I got a phone call from Dawn, (SandyBottom), yesterday while I was working on Spartina's main mast. She had stopped for lunch during a 25 mile kayak paddle on a North Carolina lake. The paddle was part of her training for the upcoming Everglades Challenge. Even the phone call to me was part of the training, both for Dawn and myself.
During this year's race I'll be the shore contact person for both Dawn, above, and Paul (Dances with Sandybottom) below. I'm still learning the details of my job but my understanding is that I'll get phone calls (emails, txts??) from Paul and Dawn and then I'll have to post a logbook entry to the Watertribe website at least once a day with location, plans, weather, etc.
I've followed the race online for years now, watching the tracking maps and reading the logbook entries. Now I'll get to hear first-hand accounts of the adventure.
Dawn will be competing in a kayak. Dances with SandyBottom will be sailing Dawn Patrol, a home built Core Sound 20 (below), with his sailing partner (and son) Alan, (SOS).
It was through our blogs and Alan's adventure on the Eye of the World that I got to meet Paul, Dawn and Alan a couple of years ago. I had been following Dawn's blog for a year or two, and Paul and Dawn had been following mine. When they came up to nearby Hampton to see SOS off on a cruise around the world we all got to meet. That initial meeting led to Bruce and I sailing with Paul and Dawn on the Tag Team 200. Later on last year I sailed with Paul and Dawn on a long-weekend Octoberfest trip (you'll see Dawn at the tiller of Spartina below).
So I got to know them pretty well and even got to sail the Core Sound 20. Spending time on the water, particularly on a long, sometimes very hot, trip like the Tag Team gives you a pretty good appreciation of what people are like, how they react to different situations. It will be fascinating for me to be able to talk with them about daily struggles, successes and challenges during the EC. Dawn says some of her phone calls might change my opinion of her as a brave adventurer.....but I doubt it.
I think that is Dawn's (or maybe Kiwibird's) track through the Everglades in last year's event. Can you even get a cell phone signal out there? I guess we'll find out.
Below is the results of our test phone call yesterday, my logbook entry for Dawn at prestart. I hope to do another test again next week - still figuring out the information I need to collect during the call and how best to present it - with both Dawn and Paul. I need to make up a list of questions so that I'm sure to get as much information as possible in a short period of time.
The nice thing is that during the race I'll be able to post the required logbook entry for them and at the same time use the same information to do blog updates right here. If you enjoy small boat adventures then come back to this blog in early March. I think we'll have some interesting journeys to follow.
steve
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