Wilderness Waterway Documentary

[Daniel Madrigal]

Hello friends! I am seriously considering taking a paddling trip in mid-March and filming the entire experience. I have done an east river- fakahatchee trip, hell's bay, east cape, , west lake to shark point to flamingo and many, many day trips. I am ready for a bigger, longer adventure! I am a film maker and photographer and have run my own production company since 2006. You can visit my website www.aboveallpictures.com and check out some of my videos, time lapse photography, and pics. What I am proposing is a few more people who have experience and know where to find certain places of interest and animals tag along. I think it would be pretty cool for people who share my love of the Everglades to be featured in my film. Once complete I will be submitting it to several film festivals. This is still in it's preliminary steps, I am just wondering how many people, and who might be interested in joining me for this awesome trip. Hope to hear from everyone soon! 

[Swamp Hunter]

Sounds great Daniel.

[Ted]

Below is a link to a trailer of a video that was made in 2005

http://www.spike.com/video/wilderness-99/2766244

Here is a second one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uLYohT-yxM

[vivian]

That second video is hilarious! Have to get a Disney tent next season, lol!

[Esther Luft]

Been there, done that, will do it again and again, whenever possible. When in March? I'd love to do it as long as it doesn't conflict with the Everglades Challenge. That starts March 5th.

[Daniel Madrigal]

What is the Everglades challenge Esther? Im thinking of doing it the week of the 14th

[Esther Luft]

Everglades Challenge is a 300-mile race from Tampa Bay to Key Largo. Time limit is 8-days. It would be my first challenge. Check out the details http://watertribe.com/Events/EvergladesChallenge/Default.aspx Water Tribe also runs several other events.

The Ultra Marathon - 67 miles - Tampa Bay to Boca Grande - 2 Days or less (Mar 2011)
Everglades Challenge - 300 miles - Tampa Bay to Key Largo - 8 Days or less (Mar 2011)
Ultimate Florida Challenge - 1200 miles and 40 mile portage - All the way around (Mar. 2012)
N.C. Challenge - 100 miles - Cedar Isl (Sep 2010)
N.C. Ultra Marathon - 50 miles - Cedar Isl - Beaufort - (Sep 2010)

That may be a heck of a documentary.

Ted Perron, see his posting in this thread, paddled the Ultra Marathon twice. Maybe he can be talked into trying the longer challenge.

Warren Richey won the first Ultimate Florida Challenge in 2006. He did it at 50, in a sea kayak, in 19 days, 6 hours, 48 minutes. His book, Without A Paddle, was recently released. Excellent reading. Very nice guy.

I'm a newbie to racing but I know people :)

[Connie Mier]

Daniel, a documentary of the Everglades Challenge, or even better the Ultimate Florida Challenge (not until 2012) would be a very cool project. It's really more about the people than it is the race. I'm in the process of getting training and nutrition data from some of them (Watertribers) and hope to do a study with the Everglades Challenge athletes this year, maybe I can be of assistance to you in some small way. Most of them do races elsewhere and several are heading up to Missouri to do the Missouri River 340 in a week or so.

I think for you, a call to Steve Isaac (aka Chief) would be a good first step. There are many interesting characters who I am sure would be more than willing to talk with you, Warren Ritchey being one of them. It would be worth it to read his book too to get a sense of the watertribe culture.

Connie

[Esther Luft]

Yup yup. Interesting tale, very interesting characters. Something happens to people when they break through the fear barrier surrounding challenges such as these. It starts sooner, in this context, when you do your first crazy paddle wondering why you did it in the first place. Then, you succeed and that's the impetus behind the next crazy thing we do. Really, it's not crazy at all. It's pretty amazing and so are the competitors. You have all sorts. The race is not just kayaks. It also includes canoes and small sailboats. As long as the captain can launch the boat from the beach solo, it's good.

Of course, if you want to document wildlife and the route, then you need a slower pace. However, I would suggest an earlier date. The more you wait the greater the likelihood the windy season catches up with you. I think the term "cuaresma" may ring a bell for you. You are in Miami, right? The winds sure do tend to blow during that time period. You're on cusp in mid-March. Whitewater with high winds is quite a ride. The Gulf too. They don't call Whitewater Bay for nothing.

Whitewater was my biggest scare to date. I did it, through some very nasty conditions, but I doubted my boat was up for the task. In the end, I had to muscle through. Whew, memories.