FalconSails at the Everglades Challenge
The Everglades Challenge is a known-around-the-world 300 mile adventure race
that starts in Tampa Bay and ends in Key Largo. To finish, racers push themselves,
day and night, in some of the most dangerous sections of water, and weather
Florida has to offer. This includes 100 miles thru the heart of the Everglades
National Park. This is the top & most well known kayak sailing race on
the planet! Class 1 racers use a stock kayak or canoe and are allowed to use
a sail up to 1 square meter in size. Falcon Sails 1.0 square meter sail is
perfect for this race. It is easy to use, reliable, provides the best
propulsion per square inch, and provides amazing up wind performance.
Falcon Sails have been used in the 2013 and 2014 Everglades Challenge, and
were the most commonly chosen class 1 sail in the 2015 & 2016 Everglades Challenge. There
are no close seconds. It is no surprise
after Falcon Sailors amazing results in the 2013 and 2014 Everglades Challenge.
Here are the rosters with results:
The 2016 Everglades Challenge starts Saturday March 5th at 7am.
For the 2nd year in a row, Falcon Sails has the
largest number of compact sails at the starting line!
We have more than
all the competing sails combined!
As of February 23rd, here is the list
of racers using a Falcon Sail:
Patrick Forrester - FalconSails - Class 1
Joe Tousignant - Joewildlife - Class 1 - 2013 class 1 first place winner with using a Falcon Sail. See the story below.
Charles Wolfe - SeaWolf - Class 1 - See his results under the 1200 mile Ultimate Florida Challenge.
Rodney Dutton - Tiderider - Class 1
Ken Boydstun - Swampg8r - Class 1
James Hurst - Jammerjim - Class 1
Marvin Brager - Clueless - Class 1
David May - Mzee - Class 1
Dan Lockwood - Savanadan - Class 1
David Wicks - Paddlemaker - Class 1
Lauren Demos - Purfectlyferal - Class 1
Travis Knight - SquirrelyPaddles - Class 1
Robert Clendening - Sandfly - Class 1
Charles Burke - SandyRower - Class 1
The 2015 Everglades Challenge started Saturday March 7th at 7am.
Here is a list of Falcon Sailors that made it to the 2015 starting line -
Ordered to be canceled by the US Coast Guard. See notes
below.
Cliff Alfiche - CliffJumps - Class 1
Paul Shaw - PaddlePeddler - Class 1
Patrick Forrester - FalconSails - Class 1
Rodney Dutton - Tiderider - Class 1
Ken Boydstun - Swampg8r - Class 1
James Hurst - Jammerjim - Class 1
Marvin Brager - Clueless - Class 1
David May - Mzee - Class 1
Dan Lockwood - Savanadan - Class 1
David Wicks - Paddlemaker - Class 1
Lauren Demos - Purfectlyferal - Class 1
Travis Knight - SquirrelyPaddles - Class 1
Robert Clendening - Sandfly - Class 1
Nora Jones - LadyNoraonthesea - Class 1
Bob Williams - SirBobsalot - Class 1
Carl Karickhoff - YoYo - Class 1
Notable, will be missed for 2015:
Joe Tousignant - Joewildlife - Class 1 - 2013 class 1 first place, Can
not make it this year, but says he will be there next.
Charles Wolfe - SeaWolf - Class 1 - 2014 top place Falcon Sailor Withdrawn for
injury.
Justin Blais - Frenchman - Class 1 - 2014 top place Falcon Sailor can not make
it this year.
Patrick Rohde - Yakmandu - 2013 & 2014 Class 3 Falcon Sailor can not make
it this year.
Due to extreme weather (with significant number of rescues logged by the
coast guard and local sheriffs department (some counts where at 13)), the
United States Coast Guard demanded the 2015 Everglades Challenge be canceled
only a few hours into this race.
The race usually takes well over 100
hours for most participants to finish. When the race was canceled, most of
the Falcon Sailors were enjoying a nice lead over the competition. We
have to wait until March of 2016. One very interesting development is
SeaWolf / Charles Wolfe, and JoeWildlife / Joe Tousignant have committed to
doing the Florida Ultimate Challenge which is 1,200 miles. The first 300
miles of the Florida Ultimate Challenge is identical to the Everglades
challenge. It runs at the same time. Both SeaWolf, and
JoeWildlife have used a Falcon Sail in everglades challenges, and have done
very well and will use a Falcon Sail in their 1,200 Ultimate Florida
Challenge.
The 2014 Everglades Challenge started March 1st
at 7am.
There were 5 Class 1 racers that used a Falcon Sail in 2014.
This includes 1 Falcon Sail employee that had
zero long distance racing
experience.
Falcon Sail Participants included the following:
Charles Wolfe – SeaWolf - Tide Race Pace 18 with a 1 square meter Falcon Sail
Cliff Alfiche – CliffJumps - Epic 18x with a 1 square meter Falcon Sail
Justin Blais – Frenchman - Epic 18x Sport with a 1 square meter Falcon Sail
Paul Shaw - PaddlePeddler - Current Designs Nomad with a 1 square meter Falcon
Sail
Patrick Forrester -FalconSails - Epic 18x Sport with a 1 square meter Falcon
Sail
With only 5 out of 28 total (single class 1 kayaks with sail) competitors, the
Falcon Sail racer finish line results were amazing!
