Team Kayak Lake Mead - Everglades Challenge 2021

 

Moonrise Over the Plovers, 0430 hrs March 8, 2021, 25.63 deg N, 81.32 deg W.

This is the EC 2021 story of IronBob and TheJuice aka Robert and Druce Finlay, father and son. We've completed twelve Everglades Challenges. If you browse the record book, you'll find only eleven finishes. This is because there was a dark year, everyone that year is listed as DNF. But, everyone wasn't DNF. Here is the story of that year. 

This year we finished with our second best time at 72 hours 38 minutes. It was our fastest time to CP3 at Flamingo. Yet, it was our second slowest time on the last leg across Florida Bay to the Finish. Our fastest year was 2018. That story is here. Every year is a good memory. In 2006, Druce and I found a WWII anti-ship mine near Highland Point. I jumped on it a few times. I'm not too smart. Druce stood on it for a photo op, sans clothes. Every year is a good memory. 

Solar Pillar Sighting Everglades Challenge 2013

Solar Pillar off the Highland Coast Everglades Challenge 2013

Solar Pillar
I mention in our EC2020 report that Druce and I witnessed the solar pillar off the Highland Coast (some miles off of Highland Point) in 2013. This is my first attempt at recreating that sighting.

The silhouette of Druce, the boat, and the seas (sans light column) are from an existing photo of the setting sun that very evening, 4 March 2013.

I scrubbed the sun and the sky from the original photo, added a new sky, and tried to recreate the scene we witnessed that evening near the end of nautical twilight. The original photo jarred my memory of that sunset. I remember I could not resist my eyes from the resulting twilight to the northwest.

Near the time when twilight was complete, I panned my eyes to the northwest one more time. The light from the setting sun, just below the horizon was illuminating ice crystals in the atmosphere, that illumination reflected off the sea into our eyes, and that light was converted to electrical impulses which our brains interpreted. All of which is a miracle really, but at the time we had no idea what we were seeing. Honestly, it kind of freaked us out. 

Team Kayak Lake Mead - Everglades Challenge 2020

Light winds from the north, final 6 miles to Key Largo 

This was a good year, it would be a year with plenty of challenge for everyone. There were over one hundred craft of various types on the start beach. Four did not start. Fifty-six started but did not finish. Forty-three out of a one hundred and three boats made it to the finish beach in Key Largo. You can see types of boats, crews, and results below (1).

5 Years Old Climbing a City Water Tower

Robert Finlay 5 Years Old Climbing the City of Westminster, Ca Water Tower

Climbing the city's water tank, I believe this was my first adventure. Well, the first adventure where I could very likely have died. I was five years old. 

Team Kayak Lake Mead - Everglades Challenge 2019

Practicing our start: Robert and Druce Finlay Everglades Challenge Start Beach Ft DeSoto, FL 2019

This year was dreamlike, very dreamlike. We have done this race nine times before, this would be our 10th, never seeming to reach the end...

We race, no secret about that. We would race if beaten a hundred times. We would race if no one else was on the beach. Our biggest competitor is ourselves from past years, the Ghost Team, those guys are hard to beat. But we try, every year we try.

For the second year in a row we paddled the Black Boat, our Stellar ST21 and swung Odin Gara Racing Paddles.

Boat Team: IronBob and TheJuice aka Robert and Druce Finlay

Team Kayak Lake Mead - Everglades Challenge 2018

Druce and I on the Start Beach the day before the race.

This is the 2018 Everglades Challenge story of IronBob and TheJuice, sometimes we're known as the Sea Breeze Ninjas. This was a very good year.

Team Kayak Lake Mead - Everglades Challenge 2017

Sunrise on Florida Bay for IronBob and TheJuice

This is the 2017 Everglades Challenge story of IronBob and TheJuice, sometimes we're known as the Sea Breeze Ninjas. This was a very strange year.

There was a small craft advisory in effect due to strong winds...

Saturday morning Druce (The Juice) and I (IronBob) and Sunshine (our kayak) were ready to race in all respects. But at 0615 the morning of the race it was announced the challenge would not launch from Ft De Soto until the advisory was lifted, yet the advisory was not likely to be lifted any time soon.

Team Kayak Lake Mead - Everglades Challenge 2016

Druce and I the day before the race on the start beach, Everglades Challenge 2016 

Paddling and Sleeping and the Ernest Shackleton Award

Everglades Challenge 2016 Report by Robert Finlay (IronBob):

It took me nine months to finally write this story down. 

This is our seventh story of the Everglades Challenge (the EC). Our WaterTribe names are IronBob and TheJuice and once again we paddled Sunshine in Class 2 (at night her name is Ranger). She's a SEDA Kayaks Triumph; 24' by 24", arrow like, agile for her length, and in the right hands quite seaworthy. For an explanation of our tribal names and classes of boat in this race, see my write up of EC 2014. 

