Scott Widmier Sails the 2010 Florida 120 in Queequag's Coffin

Article By Scott Widmier


A summary of the trip.

Wednesday:
Loaded Queequag's Coffin on top of the car (nice to be able to do that) and went over to John Bell's house to hook his Daysailer 2 to the hitch. After six hours we arrived at Pirates Cove where we launched our respective boats, helped others launch theirs, and just had a great time meeting and greeting. Pirates Cove is a very laid back spot. I pulled Q Coffin on a sand spit behind the restaurant and put the boomtent on over the cockpit before going to sleep.

Thursday:
At 9am we had our skippers meeting and then we set off. Winds built quickly to 20-25 mph in our face and formed nasty 3 foot whitecaps across open Perdido Bay. Q Coffin handled the conditions well other than the flat bow slamming into the waves at times and an evident need for a larger leeboard and rudder in these rough conditions. The spray skirt did its job well and very little water was taken over the bow. More was taken over the sides when I let her heel too much and the boat handled and pointed a lot better after I stopped and took a significant roll of the sail around the mast for a reef. The water calmed as the way narrowed on the approach to Perdido bridge though the wind was still in my face added to an adverse current. In the tightest spot where boats were tacking like crazy, I sailed over to the beach along one side, grabbed the painter, and towed the boat through a lot of the passage. Closer to the bridge I launched and easily tacked through even against the current.

A short break afterwards and I was on my way for a nice long run across a fairly smooth big lagoon. I did manage to outpoint the other boats with me and arrived in the middle of the pack around 5pm. Not bad for the shortest and smallest boat! I did have to do some repair to the beams under the deck around the cockpit as my weight bouncing on them broke the glue bond.

I rigged my tent after dinner and gratefully went to sleep even though parking the boat on the beach meant sand everywhere.

Friday:
Around 9 am I decided to pull out even though most were waiting for slack water before running the narrow passage between sand island and Ft. McKray. Again, having a small boat came in handy as I paddled over to the south shore, grabbed the painter, and towed the boat through the worst of the tidal race. Another boat tried to sail out and made some progress before having to tack and be swept right back into the lagoon sideways. Funny to watch! I had some difficulty launching off the beach against wave and wind as once again the wind was out of the east in my face. I did get off and had a fun elevator ride across the Pensacola pass that opened up to the gulf as the ocean swell came in. I crossed the opening then sailed along the south shore of the barrier island staying out of some of the nasty chop building across a wide-open Pensacola Bay. I did have to stop again to do a repair on the strap at the top of the mast that held the sail up. Old age and the strong winds we had broke it but it was fairly easy to sew on a new one with Gary's help. I continued on and eventually entered a calmer but still choppy stretch as I got out of the wide open bay.

At this point I abandoned my strategy of sticking close to shore in favor of long tacks but didn't realize (slow mental processes at this time) that there was a strong adverse current down the inter-coastal. I did a 30 minute tack only to arrive 100 feet down the beach! Not thinking I did several more of these as the smarter skippers stuck close to shore and disappeared from view. I think also my inadequate leeboard and rudder for the rough conditions were contributing to some leeway. Anyway, it was 3pm and I hadn't even crossed the bridge which was the halfway mark for our 30 mile run so I accepted a tow from one of the bigger boats. The fact they had ice cold beer and snack helped sway my decision. This years challenge was truly that as adverse winds made the 30 mile run a slog for everyone. There was some talk of stopping short but everyone stuck it through and made it to Navarre for some good food from Juana's. I was kinda embarrassed and depressed to not make it under sail.

Saturday:
Dawn was beautiful as was the east winds as we were now turning around and heading back west. Our two days of slogging into the wind were over and we could now reap the rewards and enjoy a windward run. I launched with full sail and Q. Coffin lapped up the miles gliding over the water and surfing down the building waves. Everyone was astonished at the turn of speed I had and their difficulty in even catching up with my boat. I knew, however, that the boat was not getting onto plane as often as she did in the trials due to the camping gear and fresh water I had on-board. She wasn't overloaded as shown by her handling of the rough conditions of the two days previous but a planing boat is greatly affected by weight. I did stop a couple of times to stretch and early on to transfer all weight to the aft storage compartment in order to keep her nose from digging into the waves...we were going faster than the waves. She showed almost no tendency to submarine with the full flotation given by her square bow forward. However, that square bow also did knock her off surfing the waves as it hit the wave forward.

