Bacon 2018 Ultimate Florida Challenge

Randy Smith

I drove home to the Keys yesterday. Arrived home to find this at my house. What great friends, supervisors and coworkers I have. Specifically organized by my Captain, Captian Sean Brandenburg. The amount of texts, emails, calls, notes left at my office and posts on my Facebook is overwhelming. Thank you all so much. I can’t express how much your support through the whole thing kept me going. More in depth stories to come in the next few days. For now it’s back to reality, as I sit at my desk, wishing I was back in my boat paddling away.

Made it to my Mom’s, in time for a long hot shower and some catching up with my 4 legged son, Rio. Had a great dinner with my Mom and Grandfather. Giant steak, sweet potato, salad and an Angry Orchard. Now snuggled in a real bed with Rio, it’s the little things in life! Some random shots from the last couple days, as I drift off to sleep in my food coma.

I finished out around 2:30 today. I’m mentally, emotionally and physically spent. I have so many people to thank for making this dream a reality. Proper thank you are coming. For now a nap is in order as my Dad drives us back to the east coast. Can’t wait to see my little 4 legged terror! Thank you to everyone again for following along, commenting, supporting me and providing for me. I have a lot left to write and will be making several more posts in the next few days. In the meantime, here is the finish. 1200 miles completed, the adventure of a lifetime. I officially became number 25 today.. I’m humbled by the 24 before me and am cheering number 26 on! Go Hiawashe!!!

Enjoying a what I hope is my last sunset of the 2018 Ultimate Florida. Sad and happy at the same time. Still under sail, with light northwest winds. I will probably be back to paddling soon, but not before I enjoy the sunset. I’m down to about 34nm to go.. would love to knock a chunk out tonight before picking a good campsite.

The hallucinations may have begun earlier then expected. Are those buildings floating on the water? 🤔🤯

Happy Easter! And than you everyone for your likes, comments and following along. It really helps me pressing on. While I actually have service enough to post. I’m sailing along right now with a nice NW wind. It’s a beautiful sunny warm day and I couldn’t be happier. What a way to spend Easter. Only thing missing is my guardian angel, friends and family. Sorry Dad I have you away from everyone today and thank you so much for staying on this coast to pick me up at the finish. Here are some pictures from the last few days.

Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve had terrible cell reception the last few days. Still isn’t good and I hope this makes it out. So all indications were for a a nice 10-12 knot wind today out of the N-NE. When I left Cedar Key I had to fight a hard outgoing tide to even get through the channel and start my run to Crystal River. To say this last leg has been a bit of a concern to me would be a understatement. I noticed as I paddled hard into the current the wind was more E then NE. I kept pushing hard but the wind was increasing and before long I was getting gusts well into the mid to upper 20’s. I reefed my sail down and kept plowing. The seas were building but I thought I was in shallow enough water with the protection from land all be it a few miles away, that there wouldn’t be enough fetch for any big seas to build. There was whitecaps everywhere, but they seemed manageable enough. Suddenly in there was a series of waves about 3-4’ and breaking. They broke across the boat soaking me, my cag and spray skirt which was secured and ran under my cag. I felt water dripping in, in a few spots... then more and more. After taking 4 more breaking waves across the boat, literally burring the boat as if I was paddling out through breakers at the beach, I decided the turn tail and run back. I also realized the wind was almost more ESE then N or NE. I tried running in a bit closer to shore and attempted to cross again, same result. I ran back to a sandbar I had passed a short time earlier. I pulled the boat on it. Grabbed out my Lava Core gear and put it on, I was soaked and freezing. The wind at this point was blowing steady 15-20 with gusts in the upper 20’s. My boat had a good bit of water in it, so I bailed it out. While plotting my next move. I realized I didn’t have much time as my sandbar was going away quickly to high tide. I made the decision to try one more time to work more toward the coast and across. If the waves didn’t lessen I would turn back to Cedar Key. I at minimum wanted to make the south jetty and get the nightmare of crossing to Crystal River behind me. For those of you who don’t know. There is a point where you are about 7 miles from land in 3 directions and a few hundred in the fourth. So this is a dangerous open water crossing for small boats on rough days. So after a tense windy, rough few hours, a few more waves over the boat, things started to settle down.. and down and then the water was still bumpy but there was no wind. Then the water finally went flat as well. Then a slight wind started again.. you guessed it, in my face. I reached the south jetty about 6:45 or so. Beached the boat and stretched my legs. It appeared the next easy to get to, decent camping spot was about 13 miles away with a couple out of the way spots 5-8 miles away. With the wind in my face and the tide going out, so also against me paddling toward shore I decided to call it a night. I was/am mentally and emotionally exhausted. I was really looking forward to putting a lot of miles behind me, like maybe 60-70. Instead it was a fight to get 20, maybe 20. This is the home stretch though and they call it a “challenge” for a reason. So fingers crossed I can pull off a big day tomorrow. Look forward to catching everyone up when I have better service.

