2018 Trip Report Offered up by Patrick Linfors Thursday, June 7Th • Wrapped up a Work Training in Orlando and Picked up Hebrew, His Boat and His Gear
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2018 Trip Report Offered up by Patrick Linfors Thursday, June 7th • Wrapped up a work training in Orlando and picked up Hebrew, his boat and his gear. Hebrew is at his mother-in-law’s house after driving from Dallas to Altamonte over 2-days. 18-foot kayak on top of a Prius. Funny stuff. So, the traveling for the 19th-annual mission actually began on June 5th. • Traffic is a bear and we arrive at El Toro’s house right at 7:00 p.m. for the Launch Party. It’s hot. It’s been raining off and on, but the clouds part for the party. • El Toro and his family host a joyful Launch Party. Asian cuisine, music, drink. Columbus, US Century Bank, ACS, SebastianStrong. Smiles, hugs and laughs. Friends, family – and friends who are family. And don’t forget the #SuperDrunkRumCake – and the cold Corona inside a Corona boat! • Hebrew offers up a passionate toast to Lou for hosting and salutes OB, the Viceroy, for cracking the million-dollar mark. • Just about 10-days prior, the team received a $5,000 donation from Columbus that put the Castaways over the top. It meant that since the first trip in 2000, the team had raised more than $1,000,000. An epic achievement – thanks to the vision of OB. Even more magical? The gift was received on the 19th-anniversary of the passing of Joyce O’Brien, OB’s mom, who was the inspiration for the Castaways. • The crowd winds down relatively early. This seasoned group knows the work that lies ahead. Friday, June 8th • Hebrew and I take El Toro’s truck to travel down to our friends at Florida Bay Outfitters with the mission of picking up one tandem. • On the way to pick up OB, we detour, so Hebrew can see his childhood home off Colonial Drive in South Miami-Dade. • OB, Hebrew and I make it to FBO. The boat they have ready for us is a plastic tandem. The one remaining fiberglass tandem is missing some parts. The Castaways realize they are “kayak dinosaurs.” The business is focused now on stand-up paddle boarding – and our old boats are being Frankenstein-ed for parts. We worked with our friends at FBO – and Frank Woll – the man, the myth and the legend – parachutes in to help make it happen. They refitted some parts on the fiberglass, so we could take the old yellow Libra we’d paddled many times before. • The trio returns the truck safely and the entire team gathers for dinner at Lou’s and a final team meeting. The mission, logistics, meals, marketing and safety are all covered. • For the first time in team history, there is a unique shirt scheduled for everyday of the trip. It’s the first time the team has been uniformed for each leg of the tour. Official jersey from US Century Bank, Florida Salt Freak, TunaSkin, Columbus, the official alternate jersey from US Century Bank and SebastianStrong. The alternate jersey is also worn on Day 7. • Also for the first time, with 17-paddlers, the team divides up into 4-smaller groups. Each group helps ensure each team member is packed and ready to go each day and lands safely. Saturday, June 9th – Day 1 • Paddlers start arriving a few minutes before 6:00 a.m. For the first time in memory, the gate to Castaways beach is already open. Good first sign. • It appears north of 100-people gather to see us off. • The Castaways are wearing the official team jersey provided by US Century Bank. This year’s Under the Bridge logo is emblazoned on the front. • City of Miami police boats arrive – thanks to Lou’s nephew – to escort us off the beach and out to Bear Cut • Channel 10 does some interviews – OB, Bob and Chiquita • Steve Frigo delivers with tent, speaker and microphone. US Century Bank and SebastianStrong flags are flying • Opening ceremony is held. It’s announced for the first time publicly that the Castaways are just the 8th-team in history to raise north of a million for the ACS – and the first in Florida. Lou salutes US Century Bank. Pino salutes Columbus. Road Crew and Sponsors are recognized. Oscar briefs the crowd on the work of SebStrong. OB regales the throng about his apparent favorite moment of all time – the red popsicles from the soon to be named Vaca Cut Fairy, Steve Frigo. John Lynskey offers an epic opening prayer. • The opening stroke is offered by Patty Lawrence. OB introduces