Ecomotion/Pro
Day 2 - Enchanted Lagoon
Louise Foulkes (ARWS) / 13.08.2013
Columbia Vidaraid passed Seagate overnight durin the long trek.
Most teams found the inland part of the hike navigationally difficult. The maps are 40 years old. According to the team navigators, the trails on their map are correct, but there are a lot of other trails that aren’t marked. Between this the 1:100,000 scale and the 40m contour intervals finding the right trail is very difficult. You have to be extremely accurate with the navigation.
Nick Gracie from team BMS said was “there is only so much you want to walk on a bearing in that vegetation”. Seamus Meikle of the same team elaborated. The vegetation is similar thickness to his home country of New Zealand. Not so thick you can’t get through, but thick enough that you are constantly pushing through vines and spiky trees. The cuts and scratch’s on Nick Gracie’s legs were a testament of this.
Paul Romero emerged from the end of the trek shaking his head. “I made the worst mistake I have ever made at Ecomotion. I was so lost we had to stop and sleep for 3 hours”. The team were in good spirits and had one of the quickest TA times for PC 9.
Eduardo Sallums from team Ekos Pinheiros Selva Adventure said they lost 5 hours looking for CP5. It was only when they approached it from the other side of the mountain that they were able to find it. He was quite matter of fact about it shrugging it off saying “well this is why we race, for the challenge”.
Although most teams expected to reach the lagoon in the night, only the first two teams had complete darkness. Team BMS were the 3rd to get there. Nick Gracie’s earlier fears were to no avail. He said he found it quite relaxing. They entered the water when it was dark and were treated to a spectacular sunrise as they swam across.
The Enchanted lagoon is a large body of water surrounded by mountains. Viewing it from a distance it certainly looked enchanting. It looked like a huge smooth mirror that was interrupted only by tiny groups of 4 dots (the teams). Nicky Cameron (reporter from Canada) said they looked exactly like beavers from such a distance.
Catching up with the race doctor at CP 9 (where teams finished the swim) he said teams were coping very well with the swim. He was expecting a lot more problems. Teams were not suffering from the cold. The water did feel quite warm, close to 24 degrees.
Teams could enter the water in the lake from where ever they wanted to. They had to swim out to a large Red Bull buoy with a CP on it that was roughly halfway. Teams used a lot of different tactics in the swim. Some chose to wear only flippers and push their packs while others had all kind of inflatable objects that they had carried for the last 65km.
Eduardo Sallums (team 6) said that the swim was good fun for the first 90 minutes but not for the last 30minutes. His team took 2 x 2kg rafts. They team had a definite spring in their step at PC 9, their choice of craft had seen them pick up 30 minutes on other teams who only had fins.
Teams were greeted at the end of the swim by a hoard of local village children. The word had obviously gotten out that teams were leaving their array of colourful inflatable’s with the children. This resulted in them lining the banks all hoping to be the chosen one to receive the prize.
The image of Paul Romero (team Enigma) on a florescent lime green mattress was like waving a red flag to a bull. Paul kept changing his intended landing point but the children were quicker, flocking to the new point. Finally the kids rushed into the water and tried to steal the mattress. Paul (wanting to keep it to sit on in the rafts) managed to fend them off.
The next stage was an 11 km river kayak to the city of Ilheus. On this leg teams had a navigational choice of leaving the river and making a short portage to the ocean or remaining in the river which was slightly longer. Race leaders Columbia Vidaraid chose the river option. 2nd and 3rd placed, Seagate and BMS chose to paddle on the Ocean. It appeared they made up quite some time with this route choice.
It wasn’t easy though, Guilherme said it was “quite an adventure”. His other team mates said that it was a little hard getting out through the breakers but after this it was not too bad.
At PC13 located in the centre of Ilheus, teams had to park their boats and complete a short orienteering section to obtain 6 cps that were located on local buildings of importance.
Once they returned they had to get back onto their kayaks and continue paddling up the river. In order to get to the river they needed to portage the boats about 500m through the centre of the city. It was quite a sight to see the big red boats being carried across busy streets.
The paddle to CP 15 was fairly straight forward. The river is lined by mangroves and winds its way up. It is a beautiful paddle at night time.
Columbia Vidaraid were first to the CP. TA staff thought they looked tired. They were a little slow in the transition in comparison to other top teams.
The transition was in front of a school. Teachers lined up their students neatly to cheer Seagate as they arrived in second place. Seagate quickly opened their bike boxes and then the 3 males in the team promptly stripped off all their clothes and busied themselves applying ointments to tender parts of their bodies. They were completely oblivious to bystanders.
The teachers paused in shock and delighted children looked from the teachers to the fully naked team. Finally fits of giggle burst forth bringing the teachers back to their senses. The students were quickly ushered back to their class rooms. Meanwhile the men of the village edged closer to the TA hoping that Sophie might follow suit.
Currently the lead teams are on their mountain bikes. Overnight they will begin the hardest leg of the race, a 79km trek with difficult navigation.
SleepMonsters
