I wanted to do the Atlantic Coast Conquest because they promised me gators, but we only saw one. Fortunately, it was sharing a pond with a checkpoint, so we had to wade out into the black water at night to punch it. That was CP35 at 3am.
There were 45 checkpoints in the 2009 Atlantic Coast Conquest and 25 miles of water, and so I knew a couple of factors would come into play--navigation and paddling--and that proved to be the case. 45 checkpoints on a 30 hour race does keep them closer together--which helps in terms of knowing exactly where we are on the map, but it inevitably results in more "problem CPs". This would prove to be especially true for our team, since it was only our second time racing in Florida, where the navigation is focused on distances, heading, and tide. How we dealt we this adversity would be our greatest challenge.
Read the full review with pictures and maps:
http://www.teamrocgear.com/w/2009_Atlan ... t_Conquest
--josh