B&B Boats Prep For The 2025 Everglades Challenge

Meet the B&B Boats Taking on This Year’s Race

With just 12 days to go before the start of the 2025 Everglades Challenge, paddlers and sailors all over the country are making final preparations and rushing to become “experts in their craft” (just kidding Paula). Getting any boat to the starting line of an event like this is a massive undertaking and once your boat is on the starting line all rigged up with bags packed you often feel like it must be all downhill from there. Some years it is and some years it isn’t! With an overall average success rate of just 54.9% it all depends on what mother nature has in store and how well you have prepared to handle it. B&B has a very long history with the Everglades Challenge and the WaterTribe going back almost 20 years which you can and SHOULD read about here. The Core Sound 17 remains one of the best class 4 boats you could chose statistically for the EC with 10 unique crews finishing 14 out of 19 times for an overall average success rate over 70%. Check out the stats yourself here.

This year we are happy to see how big team B&B is. Below I’ve given some background on everyone on “Team B&B” for the 2025 EC. This year there are six Core Sound boats signed up out of twenty five in Class 4. The full list of registrants can be found here. And don’t forget if the EC seems too overwhelming for you, come join us for the North Carolina Challenge in June.

Core Sound 17 #191:
First we have a new three man Core Sound 17 team (Team Sail Futures) Joe McClung aka Seminole98, Kevin Farrell aka Thatguy and Mike Long aka Longshoreman are sailing Core Sound 17. I believe they are all new Tribers and we are looking forward to meeting them. They are sailing CS-17 #191 ‘Arjay’ which was launched in 2018 by Brian Forsyth who built her from a B&B kit. Photo below of ‘Arjay’ finishing first at the MASCF event in St. Michaels, MD in 2018 about 30 seconds ahead of the next boat.

Core Sound 17 #385:
Brooks Hall aka TheMapster is sailing Core Sound 17 #385 with new crew Marshall Bender aka SaltyGator. Brooks is a veteran triber now having completed two ECs in his CS-17 with Coastal. He also holds the 4th fastest EC finish time in a CS-17 of 2 days 21hrs and 22min in 2023. Only Graham in 2006 and Phil Garland and Dan Neri on their CS-17 Turbo in 2013 and 2014 have done it faster. The fastest being their run in 2013 at 2d 7hr 34min. Hull #385 was built by Fred Schultz and painted and rigged by the B&B crew in 2018. Photo from their finish in 2023.

Core Sound 17 Mark 3 #10:
Father and son team Michael and Brian Collins aka GreyBeard and ChefRamen sailing their yellow Core Sound 17 Mark 3. Michael has completed eleven ECs and Brian has sailed with him in six of them. Photos 20 years apart. 2022 and 2002. 20 years! geez these guys must be old!

I also love this shot of Michael and Brian pulled off somewhere around Northwest Cape in the 2020 EC with Alan and his Dad in the background in Southern Skimmer. Apparently we had time pull off and do the laundry that year.

Core Sound 17 Mark 3 #4:
Next, Alan aka SOS is sailing again this year with his Mom Dawn aka SandyBottom in Graham’s Core Sound 17 Mark 3 ‘Carlita’ with Graham as shore support. Graham’s boat needs no introduction. Thanks for letting us take her out again this year Graham! SOS has completed ten ECs and 1 UFC. SandyBottom has completed twelve!

Core Sound 20 Mark 3 #1:
Scott Henderson aka WildBlue and Kilby Smith aka SkinnyGenes are sailing CS-20mk3 hull #1 again this year and have made some upgrades from last year including a new main tabernacle, rubrail and probably some other secret go fast mods they won’t tell me about. Last year they were neck and neck with my mom and I for the entire race and we narrowly eeked out a win in Florida bay when they went one way and we went another. I suspect they won’t let that happen again this year. 20mk3 Hull #1 was built by Doug Cameron and took shape at the B&B shop back in 2014. Picture below from last year sunrise on Chokoloskee Bay taken by me!

Core Sound 20 Mark 3 #22:
At it again this year is also the three man team of Erik Dykema aka NowWeTryItMyWay, George Blaha aka CountryRoads and Matthew Blaha aka Yellowdog. This is their second year in this Dark blue Core Sound 20 Mark 3. Last year they finished in 4 days 13hrs and 46min putting them in fifth place in class 4 and one of only nine class 4 boats to finish out of twenty two who started.

Sailing Canoe Amas hull #1:
We also have an honorary member of team B&B this year Mark Cecil aka Misterc is sailing a Meade Gougeon decked Sailing canoe outfitted with some newly designed B&B sailing canoe amas that he will be using on his BSD rig. Mark has three EC finishes under his belt in Class 1 and Class 3. I am looking forward to seeing how these amas perform and may be upgrading my UFC canoe with a set as well.

Finally we have an update on our 5.80 racer representing the US in the upcoming mini globe race. Josh Kali has made it to Antigua! Watch the video update from Don here. He left on Jan 28th and averaged about 66nm per day though some very tough conditions to get to the start line in time for the Mini Globe Race. Great job Josh! He wears the B&B logo proudly on the side of his boat. Also a shout out to Keith at TownDock.net who tracked him every day.