Spawn: Packing for the Distance

I used to think the Spawn team needed a lot of gear and supplies to make the sprint from Fort Desoto to Key Largo.

​Like Jon Snow, I was mistaken. 

A lot of gear is what my sailing guys need to make it all the way around the state of Florida.

The Ultimate Florida Challenge starts at the end of the week, and our house is littered with piles of assorted sorted and unsorted sorts of things. 

The short list includes cell phones (they can use them! it's not like a regular race! they won't chat, but they could!), VHF radio, flashlights and headlamps, GPS, two personal locators with strobes (clipped to their persons at all times), a SPOT personal locator (operating all the time; it's how we track their position), a tablet for additional navigation, a biggish lithium battery and a pair of portable (deck-of-cards size) power packs, plus AA and AAA batteries, plus multiple nav-light backups. And compass, watch, and paper charts just in case.

They also have a fire kit (waterproof matches, tinder, and reflective safety blanket in case of hypothermia) and a snakebite kit.

​Their first aid kit includes salves, bandaids, wraps, over-the-counter medicines, eye-wash, and Benadryl.  

There's the very important repair kit (a big one for Spawn, a smaller one for the Miss Patsie).

They have a compact and efficient little stove, a JetBoil, for comestibles that require boiling water.

​They tote along the usual sunblock, personal care stuff, gloves, hats.

​They have a sacrosanct set of dry camp clothes, plus what they wear (dry suits are required, as well as a PFD -- aka 'lifejacket" -- with integral whistle and knife), and since they will eventually have access to a shower while traversing the state, a tech towel and soap and a change of clothes.

Pelican box should NOT leak.

They have a "sleep system" for Spawn (mosquito netting is part of the boat's "tonneau cover," foam mats, super-duper sleeping bags).

And for the for the Miss Patsie, shelter includes a backpacking tent, Tyvek groundcloth, along with those same mats and sleeping bags.

I think an earlier version of this photo also appears in the photo albums at both our sailors' mom's houses.

This is essentially the same gear they have carried for years; I don't know how the windsurfing guys manage to pack even a severely slimmed-down version of these essentials. 

But given that this year's adventure races along for another 900 or so miles, the Spawnsters will be carrying back-up back-ups, and considerably more food. 

From my end of the lab, provisioning seems just about as important as any of the many aspects that can make or break an adventure race.  

Neither TwoBeers nor Moresailesed is what dog-trainers might call "food motivated."  I have witnessed Moresailesed consume more than one full meal at a setting, but both sailors can actively forget to eat for long stretches of time.  

So I've made it part of my brief to supply the living bejeebers out of 'em.  

​The gold-standard for past contestants is the MRE: Meals Ready to Eat, as designed by the US military. I got a stack of them, complete with the nifty little tab that heats water so they are indeed READY to eat.

​Then there's the high-protein Mac and cheese cups, a wide variety of snack bars, flavored rice, instant noodles, summer sausage, peanut butter, homemade chocolate bars. home-brewed trail-mix, and instant oatmeal.  

Stowing it on the boat is not part of my job, but I sure hope they can put this stuff away. 

​Knocking wood.