I’m crashing fast, you’ll understand from the picture. I’ll post more tomorrow. Quick synopsis.. paddled 58 miles today into.. you guessed it.. more headwinds. I’m at Convict Springs Park. Bacon is literally hanging out getting cleaned off by the run off of the spring and I’m camped next to it. Sounds like a brook running and is very peaceful. I raided the general store when I got here. No real food but I made do. Then capped it off with a thing of Top Ramen. Now the sugar crash. Didn’t get through it all, but enough. 😉
Another 58 mile day tomorrow to Fannin Springs and then to Cedar Key Friday!
Photos start with the general store and then just a few other ones I liked from the day.

It’s going to be a clear, beautiful but HOT day! Suppose to be 82! It’s still March right???

So as I lay in my tent decompressing and ready to fall asleep... a tree comes crashing down not far from my tent. Of all the dangers I thought of and weighed out before starting this adventure... crushed by tree wasn’t one of them! I’m sure I’ll sleep soundly tonight. 😖

So today. Let’s see how I can describe my morning. I woke, very nervous about making sure I saw the takeout at Big Shoals. FYI no more signs or crashed sunk boat at the takeout. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Big Shoals is the only Class III rapid in Florida. It’s not particular tough but the rocks are very sharp and have eaten many boats and hurt some unlucky people. Ie Even I’m smart enough to know it to chance my race with attempting this. (Wow am I finally growing up 🤔) So after a couple hours of very anxious paddling I start to hear Big Shoals. Eventually get to the takeout and am relieved I didn’t miss it! Very proud of myself I unpack part of my gear, haul my boat up the incline, put it on the cart, repack it and start the 3/4 of a mile or so portage. My goal, under 30 minutes. I get all of 200’ into it when I realize there are trees blocking the portage road. I leave the boat to investigate further. Clearly the portage must be intact I tell myself. I’m not the first fool to come through here since the hurricane. Well probably the first fool with a battleship, I mean Kruger. So I search and search. The only thing I can locate is a half-a&@ trail leading at a step incline from the lookout down near the shoals and the partially back up before more large trees block it. That certainly was not going to work. I go back and walk through the woods and begin looking for a way through. After about 10 minutes and lots of dead-ends I begin to contemplate running the shoals. I look at them again, and with the low water they look even worse than normal with lots of exposed rocks. So back to searching. After another 10-15 minutes I have a plan in place. I WILL NOT BE BEATEN.. I tell myself. I dig out my shovel/hatchet and get to work. I slowly hack a path through the first thicket of palmetto palms and some other type of small trees. Just enough to squeeze my boat through. Then a short distance later another thicket and then the third with its 90 degree turn at the end to get back on the original trail. There off the cart goes the boat to slide under a downed pine. Back on the cart on the other side and off we go. The “culvert” area is washed out more than usual and seems a bit more damaged, but I was able to pull right over it. The rest of the portage went pretty smooth. I’m finally back in my boat two hours after I started. Bleeding, exhausted and way way behind schedule. I just start to paddle and get settled in, when I hear a woman yell, “Hey, lookout!” I don’t see anyone around, again, “You better watch out!!” I look up and from up on the top of the bank on a trail a woman is intently watching the water with her camera pointed in my direction. She then yells, “There is about a 14-15 foot Gator right in front of you!!!” WHAT!!! I look and see nothing, I look back at her and she says he just went under, “He is HUGE!” Great I think, I just put my shovel/hatchet away, now is when I really need it. I slap the water a couple times with my paddle and double time it out of there! I never saw the gator, and doubt he was that big, but I don’t want to find out either. I’m sure if Jarhead was around he would have dove in and got himself a new outfit out of the gator.. boots, jacket, belt and hat.. but that’s what you get from a man who chooses MRE’s over steak! Anyway I digress... so after Big Shoals is four smaller rapids that were fairly uneventful.. by fairly uneventful I mean that they each took a year off my life and added a hundred more grey hairs.. but I stayed upright. FYI I am a sailor not a paddler and certainly not a “rapids” paddler! To put things in perspective I later ran into a guy in a completely open canoe. He said he ran the shoals the day before. I asked, “Big Shoals” surely he must mean Little Shoals. He replied yes Big Shoals and “I’m from Virginia, that’s a ripple compared to what I’m used to.” Well then, don’t I feel pretty silly... also the little shoals are not things I was worried about mamming me or anything, more the thought of flipping the boat, gear everywhere, catching a rock wrong and breaking a bone. In the summer I would tube down these things in a bathing suit, without a second thought.
I didn’t make nearly the milage I wanted today, only 40 miles but that also takes into account two hours for my portage. I’m really hoping for the current to pickup tomorrow and a good strong day out of me!
So here are a series of pictures from my day start to finish.

