Everglades Challenge: Cat and Bird

KiwiBird  and  DeadCat
Photos by Paula Martel

This is a story of a flightless bird and a lifeless cat......

Beginning at CP2,  DeadCat and KiwiBird seemed to be in a race to the finish line.  From CP2, DeadCat traveled the Wilderness Waterway and then followed the Joe River to CP3,  while KiwiBird took the outside route until Shark River and then crossed Whitewater Bay to CP3.

From CP2 to CP3 in the Everglades National Park

Bird caught up with Cat at CP3

Cat launched at 2:21am
Bird launched at 6:20am

Although Cat launched much earlier than Bird,  Cat lost 3 hours back-tracking.  To be exact, she covered the same 3.6 nm three times and lost almost exactly 3 hours of time. Perhaps something slipped overboard and she needed to go find it?  No.   It turns out that when Cat stopped at Buoy Key,  she resumed paddling in the wrong direction and followed the channel markers back the way she had come ---for 1 hour and 50 minutes.  Ouch.    

Cat lost 3 hours when she paddled in the wrong direction after stopping at Buoy Key

Bird appears to be in the lead.   Track of SOS (black) pinpoints the finish line.

KiwiBird finished at 2:38pm.  Cat finished at 4:57pm.

KiwiBird with Flat Earth Kayak Sail (FEKS) at the finish