Everglades Challenge Part I

Us and them.

The "Everglades Challenge" is a 300+-mile unsupported adventure race that starts in Tampa, Fl and finishes in Key Largo.  In March 2011, my racemate Chip Walter and I were the first to attempt the race on Stand Up Paddleboards.  It was an amazing experience to say the least.  Chip and I showed up the day before the race and we had quite a few people coming up to us and asking us if we were seriously going to take on this Challenge on SUP(Stand Up Paddleboards).  Traditionally, the race has been attempted by sailors, kayakers, canoers, etc. Hearing the doubt and disbelief was great motivation for the two of us and we certainly needed it!  

   Day 1 of the race, we launched from Ft. Desoto and went straight across Tampa Bay.  We fought hard against a headwind across the Bay and for the next 10 miles. 7 brutal hours of fighting wind and waves gave us the perfect intro to the "Challenge."  At one point as we paralleled Bradenton Beach, we looked over and were totally demoralized as we watched elderly couples strolling up the beach faster than we were paddling! We ended up paddling straight through the first day for a total of 25 hours. At one point in the night, we passed through an immense man-made channel that had uniformly steep rock embankements.  There was an eerie feel to the place and as we paddled futher through it around 2 am, I began to notice that each stroke of the paddle was followed by a bright display of aqua-marine and deep blue phosphorescents. I felt sure I was in some sort of lucid dream state... 

   Our first official rest landed us about 50 miles from the starting point.  We beached our boards and gear, laid everything out to dry and took three hours of recovery time (warm food, rest and rehydration).  Once the tides switched around in our favor, we pushed on to make the first checkpoint, 70 miles from Ft. Desoto.  

Storm rolling through...

Morning of day #2

   The initial part of the challenge is known as the "Ultra Marathon" which is a 70-mile race from Ft. Desoto to Placida, Florida.  Upon arrival, we began to get the picture of how difficult this challenge had been thusfar.  Veterans of the race, including the "Chief" and the race manager "Pelican" said that this had been the worst year yet for weather.  Already there had been a Coast Guard rescue for one of the racers who had been blown 3 miles out to sea.  She suffered from hypothermia and was treated at one of the local hospitals.  Over 25% of the racers had already dropped out, and when we made the first checkpoint, beating the founder of the race ("Chief"), the words out of his mouth were: "If these boys have gotten through this on paddleboards, I don't want to hear any complaints from anyone else!"  We were surprised and happy to hear that our efforts were as Herculean as they felt.

   After warm food and a long nights rest, we pushed off again on the morning of sunny day three.  We came out of the mangroves and as we paddled across the flats, we were again delighted to overtake and pass the sailboats that had launched 30 minutes before us and were eddying around in the "Doldrums." Passing Three Sisters Island and Devilfish Key, we came out into Charlotte Harbor, reliving the challenges we had faced thusfar in the exposure to the elements.  There is a general feeling of being blessed when you think of the "wind on your face," but in this race it was quite the opposite; The "blessing" meant we would be fighting hard to cover the distance needed to stay on course.  After two hours, we made it across the 6 mile stretch of open water and found shelter and shade amongst the mangroves.  Passing several lobster traps along the way, we daydreamed of a warm lobster lunch and cold wheat sodas.  As Chip and I are both upstanding citizens however, we sacrificed our dreaming for the sustenance of granola bars and luke-warm water!

   It was nice to get out of the sun and plot our route again and as we left the mangroves, behold! a tailwind?! Was it possible?? Indeed it was and we opened our "chutes" (a Palmer Trinity Sandy Golf Tournament Umbrella and a "Windpaddle").  Cruising along Pine Island was an incredible feeling and we passed numerous fishing holes, again sacrificing our desires for the completion of the challenge.  After 18 miles of riding the wind and paddling, we found ourselves at the southern tip of Pine Island in very dark conditions.  Our previous paddle through the night had taken us along the cityscape of Sarasota and we were well guided by the lights.  This darkness was almost absolute and as we came to the end of the island we found ourselves in shallow flats that were brimming with life.  A few close splashes and crashes around our boards had us clinging to our paddles and moving quickly!

   We navigated a few channels in the dark and came out to Ft. Myers Bay.  After 30 miles of paddling all day, we were ready for another rest.  There was a bridge about 3 miles away in our scopes and as we passed along one of the shorelines, we noticed what looked like a little marine bait and tackle where we might get some cold drinks and off our feet for a bit.  When we approached the dock, we saw one guy on a phone and another doing some work on something.  It definitely was not a bait and tackle or marine supply store, but we thought what the heck, let's see what happening here.  The first guy on the phone waived us off as if he couldn't be bothered and the second guys dropped what he was doing and came to see what was up.  He greeted us in a deep southern accent, "can I hep y'all?" We explained what we were doing and he said, "hang on ah minute, go park yer kayaks on that there barge."  We heard him off in the distance, "Cap'n, hey cap'n!  We got some boys here paddlin there kayaks roun the world.  Ken we help em?" A few moments later, the "Cap'n" came and greeted us.  A jolly fellow with a big belly and full Santa Claus beard came out and greeted us.  

