2013 Cedar Key Small Boat Meet

The 29th Cedar Key small boat meet will be Saturday and Sunday, May 4th & 5th, the first full weekend in May. It is completely informal. Tides and weather are still the organization. There are no planned events, signups, or fees.

Cedar Key is on the Gulf a hundred miles north of Tampa, a dozen miles south of the mouth of the Suwannee River. It’s an isolated cape of offshore islands separated from the mainland by miles of oyster flats and salt marsh. The great logs of the cedar forests went to pencil makers before & after the Civil War. During the War it was an active Confederate port & railhead. Now its sea and shallows attract fishermen & clam farmers, naturalists, artists & writers. There are no traffic lights, fast food, or golf courses.

All shallow draft boats are welcome: canoes & kayaks, catboats & catamarans; trimarans, rowboats & sailing dinghies; scows, sharpies & sampans; punts, pirogues, prams—& pirates’ yawlboats.

Over the last 28 years, weather has usually been mostly sunny, mid to upper 80s in the day, water temperature upper 70s. If it blows, even at lower tides, it’s splendid for rowers & paddlers. For sailing canoes, Cedar Key is sublime.

Wildlife observers note the complete food chain. The nutrients flowing out with the clean Suwannee mix with oxygenated water riffling through the cape’s islands & channels. Birds, bugs, fish, shellfish, turtles, alligators, marine mammals—all thrive.

~Hugh Horton 586 215 7060
huhorton@gmail.com