Ready or Not

Here we come. Another year, another WaterTribe Everglades Challenge (EC). 

KiwiBird, and the not so little “Wee One” came over this evening to drop off KiwiBird’s kayak and gear; we’ll be picking her up very early tomorrow morning for the drive to Florida.  And, in keeping with tradition, FlysWithKiwiBird cooked us all a nice dinner and Tana made us all dessert, for our annual pre-EC dinner (thank-you!).

Excitement was running high as we ate and talked of previous ECs; between us all we’ve experienced 14 of them. This year will be extra fun (or extra worry) as Paul (DancesWithSandyBottom) and Alan (SOS) will be also racing in the DawnPatrol, and again with parts and pieces untried. 

I know KiwiBird can’t wait for this to become a family affair for her too, though I’ve told her Andrew will not like the Tribal name of “WeeOne” when he’s old enough to join her.

How to Follow Along:
Check the reports on the ‘Log of Spartina’ blog regularly. Our friend Steve Earley has graciously volunteered to be our shore contact person, and will be reporting on our progress and phone calls on his blog. I promise this will be great entertainment, Steve’s an excellent storyteller.

You also might enjoy visiting the WaterTribe Forum as the racers friends and family will be posting updates on the many of the challengers. The Forum will contain official status reports (or log entries) on each racer once the race starts. Log entries must be made every 24 hrs (except in the Everglades where phone service is bad) to avoid a call to the Coast Guard.

The Challenge Viewer will include slideshows taken by the challengers and downloaded during the race, or view some of the slideshows from previous races.

Another feature is the Challenge Mapper which is a Google Map showing where the challengers are on the race course. You will be able to select from a list of all racers in a particular class /division, all challengers in the race, or any one challenger.

Wish us luck!