Cap'n Kibbe's Crab Shack

   Cap'n Kibbe and crew ended up housing us, feeding us a big warm plate of cous-cous and venison and quenched our incredible thirst with some of those ice cold wheat sodas we had been dreaming of.  It was truly amazing to be taken in as family and given a place to rest up for the night.  We felt safe and at home sleeping under the stars on the stinky crabfishing dock, with a goodnight message from the the jolly roger, "if y'all move off that there dock, I'll shoot cha!" Our guardian angel that night went by the name of "Uncle Gouch" and we slept next to the refrigerator generator that buzzed on and off all night.  Needless to say that experience alone almost made the trip and we pushed off the next morning after a hot cup of watery joe and a stash of the captains own smoked fish!

"Uncle Gouch" 

   Once again, we found ourselves "blessed" by the wind at our face and we encountered one of the most difficult stretches of the trip.  Against the wind and against the tide made for strenuous paddling and the feeling of going nowhere.  It was 4 hours and we had gone 8 miles. We needed a rest.  After stopping for lunch and catching our second wind, we got back on the water and found a nice sheltered intercoastal waterway to cruise.  12 more miles brought us within the greater Naples area and the night was upon us.  We pulled into a boat rental spot and I took a rest while Chip reviewed the maps.  After an hour or so of rest and charting the map, Chip turns to me and says, "We've got a decision to make."  It turns out that we were still about 70 miles from the next check point and we had heard from multiple sources that a massive storm front was moving in.  We were approaching the most trecherous leg of the journey with a cold front on the approach. We had no GPS and no foul-weather gear. At that point, we had to make a critical decision on whether or not we would continue.  It was around midnight and we calculated that we would have to cover 50 miles a day for the next 4 days to complete the race.  

   Taking the time to make that decision was one of the most difficult challenges we had faced thus far. We had made it about 140 miles and unanimously decided to end our journey there.
 
  Jump 1 year later and here I am again.  The Everglades Challenge 2012 launches this Saturday, March 3rd from Ft. Desoto.  I will be racing with my best friend and business partner Drake Kurlander and we will be the first to finish the race on Stand Up Paddleboards!!!

  We will be carrying "SPOT" Trackers, which are GPS beacon-locators that will track our progress.

The Website to follow us is: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0PHVF8c5yuTNm19ceWEiMMttEWtbOr8Vv.

WISH US LUCK!!!

Community Gardening

  So part of the Garden of Ian business that I established with my good friend Drake Kurlander involves giving back to the community.  We worked very hard and diligently on getting a federal grant that aimed at increasing the availability of healthy and nutritious foods in lower-income areas.  The specific part of the grant that we worked on involves direct enhancements to existing community gardens in these areas.

 

  The two gardens that we are working with are, the Little Haiti Community Garden and Troy Community Academy.  These "enhancements" are so much more than that as you can see in these pictures.  In a general sense, sure we're bringing resources and volunteers into the space, but the actual impact on ourselves and the community members is difficult to put into words.  

To get things going at the Little Haiti Community Garden, we held our first "Work Party" in the garden on July 9th.  It was an overcast and rainy day (which was more than welcomed considering some of the heat that can happen on a summer day in South Florida) and we had a number of volunteers and community members show up to led a hand.  It's truly amazing to be in the United States, but have the feeling of being somewhere in the Caribbean or Latin America.  It was a Saturday in Little Haiti and there are people in the streets, music coming out of shops up and down the street and a feeling of movement within the community! At one point, an elder Haitian lady passed by as I was placing some rocks and proclaimed, "Haiti!" pointing to all of the crops that are proliferating in the garden. Unfortunately Spanish was the first, second-language that I picked up on living here in Miami and my Creole is it's infancy stages to say the least, so I couldn't really follow up with any recipe questions or a simple "how's the day going."  But I imagine that with time...

Bobo admiring his handywork

Bobo and help

    To really be there, as a part of this greater transformation process that is happening within these gardens and communities is quite powerful.  I couldn't help but smile when 6 year old "bobo" was struggling with a wheelbarrow full of dirt and one of the gardeners came over to lend a little support and guidance.  It is truly an amazing experience to be there for the smiles, the satisfaction of a good hard days work, the celebration, the life!  It was one of the neighborhood children's birthdays, so we decided to pair the work-day with a party and hence the "Work Party."  On most of the kids' minds that day was not the beautiful crops that were being harvested or what needed to be done next, but more like, "when can we have cake!"

   In one of my previous posts I mentioned how happy it makes me to utilize whatever is around and available, in the creation of a good time.  Well, in the rushing-around, preparation for the workday, plates and utensils were somehow forgotten and we had to make do with what we did have!  Hilary's birthday cake was served on fresh-cut banana leaves that day and we all used our five-fingered utensils to truly enjoy ourselves!

