Larry Ferber and crew is more than halfway through the race with about a day lead over the second trimaran kayak type boat with sails. He started in St. Pete on his Nacra 20, rounded Key Largo and entered the St. Mary's river just North of Fernandina Beach. He did a 32 hour stint from Cape Canaveral to Fernandina Beach to expand his lead by one day.
He is now facing the kayak part of the challenge including a 40-mile portage connecting the St. Marys River to the Suwannee River. The Last stage of the race is back in the Gulf and will be back on the Nacra 20 to the finish back in St. Pete.
He is currently on his ideal Schedule:
Idealized schedule:
0) Friday March 4 - Setup fort Desoto Park St. Pete. Ideally need partner there, but they could come in late if need to work that day.
1) Saturday March 5 - Tuesday March 8 - Stage 1. Fort Desoto park to Key Largo, around the Southwest Coast of Florida and the Everglades/10,000 Islands, then Florida Bay to Key Largo. Remote section.
2) Wednesday March 9 - Friday March 11 - Stage 2. Key Largo to Sebastian Inlet. Basically Southeast coast of Florida, very populated, incredibly beautiful sailing. The best.
3) Saturday March 12 - Monday March 14 - Stage 3. Sebastian Inlet to Fort Clinch (northern tip of Florida East Coast). North East Coast of Florida, still amazing sailing, a little less populous then Southern half, but still very first world.
4) Tuesday March 15 - Saturday March 26 - Stage 4. Fort Clinch to Cedar Key. this is a very backwoods section of the North border of Florida. 90 miles up river, 40 miles hike with kayak on wheels, 220 miles down Suwanee River, 20 miles down Gulf to Cedar key. My plan is to kayak it. If anyone wants to join we either need a second kayak, or a two man kayak or canoe.
5) Sunday March 27 - Tuesday March 29 - Stage 5. Cedar Key to Fort Desoto. Should be nice sailing on a remote section of the gulf, then coming into the populace Clearwater/St. Pete zone.
You can follow his race with the link below. He is listed as LRock. The Second boat is SOS who is sailing solo. Not all of the challengers show up on the main tracking page such as SOS but you can see their individual tracks. Once on the tracking page, Choose Challenger = LRock; Display Detail = Show Tracks, OK, Help and Current Way Points Only
Ultimate Florda 1200 Tracking >>>
Their system really makes you appreciate Katack! The results page defaults to the Everglades Challenge results so you need to choose Select Challenge = Ultimate Florida 2016
Ultimate Florida 1200 Results >>>
Help cheer on one of our fellow cat sailors!
Crap!!! I didn't even know this had started already or that Alan managed to get his trimaran ready in time! What is Larry sailing on?
Sailing on his Nacra Inter 20 but now on a Kayak until the final leg back on his Inter 20.
Flesh rocket with prosthesis racks
I don't think he has racks. Just a Crazy Russian.
Wow, cool. That race requires a lot of tenacity and suits his sailing style well.
BTW SOS is Alanosaurus Stewart of yee ole Team Velocity days.
Two Tybee guys going at it.
Looks like racks to me
<img src="
sheesh! I remember flesh rocket and I'm old!
What a testament to the I-20 and fiberglass boats lasting a virtual eternity if updated/maintained...
What a testament to the I-20 and fiberglass boats lasting a virtual eternity if updated/maintained...
You call the flesh rocket
properly maintained
? more like maintainted. <img src="<>/grin.gif" alt="grin" title="grin" height="15" width="15" /> They have to scrape the spanish moss off it every Steeplechase.
We have a RACE! SOS (Alanosaurus) is catching up in the paddling section on the north side of florida. I can attest from racing with him in the Everglades 300 a couple of years ago on another boat that he self designed - that he is a paddle monster and one intense competitor.
From a rough map estimate, SOS appears to be 20 miles behind Lrok as the crow flies. That's probably closer to 30 miles with the twisty windy river they are traversing.
And it still sails nonetheless....
How's Tad's old boat you fixed the nose on?