So let’s start with yesterday. After having a great breakfast with Chief and Mrs. Chief, I headed out. I was steadfast I was going to have a easy day to recoup from the push on the upper St. Mary’s, immediately followed by the portage. The upper Suwannee also took a lot of damage from Irma apparently as there are lots of trees down. Plus it’s low right now so there are lots of shoals and things sticking off the bottom that wouldn’t normally be a problem. With the low water comes little current.. like almost none. So my “downhill” run on the Suwannee has turned into non stop paddling. Oh well paddle we shall then. That was yesterday in a nut shell. Lots of pretty sights, leisurely paddle and off the river at dusk. It can be dangerous to paddle with shoals, trees, rocks and branch’s at night, especially with any current as it keeps wanting to push you, into, through, over or flip you over to get by the obstacle. So the Suwannee will be sunup to sundown only. Also, slowing my progress.
Last nights camp spot and leaving it this morning.

Heading for Big Shoals portage this morning. Fingers crossed I don’t miss the exit. No Class III rapids for this guy in a loaded Kruger... or empty Kruger for that matter. Post about yesterday later today. But here are some pictures until then. Final picture is my camping spot from last night.

So the portage... I was up early and put the bike together. The whole time hoping that hauling this extra weight around the State would now payoff. I hooked up, balanced and rebalanced the load and was off. Of course the headwinds greeted me shortly after I started. They have become my traveling companion. All was going fairly well, I thought I will stop at the first store, grab something cold to drink and maybe a sandwich and continue on. I’ll cut to the chase on this one. All stores are closed on Sunday in this part of the country. I’m certainly not opposed to this and just moved on. So about mile 15 or so, I hear a pop, a grinding sound and my boat starts to pass me on the left.. hmmm is that my boat passing me.. oh SH&@ !!! Stop the boat with my foot. I turn around to see the bow eye has pulled out 😖🤬 what are the odds!? This is a Kruger, indestructible! I scream, “seriously, headwinds, rain, and now this. Anything else you want to throw my way!!” Now that my tantrum was over, my MacGyver mind immediately goes into action. There are duct tape, zip ties and a lot of rope on this boat🤔 luckily for the Kruger, I took a breathe and stepped back. I looked at the holes where the screws came out of. They seemed in good shape.. could it be so simple. Could I really just put the screws back in.. well it’s a Kruger.. grabbed my screwdriver, put the screws in and away we went and they are holding fine 🤷🏻‍♂️ It was a day of headwinds, off and on rain, then hot humid sun and lots of courteous drivers who would move over for me. I know, I was riding on the wrong side of the road. I wanted to give myself a fighting chance to avoid a bad Sunday driver. Little piece of information, as this portage traversed from Georgia, into Florida and back into Georgia, I learned Florida road not so bad... Georgia roads, not so good. I spent my day clawing along. Biking for a couple miles then walking a half mile or so. Had to make some “cushion” mods to the bike as well, as it was killing my backside, lower back, arms and hands. I truly hurt from head to toe and hope to be able to get out of bed in the morning. That was one of the toughest physical things I’ve experienced.
Bad weather moved just after my arrival and was staying through the night. So I got a room.
I called and was told the have open room. They asked for my last name, and said, “it will be on the door to your room”, and hung up. When I arrived my name was on the door, no one else around. I checked the door and it’s unlocked. Walked in to find the below note. Got love small town America!
Here are a few pictures:

