Cedar Key small boat meet

2014 Cedar Key Small Boat Meet
Friday, May 3rd, 2014 to Sunday, May 5th

The 30th Cedar Key small boat meet will again be the first full weekend in May, Friday the 2nd through Sunday, the 4th. It is completely informal. Tides and weather are still the organization. There are no planned on-the-water 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 salt marsh and oyster flats. The great logs of the Suwannee Valley’s cedar forests went to pencil makers before and after the Civil War. During the War, Cedar Key was an active Confederate port & railhead, while being blockaded by the North. Can you imagine the daily seamanship and boat handling? 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 29 years, weather has usually been mostly sunny, mid to upper 80s, water temperature upper 70s. If it blows, even at lower tides, it’s splendid for rowers & paddlers. For small dinghies and sailing canoes Cedar Key is sublime. Tides this year are uncommonly favorable---higher highs in late afternoon.

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

~Hugh Horton 586 215 7060
huhorton@gmail.com
Cedar Key, Florida

For information call:
Cedar Key Chamber of Commerce, 352 543 5600;
Dave Lucas, 941 704 6736, skipjack@tampabay.rr.com;
Hugh Horton, 586 215 7060, huhorton@gmail.com.