Everglades Soon...

Over here at Boatbuild Central, things are hectic.

We are six short weeks away from the starting horn for the 2026 Everglades Challenge. (It starts at sunrise give or take on March 7 at Fort DeSoto Park in St. Pete, FL). The new all-carbon single-handed OH Rodgers-designed adventure racing sloop, Zygote, is—ahem!—coming to fruition.

So much progress!

We found a trailer, and fitted it to the barky. Zygote is now primed (it will be mostly white, despite my request for a safety-orange bottom paint).

The mast has been up.
​It's a carbon fiber A-Cat mast shortened from 30 to around 27 feet. Muchas gracias to Ben Hall for that!

Sails are on order.
​Thanks to Doug Fisher of https://dougfishersailing.com/

The rudder gudgeons are bolted and glued in place. 

Am I reaching for zygotish metaphors? Maybe, but the boat's identity is ripening. 

Wha? 

To differentiate the new boat from the old, the old team versus the new, and who's on first, here's the lineup:
​
In this year's Everglades Challenge, my favorite skipper, TwoBeers, will be racing on Zygote, while his erstwhile partner Jahn "Moresailesed" Tihansky and Dave "DSea" Clement will be racing aboard Spawn of Frankenscot. 

While checking the WaterTribe tracking map, understand that familiar cheerful green Frankie face will be attached to DSea and Moresailesed, while Jeff's Zygote program will be marked by an aqua square o beer.

It looks like this tiny on the map:

If you like, you can click on the photo to link to the WaterTribe map site.

More details will follow as they develop.