2019 Capts for Clean Water Skiff Challenge starts today

[zload]

Circumnavigation of FL by 4 17' Skiffs max 70 hp OBs including Team Key West Boats for the first time! Pretty cool endurance test of captains, vessels and chase teams, you can track them live kicking off at 5:00 PM Central today in P-cola... tracking below probably still taking donations as well.

https://captainsforcleanwater.org/skiff-challenge/

[silverking]

Good to see some new builders join in. I did the publicity for it last year; CFCW is handling everything in-house this time. Most of the teams were using bolstered seats and bean bags to handle the bouncing. Still don't think my back and knees could take it for that long. Good luck to all and hope they arrive to Jax safely.

[zload]

Nasty storms near start time and they all seem to be running the ICW for now. Not sure they can do that in the Michael impact area due to all of the debris???

[Salty Gator]

A couple of new sc players . Let’s see If sea pro and key west can hang. Good luck and safe travels to all

[Juan]

Good to see Sea Pro has boats in this too. The ICW behind Mexico Beach area should be wide open and good to go.. (at least it was three months ago). but is running the ICW fair? That's cheating.

[zload]

I was surprised at the ICW run as well, the YF and HB boats ran the ICW at around 40mph last night Not sure exactly what happened to the KWB team but they got way behind around PC and meandered around for a while before running out to the Gulf only to back track back to the bay before running the ICW. They then left the coast around Dog Island and are coming into Steinhatchee as I type this. They are running a more or less standard 1720 cc against the two skiffs and apparently the Sea Pro hull is a CC type but maybe a one off carbon fiber hull from the rumors back when the boats were being built, supposedly Team SP was expecting 40mph out of their hull and Suzuki 70.

Team KWB said early on that finishing was winning so we'll see. The YF driver is "nuts" I saw he ran a track in the dark between Big Grassy island and the Coast so he was running shallow for sure after running way out in the gulf after leaving Lanark as the storm caught up to him.

Tough ride for all I'm sure.

[zload]

Well our KWB team captain just posted an update on the KWB forum, they got slammed by the storm front while still in the bay at PC so they had to stop and make repairs thus the long delay, the made a decision early on to really outfit the boat with state of the art electronics so it had dual Garmin chartplotter screens, FLIR, radar, LED bar lights, VHF, small tower etc. I think it was the YF boat captain who commented early on that they stripped their boat of just about anything electronic/electrical other than the OB trim as it was constantly breaking in past challenges they ran, experience showing on this for sure.

Here is the KWB captain's comments on the forum from about 10 minutes ago as they left Steinhatchee public boat ramp where they refueled, the open water comment is referring to last night when they left PCB and ran out into the gulf in the middle of the storm:

Status update

I have not read any posts

We are leaving Steinhatchee

Broken items
~Silly sound bar
~VHF antenna
~Garmin monitors (fixed)
~FLIR
~Rigid lightbar (fuse)
~USB charger
~Yamaha gauge backlights
~Mast light

That all shook loose in Port Washington , hence our lengthy stop

We thought we'd try to make up time hitting open water. The waves and wind were so fierce, I feared for my life, so we backtracked. Whoops

I've been driving nonstop since 6pm. The crossing from Apalachicola to Steinhatchee was 3-4 footers, and took 5 hours. Despite this, I almost fell asleep at the wheel. Turns out, the Skiff Challenge is challenging

[Juan]

Am I correct in that there are three of each brand boats in this? It looks as though one of the Key Wests and one of the Sea Pros is running Highway 19. and there's a Hells Bay on the Suncoast Parkway.

[silverking]

Only one boat from each builder. The others are the respective support teams that help with fueling, repairs, food, etc.

Bet that was one of the longest nights of those guys' lives running through that mess.

[Salty Gator]

More man than I am

[ropeman]

If the crossing from Apalachicola to Steinhatchee was 3-4 footers, I wonder how rough it was coming out of PCB! I ridden 25' swells in the Gulf, but not on a 17' boat!

[zload]

Ride had to have been rough, Sea Pro also totally lost their electric power while running down the ICW, had to resort to the second captain laying on the front deck with a flashlight and they stopped in St Marks to make repairs including losing their radar and I think the whole poling platform trying to prevent further electrical problems.

Team Hells Bay busted their jack plate (they ran aground somewhere) and somewhere on the west coast pulled up removed the engine and jackplate and then reinstalled with the boat in the water.

Funniest quote I've heard on video was one of the SP guys saying "I wish the wind would make up it's mind" amen brother I think we've all uttered that before

Seems this is more of an Ironman competition than a simple race, its not where you finish but if you finish.

[Juan]

I'm just glad I didn't bet on this race. Wonder why there's only 4 brands it this. It seems like something that would attract a lot of interest and help with sales (if ya didn't finish dead last )

[doomtrpr_z71]

Last year chittum had a skiff as well, it would be a short trip for CRI or Carolina skiff to join as well.

[zload]

Well Team KWB pulled into Jacksonville this morning about 7:30am, thats a long haul in a small boat, all teams finished the Challenge.