T Minus 4

Well, we are into the last few days before the race.
I am ready... mostly anyway.

This weekend Meers and I did one more fourteen mile run on the spoon: Elmore to Dahinda.

I wanted to runt the hull and test out the changes to Meers' seat and my paddle.  I am running out of test runs, so hydration and food will have to be solved without a test.  Anyway, here is the Baptism of the Meers-Cat:

Initially we were quite a bit faster taking around twelve minutes off our five mile time, but things changed.  At the seven mile mark we were headed west under a bridge.  We were ahead in our time which meant we were moving pretty fast (Joe estimates it around six-and-a-half miles an hour) and just as we passed below the bridge something was in front of us.  We couldn't see with the sun in our eyes and off the water, but it didn't matter.  The canoe struck something and between that and our speed Meers-cat and I went over.  Meers' sandal broke and I took control of the swamped boat.  We got it to the bank and took stock: no injuries, dry bags were dry, and my inflatable kneeling pad was floating away.  Pretty good.
All we really had to say was, "Well it was going to happen eventually."
We caught up with my pad in the next quarter mile and finished out the run in the same time as our night run.  Meers and I have put about a hundred miles of river under the Learning Curve's hull and until Saturday afternoon we had never capsized.  I am not sure it's an inevitability, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Well, now I need to put the final touches on the Curve.
In the design arena, I need to solve hydration and illumination.  The hull should get one more quick go over for scrapes and some quick coats of urethane.  And then I will need to put together the supply packs for the support team.  I am going with a system of pre-packed bags.  All they will have to do is give us the correctly numbered bag and have the water jugs filled.  I will put up some images for this soon.
Anyway, my next post will be a look at how we designed and built the Meers-cat recliner and then I will continue posts in the T Minus until Thursday.

Stay tuned.