Sometimes in writing up our EC story I've delved into my thinking and experiences, my emotions and passions, and even how I act and interact with fear and pain. My write up of the EC 2015 is a good example of all that. This time I think my story is going to be simpler. 

This year there were 90 boats on the start beach. There were 26 boats in Class 1, which are paddle craft in which 1 square meter of downwind sail per paddler is allowed. There were 10 boats in Class 2, which are paddle craft in which no sail is allowed. 

This year we would finish first among all paddle craft, our fourth time doing so, and seventh among all boats. This year we would receive the Ernest Shackleton Award for nautical excellence. 

But all we did was just paddle south and sleep a lot. 

Endeavor Team Challenge 2015 : Race Report Team Ryan Ross, Robert Finlay

Overview Map, Endeavor Team Challenge 2015

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole, 

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul. *

* The first stanza of the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley, the other stanzas will follow throughout this report. This poem would follow us, all the competitors of the Endeavor Team Challenge, throughout the competition. Invictus is a good word, meaning; invincible, unconquered, undefeated, unconquerable.  

Friday night, 11/12 September, 2015, my teammate Ryan Ross, my wife Rebecca, and I have a room in the Bear Valley Lodge. It is midnight. I am nervous and anxious and cannot sleep. In the morning, Ryan and I will begin the athletic event known as the Endeavor Team Challenge. At 6 AM, after months of preparation, we start. I have never, in my entire life, been apprehensive before an athletic event. How did it get to this point?

Team Kayak Lake Mead - Everglades Challenge 2015

Druce Finlay, Everglades Challenge 2015

This is our sixth story of The Everglades Challenge (the EC). Some of this story is about the event, the Everglades Challenge 2015, much of this story is about me and how I think, what my experiences are, what my emotions are, what my passions are, and even how I act and interact with fear, pain, and mental anguish. After delving into this article, you may quickly come to the conclusion that I am completely nuts, and you might be right to think that. But, I hope (we'll talk about that word later) you'll enjoy the read, because I am going to hold nothing back.

Spring Breaks '74 and '75 : Climbing to the 18th Floor via Balconies : Kicking a Shark in the Face

Spring Break '74 and '75, Caribbean Flights, Antilles Air Boats, Grummna G-21 Goose

My first thought about this post was, who wants to read about college kids and their spring break antics? But then I thought, this journal is about writing down memories, particularly the memories that get repeated over and over over the years. A couple of the memories in this post I have repeated many times; nostalgia ad infinitum. So here are two stories; one of Spring Break 1974 and one of 1975.

The year was 1973 and Robert Topolewski, Steve Kidder, and I, already experienced European travelers, were on an American Airlines flight out of New York City bound for San Juan Puerto Rico and more misadventure.

3 Days in August : The Mohave Desert : Long Distance Training

Map - 3 days in August, long distance training, bike, hike, paddle

This is a story, not of excitement or heroics, but just of grinding out long distance across natural terrain using only muscle power and wit.

Mountain Biking, Hiking, and Paddling:

Speed Ascent : Half Dome Regular Northwest Face

Tenaya Valley (Upper Yosemite Valley), Summer 1987

Undoubtedly those few square miles of planet earth where Half Dome sits is one of the most striking, one of the most beautiful places on the planet. The photo above only hints at its grandeur, you have to go there to experience it.

I've climbed that sheer wall, that north face of Half Dome, three times. Twice I guided it, once with some Navy guys and once with some Army guys, and once, the very first time I was up there, Paul van Betten and I were climbing it as fast as we could. 

Endeavor Team Challenge : Race Report Team Ryan Ross, Robert Finlay

Team Endeavor Challenge 2013 - The Finish, Ryan Ross, Robert Finlay 

Alpine, CA - 7, 8 September 2013

The first mention I saw of this event was, in the words of the organizers, two former US Army Rangers, “the Endeavor Team Challenge is a monumental test of fitness”. Paraphrasing the descriptions of the event I found on their website and Facebook pages - teams of 2 would face 30 plus hours and 40 miles of mountain summits, obstacle courses, lake and stream crossings, physical challenges, multiple long movements of undisclosed distances of 10 to 20 miles, climbing and rappelling, kayaking, mental challenges and stress, memorization/recitation, problem solving, false finish lines, extra equipment to carry, limited sleep, day and night orienteering, culminating in something called a Sole Survivor run, and at an undisclosed place and time teams would face another challenge, something called the OPT Battle Drill, a crossfit torture test programmed by Crossfit Games Champion James Fitzgerald.

Well, that sounded like a good time to me. Immediately I contacted Ryan Ross to form a team. Inadvertently we had already been preparing for this event because well, that's kind of what we do. Both Ryan and I have years of adventuring racing experience under our belts. Now supposedly we would need only to fine tune ourselves to the specifics of this event.

