Personally speaking -

I like to sail. Not camp.

Some guys are stepping up to re-invigorate the distance scene and you give 'em an out. C'mon. 2 Different programs.
The EC is awesome, but it's centric to kayakers as that's who started it. Sailboats always seem like also rans, the faster they are, the more this seems to be the case. Given, this is an observer's perspective and I haven't done an EC...yet.

That's the beauty (as I understand the race)... You only camp if you want to. All you're required to do is check in at various stops. Whether you stay or not is your choice.

Of course, that's the opinion of someone who has the ability to sleep in/on a boat while sailing (or not)....

Sounds like the EC might be a good start to the "iron-man" racing discussed earlier.

It seems though that the rules and area might not be that friendly to modern beach cats.

My only issue with the EC is some of the "safety" requirements.

Camping equipment, reefable sails, etc are not conducive to racing an F18. You need to modify the sails, and add 100lbs of equipment that you are not going to use.

Theres a certain enthusiasm here that I havent heard in several years....

I've no interest in dropping my mast and paddling under a bridge, or carrying the extra gear.

However, a Gulf coast raid would be very intriguing. It might be just the thing to motivate me to get the Tiki back in the water.

Has anyone approached Water Tribe about adding a fast catamaran fleet?

We are pretty much past the brainstorming stage and kicking around a lot of ideas including possibly bringing back the Hiram's Haul. One of the ideas we are kicking around is a ramp up. Something:
2014: 300 miler
2015: 500 miler
2016: 1000 miler

Of course everything depends on interest and participation. We are trying to sort something out as quick as we can. Expressing intent/interest here would be helpful in us making a decision

The EC is a different kind of race on a different kind of course. They've been opening up the restrictions to be more inclusive of multihulls in the last several years and now the only restriction is that you need to be able to launch it from the high water line to the water with no outside assistance and carry whatever launching device you used (if any). However, unlike the east coast of Florida, there's not much population and the places you sail are very remote. You need to have enough gear to be comfortable if something should go wrong.

I've had to buy a ton of gear...I wasn't well stocked in the camping category. Honestly, though - the areas you traverse in this race are so remote that you need to be prepared to take care of yourself for at least 24 hours if you had to. In years past, they had a long list of "required" items that included mosquito nets for your head, x number changes of clothes, sleeping system that met certain requirements, etc. etc. Those have since also been loosened up and changed into recommendations. Read the current rules - they've changed a lot.

With regards to reefing, they're not going to understand our boats in this regard but it's not THAT hard to comply. A couple of extra grommets in the sail to be able to tie the foot and a couple of ring-cable-shackle halyard extensions and you're set. There might actually be a day where you are happy to be able to reduce sail a little.

The organizers of the EC appear to do a nice job of making small tweaks to open the event without changing the flavor of it. If they had gone hog wild and changed everything with emphasis on the nut jobs that try to be first to finish , they would probably alienate the crowd that put them on the map to begin with and that wouldn't be cool. This race was founded on being 75% adventure and 25% race. You can run it at your own pace and get no pressure to do otherwise. It's an admirable quality to the race that has pushed them to over 100 entries...kinda hard to argue with the formula.

It really is a different type of race than the Tybee or this 300 miler we're talking about. I think it would be harder for a less skilled sailor to decide to race in the Everglades Challenge as it would to sign up for a 300 or 500 mile run up the east coast of Florida. For a race limited to the small, by comparison, fleet of catamaran sailors in north america, it might be tough to get enough entries for a tougher race like the EC.

There is no more dropping masts to get under bridges. All checkpoints are accessible with masts up.

Myself and several others had a discussion with Chuck and Larry at the end of Tradewinds about this. Chuck talked about the postcard poll but was not clear on whether it would be for a 500 or what. My impression was it was for the 500. I think there needs to be a clear few options out there that are passed on to Larry rather than all the various ideas that have been proposed here.
I respect Chuck and think he did an amazing job with running the Tybee when he had the appropriate resources in sponsorship. He has said to do it right again he would need serious sponsors. I believe the most important thing that wasn't done in the last Tybee especially was promotion prior to the event. Definitely not like it had been done in earlier Tybees and during the Worrell. Times have changed since then and it should be even easier to promote to the catamaran community through the internet.

As others have said, I can't speak for all the New England guys. But we have discussed this a lot and most of those interested, including myself are up for a 1000, possibly the second 500, or nothing. I think we all have the been there done that feeling with the Tybee, plus it's more expensive and takes more time to get further south to South Florida.
Personally and I think others are of the same atitude that we want to experience and accomplish sailing the later 500 miles.
Our focus definitely seems to be buoy, largely because there is always a guarenteed good sized fleet. If there was a guarenteed sizable fleet (like the 2nd to last Tybee) there would be a lot more incentive. If the fleet was there I believe 4-8 boat would come from New England.

+1 on the sailing, not camping

there was a stock hobie 18 there (with wings) and a mystere 4.3 last year.






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Larry is in the discussions. A 500 mile race will not happen this year. Too much logistics, too little time.

Since most of it is already out there, the other two items we are talking about:
West Palm to Lucaya Beach, Bahamas (80 Miles each way with a 1 day stop)
West Palm to Key West incorporating the Miami Key Largo Race

the bahamas trip sounds cool, but a breakdown 40 miles out with nowhere to stop sounds a bit "challenging"

If you could combine MKL with a Key West race, you'd be all set up for a Cuba run should they ever open that up...

Instead of reinventing the wheel, with the potential size of the beachcat fleet(s) can't you just petition your own class at some of the larger monohull regattas? Don't you sail in the Ft. Laud/Key West race?

and for those non-camping sailors, wasn't the original Worrell a non-stop race?

So, "We're not coming" in conjunction with "ideas are bad"... Way to contribute! Thanks for playing!

Not the first running or two but it evolved to that pretty quickly. djup. shaw'nough.

Has anybody checked out the impact of the new coast guard regs on this kind of race?

you might not get landing permits without a CG permit.

They are causing some upset in my part of the world for the upcoming season.

The cold shower that this forum has become didn't take long to get here.