So I lost cell service late yesterday not that it would have mattered, I couldn’t post anyway. If you stop paddling for a second on the upper St. Mary’s you are going backwards. I admit, I was getting cocky thinking one big tree portage, some drag overs and few “crash throughs” as I like to call them. I was telling myself, you’ll be in by 6 at this pace! Then about 10 miles out EVERYTHING changes. The river narrows the current picks up double and you aren’t even sure you are on the river anymore since it’s nothing but trees downed across it everywhere! Then about mile 5 when you think you can’t take anymore, it suddenly dies down a bit widens a bit and is much more manageable. Even came across another person fishing. It was about 6pm at this point. He asked where I was going, told him Saint George. He thought for a second and said, “You might make it by dark but I doubt it.” I should have taken this as a warning but didn’t. Then about mile 3 all hell breaks lose! It gets narrow, you are paddling more through a forest than a river! And the current.. oh the current. Long story short I made it in, exhausted at 7:30. It took everything I had to make it, but I did. Here are some pictures, notice the boat covered in “stuff” in some of them, that’s from my “crash throughs”.
I’ll post an update on the portage in a bit.. for now a shower and repacking for tomorrow.

Paddling hard against a fast current trying to make Saint George tonight. The river is completely blocked in some sections requiring drag overs or full portage. Back to paddling for me!
Thank you MicroTom for paddling with me this morning and the replacement paddle!

Well we are finally clear of the crazy storms, small craft advisories, and gale warnings! Kruger is loaded back on the car, bags are packed and I can’t wait to get back on the water. Launch will be around 0730-0800 tomorrow at slack tide. Then ride the incoming tide as far as I can up the St. Mary’s River. The level has risen significantly in the last few days due to the rain, which means extra strong current coming at me. Meanwhile the Suwannee is at a low stage at just 51’. Which means not a lot of push down hill back to the Gulf for me. All part of the challenge and fun! Can’t wait to tackle it and my upcoming 40 mile portage. :)

And it continues.. small craft advisory until 1100hrs. But the winds completely lay down after, in fact they have already fallen off significantly. So tomorrow morning launch it is!

So here is the update. I got into checkpoint 3 yesterday. The winds were blowing, and we were under a tornado warning. But the end of the front was clearing and it was supposed to be beautiful but windy today. So I started looking into how windy.. well 25-35 gusts over 40.. small craft advisory was being issued. So I was immediately on another weather hold. The race Director “Chief” and WaterTribe is all about pushing yourself, but safety is priority one. So I loaded the boat on my Dad’s car and off to a hotel.. again. I’m so ready to get back on my adventure but took the day to wash my gear and get ready for the last 1/3 of my awesome trip. Well windy was an understatement for the day. It was bright and sunny, with winds howling! I’m talking gusts to 52 mph recorded right off where I need to launch. So, phew, glad I didn’t attempt that. I got a call from Chief letting me know he had arrived at checkpoint 3 by vehicle. He said it was really blowing and nasty over there and no way anyone should be on the water there.
New plan was to launch with the morning tide as winds were suppose to die down over night to 10-15. Good enough for me. Get up at 0500. Be at the ramp by 0600. Boat ready to launch at 0700 at slack tide and catch the incoming tide which start around 0800.
Well it all changed again, now gale force warnings in effect until midnight and small craft advisory until at least 0600 probably to be extended until mid morning. So spoke with Chief and tomorrow is scrubbed before it even gets started. So now we are on to Friday morning launch. Fingers crossed.
I’m going stir crazy and need to be back in my boat on the water. 😩😩😩

I’ll keep you updated.

The stretch of water I need to cross is almost 3 miles to get into the mouth of the St. Mary’s River. Deep water in the middle, how deep.. Kings Point on the opposite corner is a US Navy Submarine base. Yes, Subs come in and out of that port.

Checkpoint 3 achieved. Dad of course was here to meet me, one and a million I tell you. He truly is amazing.
Probably an ill advised trip today, but conditions can’t always be perfect! Hit 8.5 knots at one point!! The winds were recorded near me at 20-25knts with gusts to 35knts. 🤯
Now time for preparing the boat for the rivers and portage section.

