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AMY SMITH LINTON

Everglades Challenge: Up a Creek, Finding a Paddle

10/16/2013

16 Comments

 
Picture
When Jeff (TwoBeers) started planning the modifications to a Flying Scot that would make it fit for the Everglades Challenge race, I didn't think it would take very long. 

Especially since more and more, Time seems to be flying like a tether-ball around the pole of the New Year. 

Still, the process of building and assembling comes in waves: just now, three separate Frankenscot components are equally half-finished with only a few working days left in the month.  

However, a most excellent set of breakers (they were, one might say, tubular)  rolled through and dropped TwoBeers and me in on the front side of some unexpected treasure.

The 330 miles of the Everglades Challenge will most likely include some windless moments and narrow channels. Possibly both at once. Consequently, the sail plan needs a back-up.  

Luckily, we have a connection to The Stewards Foundation, Inc.  Thanks to Cal Reed (aka, the Godfather of Frankenscot), we met with Denny Antram, the VP of Stewards at the Julian Lane Waterfront Park near the University of Tampa to talk about what might work. 

There are rowing shells and kayaks and canoes  -- sleek, narrow little vessels that can be paddled or rowed at tremendous velocity. And there is a Flying Scot. 

Picture
It's a question of an order of magnitude, like... oh, I know, it's like an Italian greyhound versus... 

Like a plump Butterball Turkey and a... No wait. Let me try again. 

Like a 1958 Caddy and a... hmmm. Well, yes. 

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Turns out it's a bit of a metaphorical challenge to compare boats in a way that wouldn't insult the spirit of the Frankenscot. 

If we have learned NOTHING else from the hours in front of the Saturday Creature Feature, it's that one must never irritate the monster.

Besides, comparisons are odious.*
It's a truth universally acknowledged, that after the first couple of boats, people don't throw away old parts.  
Picture
Thanks to Denny at the Stewards Foundation, who does a very good job of organizing spare parts,  we came away with the lend of the following:
  • a pair of old sweeps (13 feet long and stoutly made of carbon fiber)
  • a handful of specialized modern oarlocks 
  • the fixings for a sliding rowing seat to go over the centerboard trunk, and 
  • the promise of a critique once we assemble these parts into a rowing vessel.
Picture
Thinking about the work in propelling the Frankenscot by means of oars...The Chief of the WaterTribe, the man who organizes the Everglades Challenge and other adventure races, recently sent a message about the Everglades Challenge Derby.  This Derby allows participants to indulge their every competitive instinct and log their miles of running, paddling, sailing, and generally exercising outside in the months before the event -- for A PRIZE!   
*Who says comparisons are odious? John Donne, for one, Miguel Cervantes for another, as well as Jonathan Swift and Mary Wollstonecraft. 

Odious (or "odorous," as Shakespeare gave us, the sly dog) as they may be, comparisons are central to understanding -- like air is to breathing.  Or oars to rowing.
16 Comments
Rod Koch
10/16/2013 06:36:50 am

And so, Frankenscot becomes truely "carbon-aided".

Reply
Amy
10/16/2013 06:46:09 am

Oh Rod --
I don't know whether to express my admiration for the pun with words or just face-palm a response.

Reply
Lois
10/16/2013 06:37:43 am

That is a tune I could live without!
Nice job on the paddles, though.

Reply
Amy
10/16/2013 06:50:15 am

Lois --
No disagreeing, but THIS is the version you can live without:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGAxXjSARqc

Glenn Miller SWINGS the living bajaysus out of it in a strangely soulless 3 minutes of jazz.

Reply
David Butler
10/16/2013 07:24:44 am

the Glenn Miller version is horrible!!!!

"carbon-aided" Ha!

Worthy of a face-palm indeed!

Amy
10/16/2013 09:54:20 am

Hi David
Thanks for checking in on the blog.

I'm thinking Glenn Miller's version of the Volga Oarsman might be on the "Elevator to Hell" playlist...as opposed to the Band in Hell line-up and playlist. (I think Karen Carpenter usually fronts the Band; Muskrat Love and Afternoon Delight are on heavy rotation.)

Best wishes-

Reply
David Butler
10/17/2013 05:59:20 am

Don't forget the "Macarama" song!!!
Good luck getting that one out of your head!!!

cheers!

Reply
Amy
10/17/2013 02:10:30 pm

Muaha ha. I see your Macarena, David, and raise you a "Rosanna" by Toto. Rosanna Rosanna. Rosanna

You're welcome!

Greg
10/16/2013 01:04:20 pm

Carbon-aided, LOL, need to start rowing now to get them arms and legs up to speed. And I love the Scottish head. you could sell T shirts to the gang. "I got Boats to Build" would be my favorite tune to cleanse my head of Glenn Millers madness. Followed by Alcohol.

Reply
Amy
10/16/2013 01:19:26 pm

Hey Greg
Glad you like the Frankenscot logo -- indeed there MAY be tee-shirts. There's talk of a fund-raising event. We shall see.

I prefer "If I Had a Boat" to "Boats to Build," but both work.

Reply
DonKeyHoTey
10/17/2013 04:16:19 pm

Blimey! That's some syrias synthetic lumber. Even Frankenstein would need to do some serious dry-land training with plenty of spinach (has to be canned) under Popeye's squinty aye to swing those hatchets.

By the way, have you consulted with the ghost of Sandy about this?

Reply
Amy
10/18/2013 02:02:53 pm

Hey DonKeyHoTey-
Thanks for checking in!
It takes a big sweep to move a wide boat -- or so we hear...
I don't think we have the ghost of Sandy is among our consulting pack. Perhaps we should shoot off an e-mail into the afterlife?

Reply
Zerothehero
10/18/2013 03:35:27 pm

Hey, is jeff going single male on the EC? That's how he is signed up on water tribe

Reply
Amy
10/20/2013 05:06:46 am

Hey Zerothehero --
Thanks for that heads up. I think when we registered him, we were poking our way around the site. He is going duo. I'll see if I can't fix it.
Best

Reply
Joe B.
12/2/2013 07:31:25 am

In addition to one person pulling oars on the sliding seat, how 'bout the second pedaling like mad with a Hobie Mirage drive?

http://www.hobiecat.com/mirage/miragedrive/

My guess is unless you can sustain the momentum of the boat during the recovery portion of the rowing stroke, the drive portion will be extremely painful! Narrow beamed shells work so well due to the efficient glide portion of the recovery.

Joe (High School rowing coach in my spare (ha!) time.)

Reply
Amy
12/2/2013 10:16:15 am

Hey Joe B
Thanks for stopping by!

Yeah coach, there are a few big fat challenges in rowing a boat like this...but paddling one is worse.

We briefly floated the idea of a Mirage drive; the challenges there are added weight, another thru-hull, etc.

Sea-trials and photos to come soon!

Reply



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