New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

Spent much of the day checking out the 44 entries in the Race2Alaska. No engines allowed. But rowing, paddling, and pedaling is OK. Many of the entries had impressive human power capabilities.







2 Hobie Mirage Drives and umbrella on Team UnCruise




40 inch retractable prop powered by bicycle technology on 32 foot cat BAD KITTY.




3 man paraplegic crew on F-27 trimaran ALULA will be rowing, not pedaling.

[sleddog]

To my eye, the two favorites to win the R2AK and the $10,000 nailed to a tree are the F-32SR trimaran and the M-32 cat MAD DOG, both orange/red.

The F-32SR is a last minute sub for the 73 foot TRITIUM tri that broke off Pt. Conception, and was trailered from S. Cal. to Port Townsend. The F-32SR has a towering rig, about eight feet taller than its distant sister, MA's ROVER.

Things are a bit last minute on theF-32SR and the all pro crew first stepped the mast yesterday, less than 36 hours to the start, and have yet to sail their all carbon rocketship. The skipper of the F-32SR, RB, seemed unsure of the boat's name, as it is heavily sponsored: not sure if they are entered as "SPERRY," "PIEOLOGY," "JAIL BREAK," or what. Also unknown is if the 4 man pro crew is advising the check writing owner, JS, to sit out the R2AK on the beach.


Team MAD DOG is a wholly different program.

Led by skipper Randy, MAD DOG, a Marstrom 32, is well shaken down. and sports no visible advertising. MAD DOG, designed and built in Sweden, is racing with an all-up crew of 3. This crew will be living in dry suits. MAD DOG has zero shelter for sleeping, cooking, bodily functions. 800 miles, 24/7, living on a bouncing trampoline at double digit speeds? http://www.yachtingworld.com/yachts-...ing-tour-69883

Note to self: There are no Motel 6's on the R2AK course and beaching your boat is problematical: last year a Harken block was reportedly found in a clump of grizzly bear poop.

[sleddog]

Although the big multi-hulls are attention grabbing here at Port Townsend, the real story are the singlehanders and their smaller vessels. Some are well thought out, some look downright dangerous. Although there is a $1,000 prize for the first to finish under 20 feet LOA, most of these little boats are racing for the dream of just finishing the R2AK. It could take some of them a month, and they will be unlikely to be able to sail/row/paddle all night.




A cool little boat is the flying wedge SeaScape 18. https://r2ak.com/full-race-participa.../#toggle-id-25

I spent about half an hour yesterday visiting with the skipper of the SeaScape, and he was both highly enthusiastic, and quietly realistic. Everything onboard the SeaScape 18 serves at least dual purpose: the collapsible bike mounts on the stern, and he fits a prop drive for his pedal power. The tiller extension has a ball of 10 pound velcro at its end, and serves as an in-expensive adjustable self steering. Not only that, the velcro on the tiller extension will reach and collect any sheet or halyard tail without the skipper moving from his hiking position on the weather rail. Brilliant.

How much innovation can you fit on a 15 foot, 35 year old, Boston Whaler Harpoon dinghy? A lot. I'll bet this is the only Boston Whaler with a carbon fiber bow sprit, and a tree branch boom crutch

Hey, DURA MATER, be the first one on your block:I have carbon fiber sprit ready to go for your Lido 14.

[sleddog]

Close inspection today of some strange entries in the R2AK: the skipper of this vessel from Idaho pedals at 10-20 mph, goes downhill at 60, and apparently it sails. But I seriously doubt its weatherly ability. Good thing the weather bureau is calling for light E-SE tail winds tomorrow for the initial 40 mile qualifier leg from Port Townsend to Victoria.



The fine print in the R2AK racing rules allows "portage". I'm not sure the definition of "portage," but theoretically he could pedal his boat up the Vancouver Island east side highway to Seymour Narrows, launch, transit Seymour Narrows, then haul and pedal to Port Hardy.

Then there is this robot boat, Team NAVOCEAN, preprogrammed to sail to waypoints enroute to Victoria. The masthead wind instrument directs the internal electric motor to appropriately trim the main, and steer course. But sail shape is non-existent. I'll bet the tidal current is stronger than the robot boat's speed, and it will end up somewhere other than its intended destination.


Not sure what to make Team KRAKEN UP, 8 women rowing a heavy wooden whaleboat with no protection or facilities . It seems on their first and only practice,
they discovered the fulcrum point of the oars was wrong and nobody could pull row. The questionable solution: mount 6 pound zinc collars on the inboard end of the oars as a counterweight. I hope nobody catches a crab and gets hit in the mouth.



Who would have imagined an Etchells 22, an Express 27, Olson 30, and Santa Cruz 27 would look palatial? This singlehander sleeps with his feet sticking out the portholes, a firm grip on reality.

[sleddog]

Thursday's 0600 start of the R2AK dawned overcast and windy. With 15-18 knots, the SE wind direction made exiting the 30 foot wide entrance to Point Hudson under manual power difficult. Hundreds of spectators lined the breakwaters, cheering their favorite teams, and groaning as the inevitable collisions did little to dampen the spirit of the morning

The big orange M-32 catamaran , TEAM MAD DOG, was one of the few boats to cross the start line on time, and was "launched," hitting 20 knots and faster before TEAM TRITIUM even got their sails hoisted. In 20 minutes, MAD DOG was just a speck up near Partridge Point before TRITIUM started, 30 minutes late, soon passing boats left and right.


