No Team Name Yet...

or boats, or paddles, or sailing rig, or gear, or anything really. But they have the drive, and the spirit. I call it the WaterTribe Spirit.

Alan (my son), Matt, Chris, and Mike, all Juniors at North Carolina State University, are hoping to participate in the 2007 WaterTribe Everglades Challenge as a team of 4.

Their plan, as Alan described on the WaterTribe forum: We are looking for two (identical sized) fiberglass canoes between 16 and 18 foot (whatever we can get at this point). We plan to modify both canoes with decks, cockpits, freestanding masts (one each), sails, rudders, and leeboards. The canoes will have the capability to be catamaran’d together to be sailed with the advantage of the two sails. In still air, the boats can be separated and paddled. We would plan to be catamaran’d for a majority of the race since this configuration improves stability in open water and would be a must through any surf. However each boat will be equipped with a removable outrigger(s) for use in situations when stability is needed (while not catamaran’d) or in emergency situations. Plenty of reasons for this stow able stability. We would enter as a
dependant team with two Class 3 boats and 2 challengers per boat.

So the guys showed up at our house Saturday morning with an old canoe borrowed from NCSU. They rigged up one of the windsurfer masts and sails, and set out for Lake Jordan. It was a rainy but breezy day, and they figured they'd go have some fun, and think about what they'd need for the EC.

Future engineers and an architect, they are looking forward to the challenge and experience of making do with what they can scrounge. To them that's the fun of it, and the first real challenge.

Alan has always done thing his way. His training will be very different than mine too. Starting by getting ready for the 2006 Krispy Kreme Challenge. An annual NCSU race which begins with a 2 mile toward downtown Raleigh to the Krispy Kreme bakery. There, participants each consume 1 dozen of the legendary hot glazed doughnuts, then run back the 2 miles to the belltower to finish the race, all in less than an hour. Last years winner had a record time of 34 minutes, 27 seconds.

P.S. If you've got two canoes your willing to loan or donate to the challenge, you would really help thier cause.