My Times on Dream of Wild Turkeys, Red Rocks, Nevada

A manipulated image showing me free soloing Dream of Wild Turkeys, top of the 2nd Pitch

Dream of Wild Turkeys: Black Velvet Wall, Black Velvet Canyon, Red Rocks, Nevada

Dream of Wild Turkeys is a 1400 foot rock climb. Back in the day, most climbers considered it 5.9 with maybe a move of 5.10a. It is a ten pitch climb. Pitch is climbers talk, it is the distance you can go on a rope before needing to stop and set up a belay. 

It is a spectacularly fun climb the whole way with plenty of climbing adventure. There is finger and hand crack climbing, there is easy off width climbing, there is water polished face climbing, there is sharp edged face climbing, there is exposure with big air below your feet, and the climb and the setting are beautiful everywhere you look, there are great views of the canyon below and of the desert beyond, and of cliffs left, right, and above.    

I think I've done the route 6 or 7 times. Of those times, I've soloed it 4 or 5, I can't remember. 

I do remember the first time I soloed it...

July Desert Crossings : White Hills to Searchlight

Hiking during excessive heat warning July 2013

This is a tale of two stories, hiking in July across the desert from my house in White Hills, Arizona to Searchlight, Nevada. In neither case did I make it to Searchlight.

The first story in 2012 is a good enough story. I started hiking just after midnight on July 3rd, it took me about 36 hours, the distance was about 50 miles, the elevation gain was over 6100 feet, temperatures during the day were over 100 degrees F, the swim across Lake Mohave was about 1 mile, and I made it to within about 3 miles of Searchlight.

The second story in 2013 is a story of survival.

Fremont Canyon Bridge: A Hand Traverse

Fantasy view of hand traversing...

Hand Traversing a Bridge High Above a Canyon

Above is a fantasy view of hand traversing a canyon. Below is the actual bridge over the North Fork of the Platte River which I hand traversed in 1987, although that is not a true photo either.

Re-creation showing the traverse of the lower girder of Fremont Canyon Bridge

The above image is a manipulated image, photo-shopped if you will, showing what I might have looked like crossing the canyon some 27 years ago. But below is the story...

A Portage and A Paddle in the Mohave Desert - April 7 - 8, 2013

Map of portage and paddle; White Hills, AZ to Cottonwood Cove, NV

One portages a kayak across land to connect two bodies of water or to avoid obstacles on a river. This portage, however, was from my house to the water, a distance of 28 miles, where I usually just drive my truck. Why in the world would I portage this distance? I have no idea, maybe to see if I could do it. But for some reason I had had a hankering to do this for quite some time. And so now, it was that time. 

The route was 28 miles and had an overall elevation drop 3784 feet, yet along the way there was 1000 feet of climbing to do and all of it on desert dirt road. 

Distance and Elevation Profile for House to Willow Beach Portage

Steck Salathe on Sentinel Rock : Solo

Sentinel Rock in the Morning. Photo by Dirk Summers

The Sentinel is a beautiful and powerful piece of granite guarding the southern flank of Yosemite Valley. It is 3000 feet from the valley floor to its summit. It is - The Sentinel.

The Steck-Salathe on Sentinel Rock is a classic rock climb in every sense. In fact, it is one of the "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America". Originally a Grade V route, meaning more than a day to do, now it is considered Grade III or just a day of climbing. It has for decades been rated 5.9, but these days its rating has become more like 5.10 minus. It has always been known for being long, arduous, sustained, a route with a wealth of stories of adventure and history. It is famous for its chimneys, its squeeze chimneys, and its off widths. 

Here is a brief of the Steck-Salathe's history. Four attempts are made on the route from 1947 through 1950. And then, from June 30 to July 4, 1950, Allen Steck and John Salathé do the first ascent. Theirs is an epic five day story of adventure, determination, and intense deprivation. In 1953 Royal Robbins makes the second ascent, he also does the third ascent and establishes The Narrows as the primary passage. Henry Barber free soloes the route in 1973. Peter Croft free soloes the route in 1992 as a cool down after he and Hans Florine break the speed record of the 'Nose in a Day" on El Capitan. Derek Hersey dies on this route on May 28, 1993 while free soloing it and no one knows the exact circumstances. His body is found at the base of the route several days after he has gone missing. On July 2-3, 1994 Allen Steck makes his 44th anniversary ascent of the route at the age of 68 along with Brutus of Wyde and Inez. In 1996 Brutus returns to re-bolt the route.

What follows is my story on the Steck-Salathe.

Team Kayak Lake Mead - Everglades Challenge 2014

Paths Aligned - Druce Finlay, Robert Finlay, Valentin Chapa at the Start Beach

Beyond Coastal (Cruising)
Everglades Challenge 2014 Report by Robert Finlay (IronBob):