Class 1 competitors without sails, have been removed from this analysis so Falcon
Sailors are only being compared to other Kayak Sailors.
- Falcon Sailors took 3 of the top 4 ( single class 1 kayak with sail ) positions.
- All but 1 ( FalconSails ) finished in the top 29 percentile in this group.
- Falcon Sails average finish 7th among single kayak sailors was in the top
26 percentile.
- 100% of Falcon Sailors finished in the top 68 percentile. It was really impressive
that even the first time distance racer did so well.
- There were no DNFs and DNS ( Did not finish ) ( Did not Start )
- There were zero Falcon Sail rig hardware break downs or failures.
No competitor of Falcon Sails came even close to posting results like this.
There was also 1 Ultra Marathon (65 mile abbreviated Everglades Challenge to
check point 1) Falcon Sail racer.
Mike Stoll – IncipitFugitHora – Valley Canoe Products RM Nordkapp with 1 square
meter Falcon Sail.
Even with very little sea kayaking experience, minor paddle sailing experience,
a slow boat, a late start, and light winds, Mike was able to finish the 65 mile
race with an impressive time of 18 hours and 42 minutes.
Patrick Forrester, owner & first time participant in the 2014 Everglades
Challenge, says "Both expert and beginner paddle sailors want a kayak sail rig
that provides maximum ease of handling and predictability that's also compact,
lightweight, and durable, with impressive up wind potential and maximum all
around efficiency per square inch. All paddle sailors need a sail rig that can
be lowered and stowed out of the way in seconds, like the Falcon Sail can be.
Our investment in the Everglades Challenge continues to help us produce an even
better sail and rig just like motor sports have resulted in greatly improved
car and motorcycle designs "
In 2013, the first year Falcon Sails were used in this known-around-the-world
race, there were some amazing results!
There were 3 Falcon Sailors in the race, and where finished
in just over 5 days.
There were 2 Falcon Sailors in class 1. All Class 1 racers use a standard
kayak or canoe and up to a 1 square meter sail.
Joe Tousignant (JoeWildlife), used a 1 square meter Falcon Sail
with our carbon fiber rigging kit, on his Kruger Canoe to compete in Class 1.
When considering the difficulty and distance of the route he chose, he came
in first place out of 30 racers! At 5 days 9 hours 36 minutes he racked up,
the fastest class 1 time ever for a Kruger in the everglades challenge record
books. Even if you do not consider the longer distance route he chose, he still
came in 4th place out of 30 racers.
You can see the 2013 Everglades Challenge Class 1 results on this web page.
http://www.watertribe.com/Events/ChallengeResults.aspx
Here is a picture of Joe enjoying part of his 300 mile paddle sail during
the 2013 Everglades Challenge.
Joe bought his Falcon Sail just before the race and had no experience paddle
sailing until that time. (Falcon Sails does not recommend waiting so late to
learn how to paddle sail) Joe says " I had no experience paddle sailing until
a few weeks before the race, and only had 2 short practice paddle sails in light
wind. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of paddle sailing, it
is easy. The Falcon's ability to be quickly lowered, really helped a
few times during the race. I had a lot of fun with the sail and could surely
push it harder with more experience! "
Joe also said "My experience with my Falcon Sail has been very positive.
The Falcon Sail kept the boat moving when I was taking breaks to rest,
eat, or doing other housekeeping chores. I was easily able to add at least .5
mph to my paddling, and normally about 1 mph, even with reduced paddling effort.
My best and most memorable run was down the Joe River towards the end of the
Wilderness Waterway, where it really helped me maintain a fast clip. I watched
the miles peel away after paddling some 36 hours straight, giving me the confidence
and encouragement to keep paddling and get to the last checkpoint at Flamingo."
Joe mentioned how some times there where significant following seas and gusty
conditions that made paddling of any kind difficult, so he occasionally took
advantage of how easy it is to lower his Falcon Sail. He feels that as he gains
more experience, he will leave the sail up a lot more and derive further benefits
from his not-so-secret weapon. After the race he spoke with the Falcon Sails
owner and designer about ways to improve his rigging for even better performance.
Falcon Sails is always happy to talk with our customers or anybody that is even
thinking about paddle sailing of any kind.
The other Falcon Sailor in class 1 (cliffjumps) finished the race with the 5th
best time out of 30. This racer used sails from other makers in previous years
and did not finish the race on those attempts. With a 4th and 5th place finish,
Falcon Sailors averaged 4.5th place. The closest competing sail had an average
of 10.5th place, and on average, was 30 miles behind the average Falcon Sail
racer.
In class 3 Falcon Sails had 1 racer with a tribe name of yakmandu.
Class 3 allows for unlimited sail sizes and lateral resistance appendages, outriggers,
and other items that class 1 does not allow. The leaders in this race have purpose
built boats. The Falcon Sailor in this class used a simple Necky Lookshaw kayak
with a 1.3 meter falcon sail, a canoe paddle, and some home made outriggers,
and still had the 4th best time out of 11 in this class.
This very demanding race proves the effectiveness and reliability of our design.
The Falcon Sailors in this race, covered nearly 1,000 miles, and had zero failures.
Falcon Sails have more than just an advanced and highly efficient design, they
have all the features that experts and novices are looking for. It is simplistic,
compact, and reliable.