Mine went to Canada and haven't heard anything since (Sail 279 & 501)
Looks like Larry and Crazy Russian picked up the pace a little. They seem to have stretched on Alan a little (or the tracker ping intervals are making the comparison tricky).
No rest for the weary. SOS and LroK are 16miles + 2 hours dry land travel away. Lrok's last ping was two hours before SOS and they are in at the point where they are traveling the 20+ miles on the road with their kayaks in tow. Sos is just getting out of Saint Mary's river and onto Hwy2. at 6 something am, Lrock was moving at 2.4 knots on the side of the highway.
Here is Alan in his portage test (that's not actually Alan in the video):
And here is Alan for his first test sail in his trimaran he designed. Everything folds up and fits inside the center hull and makes the canoe for the river sections (including the portage).
got a good ping at roughly the same time just a bit ago. They're about 28 miles apart.
21 miles apart now. Alan's last ping was at 5.3knots and I have little doubt he has his sights set on Lrock and Crazy Russian even though they are technically in different classes. Looks like Larry and the Russian are about 1/2 mile from getting back in the water born transportation in the Suwannee River, though, and the run back to the ocean will be a little easier with the current at their back.
Once they get back on the flesh rocket they should have a pretty good speed and manpower advantage (able to trade and get a little sleep) on Alan in a slower boat and going at it solo. It will be fun to watch, regardless. I can't imagine the pain and exhaustion that these guys are working through right now and I hope they'll continue to make the safe decisions.
15 miles.
9 or 10 miles apart now, given the twisty nature of that river.
Is Larry holding up traffic on his portage? I didn't think about it until now... toting an 8'6" cat by hand down the road sounds scary... especially if he's off the side of the road
They switched either a dual seat kayak or two kayaks for that section and are allowed to have someone transport the catamaran back to the gulf side where they will meet them in (I think) Cedar Key.
Alan is in a class where he carries his boat for the entire navigation in ocean, river, and land.
Those guys are only about 5 miles apart now.
They are both on an
Old aluminum canoe
. Crazy Russian is in for the long haul.
It looks like Larry / Russian stopped at a restaurant this evening that probably will make a sweet overnight stop at Treasure Camp on the Suwannee. SoS is about 9 miles behind and still moving at about 3 knots in the darkness. A camp worthy (non-muck) river bank are probably getting pretty few and far in between between from where these guys to the coast.
Sos got around them at some point in the night and the guys are all back underway. It looks like they might even be in sight of each other as the sun comes up this morning!
SOS went further into the night and pulled ashore just after passing and around the bend from where LRock and crazy russian pulled up. They were scheduled to swap from the canoe to the catamaran at Fanning Springs. That might have hurt them with the narrow Suwannee.
Sos heading south about 100 miles from the finish. He'll need a little more speed to finish today (currently reported to be making 2 knots). The forecast is for breeze but it looks like the forecast is a little bit wrong...no breeze showing up at the weather stations at the moment. Lrock is currently at the Cedar Key checkpoint on the beach - undoubtedly to be back underway soon (possibly waiting for breeze, maybe?).
They went a bit further than planned before switching to the catamaran. Choosing to get the distance before night and put the boat back together during the night to get a fresh start in the morning.
Right now they are making good time and catching up with SOS and should be leading again soon. They look like they are within eyesight of each other.
Looks like LRock Finished some time in the night! Sos Still underway.
LRock and CazyRussian finished at 6:35AM this morning. SOS stopped for some sleep and is about 35 mi from the finish.
Per SandyBottom (SoS's mother who is also an avid and accomplished adventure racer) talking about the stop at Cedar Key:
Another touch and go arriving about 50 min after SOS, but with quick run to the grocery so CR can buy a box of vino and cigarettes. CR says LR won't let him sleep.
<img src="<>/grin.gif" alt="grin" title="grin" height="15" width="15" />
Well done, guys. A terrific accomplishment!
![[Linked Image]](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FlA3mMnqlTk/VvG6NhZOgcI/AAAAAAAANvs/1v9Rr7nFTLYeb__QGcRRztI1P5k9TbceQ/s640/2016-03-22_%252814-20-00%2529_Paul_%255Bdawn12%255D.jpg)