Deadline delivered

Well, it's happened: I have my deadline.  
As of a day ago, I registered for the MR340 and am on the list for the race.  I spoke to my Mom, and she will be handling the ground operations for the whole race.  This amounts to two things:


1) I need to get back on the boat


2) I am in a position to set a record.


The second part is about the history of this race. 
First off, the people at Rivermiles- specifically Scott Mansker- have made this race an open one.  There are no boat classes really, so you can take anything that is human powered.  Last year someone did the full 340 miles on a stand-up paddle board (SUP).  It wasn't sure that a person could do this, but it was done.  This matters because some races don't allow non-traditional boats.  It's not far from cycle racing, where tradition wins over innovation in the rules (look up the history of recumbent bikes or Graeme Obree to see what I mean).  As a result, I will be limited in what I can achieve.


Let's say I am right.  Let's say I make the fastest boat in the race and do it in some phenomenal 34hrs.  I won't be making the racing circuit in my fast boat, winning everything and blowing everyone's mind.  I won't be allowed.  The big races will not allow my boat in those races, no matter what the efficiency or speed.  I know this.  I am indifferent.  This is about one race.


I am focused on the singular goal of winning the 340.  I don't care about making my living as a boat racer.  What everything comes to is the validation of my own effort, both in design and in the craft of building.  If there was anything to come from this, beyond my own goals, it would be to make the design available to other people on the open market.  I could see this (assuming I am right) going into a long distance craft which anyone could use.  That would make me happy: a host of people out on the water, enjoying nature and ease of travel and all of them there because there is a design which makes it possible.  I would like to see this as the bicycle for the water: democratic, personal, accessible.  


For now, I just want to get back to the Armadillo Works and into the crucible of creation.  Onward: forward with a purpose.