along the west side of Florida.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8A1L0net-E&NR=1

Follow the Mistermoon comments on the Sailing Anarchist Forum RE: Watertribe Everglades Challenge. Look for "mqnada" posts.

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index. ... 9477&st=75

Gus

[K.C. Walker]

MisterMoon,

So, with Alobar up for sale so soon after the Everglades Challenge I figure there must be a reason. Have you decided you need a fast trimaran? Or possibly a Core Sound 20?

[mistermoon]

The reason I'm selling is that I've purchased a Core Sound 17. My wife says three sailboats is too many and one has to go.

The DS was a very good EC boat I think. It proved to be very seaworthy, capable, and fast. I'd do the challenge again in my DS if I had not found super sweet deal on a pristine CS17 for less than the cost of the materials used to build it.

That being said there are a couple of things I think my new boat will be better suited for me in the EC:

1) Weight - it's lighter by about half. I had a hell of a time getting the DSII off the beach. Rule changes now have us hauling them up the beach unassisted before the start as well. Cutting the weight of the hull down to ~350 lbs really helps in this department.

2) Rowing - As good as the DS is under sail, it's an absolute pig to row. Sorry, but it's the truth. It's too wide and too heavy and the mainsheet is always in the way. Also there is no good way to stow the oars where they are not in danger of going overboard on the DS. The main reason I dropped out at Marco Island in 2011 was I lost an oar. The CS is narrower and lighter and while still not a purebred pulling boat, it will be marginally better to row.

3) Sleeping - Sleeping aboard a DSII is just about impossible without a lot of modification. I was prepared to do this for next year, but the CS is a lot better in this regard. I can also more easily fit a dodger to the CS to get me out of the wind and weather while sleeping.

4) Rig - The DS's rig was awesome for going upwind, but less so for downwind work like I had for Monday on this year's challenge. The split rig of the CS will give up some windward ability but be a lot better reaching and running. Also, the new boat has much more options to for reducing sail than the DS. There were times this year that would be been very useful indeed. The shorter mast height of the CS (18' versus 25' on the O'Day) will also mean waiting for fewer bridge openings on the inside route. The new rig is also easier and faster to set up and take down than the stayed mast on the DS.

I love my O'Day and would love to keep it but I just don't have the space for it right now.

[K.C. Walker]

Ah ha! My suspicions revealed! Congratulations and I hope the boat does what you want. They look really cool. I would find it very hard to resist buying one of those boats at the price of the materials. I mean really hard to resist!

Last year I chartered a Catalina 22 out of Key Largo, my 1st time sailing in Florida, and I realized the DS would be a pretty nice boat down there. And then you started talking about the Texas 200 and the Everglades Challenge. I had never heard of these races so I read whatever I could about them (still searching and finding tidbits) on the web and found them totally fascinating. And of course that led me to investigating the Sea Pearl 21 and then B&B Yachts which all seem to be great boats.

For a single-handed mono hull it seems like the boat you bought is uniquely optimized for the Everglades Challenge. So, are you going to add a bowsprit and a spinnaker like on Dawn Patrol?

Finding video clips of Sew Sew launching Scissor is quite a contrast from you using tackle and your anchor to drag Alobar to the water.

Wow, a whole year to optimize and practice, you've done well. Have fun with it! Your wife is probably right, you would've probably neglected your DS.

[jeadstx]

I'll be sailing my DS2 on the Texas 200 again this year. Unlike the Everglades Challenge, the Texas 200 does not have a "beach launch" at the start and it is not a race. It will however be 6 days of sailing and 5 nights of camping. The route this year has changed a little from the previous events in that it will be about 30 miles longer. This year it starts at Port Isabel and goes to Seadrift, Texas (new maps of the route are available for download on the site).

I have to agree with mistermoon about trying to sleep on a DS2 not being very good. Last year I made a "sleeping platform" to fit in the cockpit for the night. It worked well enough to get comfortable, but I plan to modify it this year to make it less bulky when stored, although my plan this year is to bring a tent and sleep ashore. As far as rowing goes, my boat is equiped with oars and I find the boat rows easily as long as the centerboard is down a little and boom is raised sufficiently high using the topping lift to keep it from hitting my head. The mainsheet does get in the way. My oars are only 7' long (couldn't find any longer in my area) which is a problem. I'm hoping to find longer oars (8' to 8.5') before the event in June. I have my oars secured along the side rails and had no trouble with them getting in the way last year.

My biggest challenge this year is getting my equipment stowed properly. Last year I had the boat very overloaded with stuff and stowed in ways that was hard to get at what I needed when I needed it. The cuddy looks big when empty, but fills quickly. Storage of camping stuff and food/water will also be harder this year since my cousin will be sailing with me. Water storage is a challenge since they recomend a gallon per day per person, thats 6 gallons for each of us (minimum) for the trip. I plan to put some of the water in the inner hull along the centerboard trunk using the inspection ports as access (cockpit and cuddy cabin inspection ports). I plan to use nylon bags to keep the small bottles of water from getting lost and unaccessable in the hull. I hope that storing the water low in the hull (until needed) will help act as ballast.

John