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