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Rednecks, airboats and canoes
It is a seriously hot day, over 100 here in N. FL and my wife decided
last night she wanted to go blueberry picking at a U-pick place near Wacissa. Got up at 8:00 and went there and picked berries for an hour till we had 3 gallons and then went about 1/4 mile to he springs at the headwaters of the Wacissa River. As early as 11:00 am it was packed with people escaping the heat by going into the icy spring water. An air boat arrived and I watched it closely because this one was different, made by a company called Seminole and it had a 5 bladed prop. Sure enough it was MUCH less noisy than all the others with only 3 or two blades. I talked to the owner and he told me about a new type of prop where the end of the blades twist and are offset so that when it spins a blade does not run into the compressed air from the preceding one. He was considering buying one. Very interesting We had our daughter's (Katie) kayak and we rented a 14' canoe and went downriver to the spring run of Big Blue Spring and up the run to the spring and it was packed with over a dozen boats of all types and probably 40 people lounging in the cold water beating the heat. I am used o my family's 45 year old 18' Grumman canoe that is very lightweight, sturdy, stable and turns on a dime. This 14' canoe of plastic was a barge by comparison that did not like to turn. I hypothesize it is he extra length that makes the Grumman so responsive, anybody know? On the way back upriver, I had a chance to directly compare 5 of the old airboat types to this new one, the new one was MUCH less noisy, impressive. Its operator was also very courteous toward everyone else. By the ime I got back to the landing, evn though I had guzzled a whole liter of gatoriade, I was feeling awful. GAWD is it hot. Frogwatch |
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