The water started getting more confused as we sailed past Pensacola beach with all of the weekend powerboats out which slowed progress a little. I chose to sail under a segment of the old bridge rather than risking the main channel and the inconsiderate powerboaters who were not slowing as they roared through. I did carefully check that there were no fishermen on the segment of bridge I crossed under. Once pase Pensacola Beach the bay gradually opened up again and the chop turned into regular swell. I sailed closer to the south shore by Ft. Pickens national seashore at times only 40 feet off the beach and really enjoyed seeing the shoreline whip on by. Today I got to run by the Pensacola Pass with an outgoing tide. If the winds died there would be no way I could paddle against the current and would be swept out to the gulf. I did a radio call and was reassured that other skippers in larger boats were around me and keeping an eye on me. I ran the pass perfectly sailing crosswise to the current and then Q Coffin dealt well with the very confused seas. At one point, two waves came together under the boat raising it so quickly vertically that my stomach dropped.

I made it to the lagoon behind sand island and had fun weaving through all of the fiberglass monstrosities in this popular weekend anchorage. Normally, we go to quieter sailboat cove but that area was blocked off by oil booms so we found a quiet end of sand island to make our own. I arrived at around 3pm which was a 30 mile run accomplished in 6 hours for an average speed of 5 mph. Keep in mind, I took several shore breaks on the beach along the way. A great day! Better yet, I had plenty of time to kick back with everyone.

Sunday:
I was woken up early morning by the sound of thunder and concerned voices talking softly. I emerged from my boat to see a ring of dark foreboding clouds around us and reports of bad weather to the north. I quickly packed up and pushed off at 6:40am trying to beat the weather back to Pirates Cove and the conclusion of the Florida 120. Again, it was a downwind run down beautiful big lagoon and I quickly reached Perdido bridge amidst a few sprinkles. I easily passed under the bridge helped this time by a friendly current. Once on the other side the wind took a 180 degree shift all of the sudden creating a broad reach from the other direction and the rain started pelting down. I sailed to shore at the worst of it when the wind was threatening to become a howling monster but a drop in the wind accompanied by the sight of a good portion of the fleet tempted me back out on the water. I was most of the way back when the wind completely died. After awhile of drifting with sounds of distant thunder and nasty black clouds to the west, I once again accepted a tow out of both prudence and a desire to reach Pirates Cove. I got in around 11am and got the boat back on the car before getting ready for the end of the Florida 120 lunch.

Epilogue:
Queequeg's Coffin did well in this years challenge which truly was a lot more difficult than last years. To let you know the conditions, everyone agreed that Puddle Ducks would have never completed the trip and would have been forced to drop out the first day! Queequeg's Coffin is now destined for a page in history and a ceremonial bonfire falling victim to a horrible batch of delaminating luan, quick construction, and very rough conditions. Before the trip I already had to patch two parts of the hull from brief immersion. The bouncing during the trip sprung a chine that caused a slow leak during the last part of the trip. However, she accomplished more in her short life than most boats would safely conveying me 120 miles more than half of which was in adverse wind and waves.

I have plenty of concrete experience now to share with Gavin should he want to pursue a quick-build expedition rat and I really a great boat will come out of this. The suggested changes are 1)increase bottom area for load carrying capacity under plane by increasing the length from 12 feet to at least 14 feet, 2) have a large leeboard and centerboard (builders fault more than designers fault on this one), and 3) redesign the bow to minimize the square section up forward to make her pierce waves better and surf down them longer.

Given my experience with my own puddle duck I now think a pdracer could have made the course though it would have been difficult. My pdracer has better windward performance than the coffin mainly due to me learning from using the coffin in the fl120. My pdracer has oversized rudder and daggerboard.