   As this was the first of many work parties, we are looking forward to being directly involved with the community in the transformation of these gardens!  There are so many people whose efforts are really making this happen, and I thank them wholeheartedly for the energy that they are putting in!  Just a brief shout out list off the top of my head: Gary Feinberg(part owner of Little Haiti Community Garden land), Claudia Montesinos, Maggie Pons, Ben Thacker, Drake Kurlander, James Jiler, Roger Horne, Melissa Contreras, Mario Yanes, Tamara, Erin Healy, too many to name, but THANK YOUU!!! 

Found Treasures...

So one of my favorite things to do is to find treasures.  Miss Evelyn and I were beach-combing down in the Florida Keys for whatever and we came across an abandoned kayak that was halfway sunk into the sand.  I was STOKED and immediately got to work digging it out of the sand.  Evelyn kept strolling the beach as I struggled to get the sand out of the hull (there were cracks in the kayak where sand had poured in).

    It took about 45 minutes of a good struggle, but I finally got all the sand out and got it floating!

 Evy and I took it for a little paddle out just as the sun was going down.  We passed a few fisherman that were getting their lobster traps ready for the season.  Our newly found kayak had a few leaks, but we managed to make it out to the Florida Bay, where we had a nice clear view of the West.

In my mind, the adventures that are cultivated from nothing but an adventurous and receptive mind are some of the best.

Here was a little reward for the energy that went into salvaging the kayak from the sand...

A beautiful sunset!  We had no means of transporting it back to Miami, so now some lucky person has a kayak to mess around with down in the keys.  Easy come easy go :)

Mister and Misses Manatee :)

    This is a picture from when my girlfriend and I went down to the Florida Keys.  We stayed in a house adjacent to a saltwater canal and one afternoon while sitting on the porch, we looked out and saw some native Manatee (they're also known as sea cows).  I've always had a hankering to swim with these big docile and wonderful creatures and this was it!  They came close to the docks to check out what was going on and we thew on some masks to get a closer look. Unfortunately because they are endangered and very threatened by human activity (boating, etc), you cannot touch or feed these amazing creatures, so we snapped some beautiful shots of them and it was incredible!
   A silly side story...when I first went to choose a license plate from the DMV, I was presented with something silly like 50 options.  After a moment of hesitation, I remembered how much I had always loved the "Save the Manatee" plate growing up as a kid.  Scanning all the plates on the wall, I finally came across the manatee plate.  There was no question once I saw it.  It read:

Garden of Ian beginnings of a blog...

               For this blogs beginnings, I'd like to share with you a little behind the idea of Garden of Ian.  My name is Ian Wogan, and I am from the tropics of the USA: Miami, Florida.
               Raised on a wholesome diet of good food, outdoor adventuring and respect for life, my passions generally fall within the vicinity of any one of these areas.  Moving to California for good surf (and college) opened my eyes and led me to a deeper understanding and appreciation of environmental sustainability.
               I moved into a small house on the East side of Santa Barbara where a good friend had planted an amazing and prolific garden.  Going to the backyard and picking fresh food was an experience that guided me in my environmental endeavors towards a focus on sustainable agriculture.  Between surfing, adventuring and school, I became a certified permaculture designer, which meshes environmental stewardship and sustainability with human needs.
               When I was unable to affordably finish school in Santa Barbara, I moved back to my hometown and jumped into the deep end of the local, sustainable agriculture scene of South Florida.  I graduated from FIU with a major in Environmental Studies and a certificate in Sustainable Agriculture.  During my time at FIU, I was very much involved in establishing a local organic farmers market at the school that was tied with the organic community garden on campus.
               In the years since returning to South Florida, I have met countless amazing people, including a best friend of mine, Drake Kurlander.  Drake and I graduated in the Sustainable Agriculture program together and during our final semesters at FIU established the business "Garden of Ian." The business focuses on designing and installing native and edible "livingscapes" specifically using native plant species, sustainably sourced materials, edible fruit trees and organic gardens.  The idea is to create places of abundance for both humans and native animals.  It has been quite a challenge to dive into "environmental entrepreneurship" and along with business successes, we have received grant money from the federal government to increase the amount of fresh and healthy foods available in underserved areas of Miami.
               Coupled with my curiosity and intense interest of more sustainable food systems is my insatiable hunger for an adventurous and active lifestyle.  Among other things, surfing, dancing the night away, skateboarding, free-diving, capoeira, ultimate frisbee, adventure hiking/trekking, camping, paddle-boarding and adventures with my four-legged right hand man Pistol are some of the things I do whenever the opportunity arises.
              I am greatly looking forward to sharing with you some of the things in my life that inspire and motivate me on this planet.  These are a few glimpses into my eden...