So... after leaving my hiding spot from the storm in the morning I was paddling like a mad man to beat the second half and snapped the blade of my new paddle. No worries, I carry a spare and have a new spare in route thanks to the awesome WaterTribe community (MicroTom and Whale). They both were quickly on top of it making arrangements. But still $300 paddle down the drain.. then as I was making good progress against the tide toward St. Mary’s, again trying to beat the second half of the storm, I caught an oyster bar and tore ama. So $200 down the drain, again BSD customer service is second to none and a new one is shipped out and on its way. Threw the spare I carry on for now and will have the other waiting for me at Cedar Key. Again, several WaterTribers reached out offering theirs. Can I tell you how amazing the WaterTribe community is!!
And as if all this wasn’t enough my IPhone decided yesterday was the day to quit.. literally went into death throws yesterday and died last night.
So the shinning stars, other then MicroTom, Whale, PaddleDancer(who was checking in on me regularly), whole WaterTribe community and
BSD..
I made it to Amelia Island Marina. Was promptly met by Stan the Dockmaster. Here I am, muddy, sweating, hadn’t showered in days and I’m amongst some million dollar yachts.. he acted as if I had just pulled up in a 10,000,000 yacht with a crew of 50. Asking what I needed and what he could do to help. I was blown away. I explained about the incoming storm, he could see my torn ama, showed him my broken paddle and explained my phone was on the fritz. He helped me pull my boat up on a floating dock, showed me to the on premises showers and basically said our marina is at your disposal. I told him I would pay for a slip and he told me there was no need. I then explained about the Ultimate Florida and then things went into high gear. Stan explained he spoke to the Marina managers and they said do anything needed to help me. Seriously, a Kruger canoe, not a yacht, with a stinky, bearded man no one knows! Talk about the good in people. Next thing I knew I had 2 guys standing by to help in anyway. I explained there was nothing for them to do, but thank you. I asked if I could leave the boat for a day, maybe two, until all this weather cleared out and they said with pleasure. So I showered, took Uber to eat, Verizon and then a hotel. Verizon wasn’t able to offer much help last night. So to a different Verizon store this morning. New phone and hours of my time, back to the hotel waiting out the worst of the weather and waiting on Uber again now to take me back to the boat. Hope to leave out after the storm to Ft. Clinch. If I can.. Stan has called me several times to let me know my boat is fine and they are keeping an eye on it. By the way, today is Stan’s day off. He has been going and checking on my boat.. ON HIS DAY OFF! And the Marina wants updates, because they are now following me on the website and cheering me on! Please if anyone can give this amazing Marina any business, please do, they deserve it!

My most sincere thank you to:
MicroTom
Whale
Jarhead
PaddleDancer
Chief
Stan- Dockmaster
Amelia Island Marina
Jon- BSD/Sailyourkayak

And my Guardian Angel- can never thank you enough

As always, thank you to those following and supporting me love reading comments and seeing the likes.

Bacon

So I woke up at 3:30am to pack up take the tides and get on the other side of the St. John’s river to a marina to wait out this big weather system. Well at 0600 the lightening started and bad. I found a dock with a boat lift to tuck under and wait it out. Best laid plans shot again...
Here I lay under a leaky dock tucked down in my Kruger. Temp feels like it’s dropping

Big thank you to BustedRudder who came out and met me south of St. Augustine and paddled with me for a while. Had a great fast ride into St. Augustine was fast, then I hit the incoming tide and all came to almost a stop! Pushing on and hoping to make check point 3, Fort Clinch tomorrow sometime in the afternoon or evening. All weather, tide dependent.

The Fort at St. Augustine and a quick stop to eat on a beach before continuing to paddle against the tide.

Sorry for the video and no story this morning. So MicroTom, who completed the Ultimate Florida Challenge in 2016, and has been invaluable support came out to meet me last night. He came out in his small motorized canoe. He paced along with me for a few hours and then stayed and camped with me. Got up at o’dark thirty with me and stuck with me for another 10 miles or so. I really appreciated his company and suggestions. I’m slowly making my way north and am about half way to the next check point at Ft. Clinch. Following that are the two potentially hardest phases. Paddling against the St. Mary’s river for 90 miles and then the 40 mile portage. Can’t wait to get on the Suwannee and always have at least a little current with me!