on the road

We need John Belushi to come out of the frat house and scream "ROAD TRIP!!!"

They are on the road again, Sandybottom (Dawn), DanceswithSandyBottom (Paul) and Kiwibird (Kristen) bound for this year's EC adventure.  (I don't see SOS in the photos, maybe he has alternate transportation.  He'll be there at the starting line no doubt.)
Above you can see Dawn and Kristen with the CS20 Dawn Patrol.  They must be quite a site rolling down the highway, two kayaks on the roof and the Core Sound 20 in tow.  Below you get a better view of the kayaks on the roof with Kristen and Paul.

Dawn mentioned in her blog post from last night that between the three of them - Dawn, Paul and Kristen - they had completed 14 Everglade Challenges.  That's a lot of miles on the water, a lot of adventure.  Despite the bugs and blisters, aching muscles and broken gear, I suspect it is a lot of fun too.

SandyBottom also pointed out that the Dawn Patrol crew will be carrying on the tradition of starting the race with brand new gear, untried and untested.  In this case it will be the new spinnaker.  Launching with a new sail is no big deal for DWSB and SOS.  The very first time they put the Core Sound 20 in the water it was at the starting line of an Everglades Challenge.  Imagine that, the test sail for a new boat was a 300 nautical mile unsupported expedition style race.  Dawn Patrol and crew did fine on that test sail in 2008, finishing fourth in its class.  What will they be able to do with that fourth sail flying??

Be safe on the road, guys.

steve