her. Hebrew escorts her out into the water. (Less than a month after the kayak trip, on July 7th, Patty Lawrence, a tremendous example of grace under fire, passed away) • Under partly cloudy skies, the Under the Bridge Tour shoves off the beach on time at 7:30a.m. • At the turn on the ocean-side of Key Biscayne, the paddlers spread far apart. The paddlers at the front disagree on the traditional landing spot of the first break. They miss the normal spot and travel further down. • The road crew and our beer sponsor – Tank Brewing – struggle to find us. • Mercy provides the team sandwiches to carry out for lunch • Daniel bows out from the tandem. Lou beaches the Corona boat and climbs in the tandem with Oz. Suzy bows out, but plans to join us on Day 3. Brian and Jay from the bank bow out. Roger bows out. • Decent crossing to Soldier Key. • After lunch, there are a few light showers we paddle through – cooling off the afternoon. A nice open paddle follows – with a slight breeze in the right direction – all the way to Sands Cut. • A long break ensues. Normalness reigns. Obnoxious music. Bikini-clad women dancing on boats. Dogs swimming. Stand-up paddle boards bouncing between boats. A cacophony of Miami craziness. • Then onto Elliott Key. 22.5-miles paddled. Just under 9-hours on the water. • Tech note – those stats came from a new app – Paddle Logger – that allowed us to track distance, time on the water and various speeds. See photo. • Bugs aren’t nearly as bad as in the past. Boat crew – Myretus brothers, Dr. Burris, Lou’s cousin and his sons, and Diamond Diana with the CCNN boys – greets us with dinner and drinks. Nurse sharks and lobster are spotted near the corner we camp in, as well as, a passing manatee. • A beautiful sunset blots out Mt. Trashmore – and it’s still weird that the Turkey Point stacks are gone. Sunday, June 10 – Day 2 • Middle of the night – 2:30 a.m. – a lightning storm looms on the horizon, the breeze picks up and soon after a driving rain opens up for about 15-minutes. In discussions on the water later today, the team realizes most everyone woke up during the storm. • Everyone is up before 6:00 a.m. Gear is broken down. Goal is to be on the water at 6:30 a.m. By 6:20 a.m., the team is in 3-groups: some guys pull far away from shore to get away from the rock, some guys get their boats into the water and stay with them in the shallows, while the final group is still jamming gear into holds on-shore. • The team is wearing a special shirt made by Florida Salt Freak. The company is owned by a Columbus grad who is battling cancer. He is a friend of Rick Pelegrin’s. FSF sold the shirts and raised more than $1,000 for the Castaways. We are honored to wear the shirts. • Just after 6:30 a.m., the team pulls away, gathers up for a morning prayer and then paddles out to an anchored boat. Lou’s cousin and Diana meet the team at the stern and toss out Ziploc bags filled with breakfast – apple slices, cheese and a banana. Perfect. • We pass on to them one bag of packed out garbage. Thankfully, the boat crew had taken the bulk out the night before. • By 7:00 a.m., the first opening push is underway. A group of about 6-paddlers is grouped up near the front. Some of the old guys are getting to know some of the new guys. But when Rick Pelegrin, the Chief, paddles up to the group and locks eyes with Paul Kumer, the rookie not-yet-baptized with a name, the two communicate without saying a word and drop it into a 5th-gear. They immediately pull away, their enormous arms compelling the water under their kayaks. It’s like adding The Rock to join Vin Diesel in the Fast and Furious movies. • At the first break, tide is up a bit. Water is about waist-deep. But everyone gets out of their boats to stretch and snack. It’s a cloudy morning and something big is brewing on the ocean-side. It appears to be coming our way. The team makes the call to get back in the boats and paddle on out to Card Sound Point. • On the crossing, the storm dissipates, but the cloudy haze makes for a comfortable crossing. It isn’t until near the end of the 9-mile stretch that the sun comes out and the heat cranks up a bit. • Card Sound Point – the site of the very first night of camping in Castaways history – night 1 in 2000 – has turned into an awesome break spot over the years. The discussion about Top-5 Break Spots on the trip rages on – and this one is argued to be in it.