Adding to the confusion was a helicopter hovering below mast height in the middle of the start line, making vicious downdrafts onto the smaller boats. Apparently there were calls to 911, and the pilot is being investigated for "reckless endangerment" and could lose his license. http://komonews.com/news/local/helic...ose-to-boaters



30 minutes after the start, the wind had dropped to 10-15, and the ragtag fleet was reaching/running up Admiralty Inlet, some peddling, some paddling, some rowing, some sailing, some reefed with storm jibs, some flying their light sails, all trying to get to Victoria before the strong ebb changed to flood, and before the fair SE wind died, and shifted to the usual afternoon nor'west, half gale, sea breeze.

POGEN asked: "How about that Seascape 18, it looks very sweet." Here's the Seascape 18 crossing the start line, looking sweet indeed:



I'll let Jake Beatty, founder of the R2AK, tell what transpired on this second running of the Race2Alaska: (Spoiler alert, MA's ROVER (7th) beat TRITIUM (10th) on the first 40 mile leg to Victoria. Go ROVER!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Starting on the awkward almost midpoint between Juneteenth and Canada Day, the R2AK growled forth its second declaration of independence into the open arms of a stiff southerly breeze. Not enough wind to merit an official first name, but plenty strong to disrupt the last good sleep they might get for weeks, clanging loose halyard and forcing keyed up sailors to headlamp check their alarm clocks hours before the ungodly time they had planned—a nervous tick that betrayed the inevitable. That uncontrolled clarity that can only come from the months of planning and anticipation slamming itself into the first iteration of unbridled real. This was it. This was the day. It all starts now.

In the daylight hours that came a day before, the teeming throngs of a couple thousand plus spent the day swarming Port Townsend to give action to their own months of anticipation. This was their race too, even if they never left the shore. They came from near and far to ogle the boats and connect with the teams they’ve been obsessing over for months. How will you sleep? How fast can it go? How can you possibly do this on a paddle board?

One band, eight cases of rum, and 6 R2AK tattoos later , race day began with a marina full of high vis orange and micro fleece doing one last pack of the dry bag, one last adjustment of the dry suit, and casting off lines to claw their way against the wind and out the narrow entrance rowing, pedaling, drifting, colliding, drifting again all on propulsion systems that had been imagined for times of calm, not 15 knots on the nose. In its best moments it was pellmell, and for a solid hour pit “goat rodeo” against “shit show” for most popular term of the day. The linguistic competition deepened and added new four letter players as teams emerged from the fray to position themselves on the simplest of starting lines (boat, beach) that had devolved into its own chaos. Boats anchored overnight on its midpoint, 50 boats in the race and another 50 flitting about around the course spectating Tour de France style, a thousand shore bound cameras taking pictures, national media coverage, paddle board Samaritans serving up hot oatmeal, and a low flying helicopter whose propwash inspired conspiracy theories believing it to be the killjoy retribution of Larry Ellison himself. Noise, joy, confusion, helicopters, elation, adrenaline—go.

The smoke from the starting gun had barely crawled out the barrel and Team MAD Dog Racing’s twin hulled rocket greased a perfect start then accelerated into a near earth orbit with a speed rarely seen in these waters, deftly dodging slower boats (all of them), working the wind shift seemingly caused by the collective gasp from everyone onshore. The last thing the fleet saw of their red hulled bullet was their drysuited crew ripping off the rear view mirror as they rounded Point Wilson—for all of it’s power the M32 is weight sensitive—ounces mattered and they weren’t planning on looking back. Three hours and 50 minutes later they rang the bell and set the new record for stage one a full fifteen minutes and change faster than the best of 2015. The reward for such a feat? Awed looks, a hearty handshake, and the right to start in Victoria at noon on Sunday, just like everyone else who finished one to fifteen hours later.

Even the five teams that never started (breakdown in Denver, too much boat, not enough crew, not quite ready, not quite ready) and the three teams that exited the race midway (concepts needing another look, abilities needing another year, abilities needing another year) wrenched out success from the Proving Grounds of the Strait of Juan de Fuca—not a single rescue, everyone left on their own terms. The R2AK was made to inspire people to greatness, and our hats are off to the intrepid teams who found their own edge of possible and finding themselves on the other side walked away from the year of preparation thanks to the better part of valor.

The seas of stage one raged, calmed completely, then raged again. After Neptune culled the herd into those who should and those who shouldn’t, teams began to set their sights on the competition, the fleet already dividing itself into teams who are in it for the win, and those who are in it for the glory of finishing—regardless of what the category they imagined for themselves when they threw their hat in the ring. A clot of tris were shocked and awed by the speed of some cats, solo teams set their sights on each other whenever they had time to look around, rowboats stuck to their pact and hung with each other until the sprint at the end. Team Madrona and Team Skiff Foundation Jungle Kitty touched gloves and duked it out monohull on monohull. The judges gave this round to the kittens who throttled up on their twin screw tandem drive that churned up the Inner Harbor on the final approach. This ain’t a bike race, and the inner harbor ain’t Alaska, but we bet if felt pretty good.

For those who made it, ringing the bell at the finish gave way to stories and elation, nervous shrugs and oh my gods before they trundled off for whatever sized celebration seemed significant enough. And as glasses emptied their contents and the racers filled theirs, their stories of R2AK’s first leg poured forth in a black and tan of humility of teams working out the kinks floating on top of a base layer of bare knuckled competition. Teams laid bare their learning curves (“It’s incredible, if stay forward of here I picked up three knots downwind, three knots!”), owned their folly (“I was almost to the harbor entrance and dog tired. I took a bearing on a white light, which seemed to keep moving. It was. The cruise ship was backing out.) and celebrated each other’s self-declared victories in the spirit of the R2AK (Guy number one: “We beat Tritium!” Guy number two: “Big deal so did like 8 other teams…” Audacious laughter ensues).

Whether the arrival of Team Hot Mess wearing nothing but underwear (“We were hot!”), or the exasperated flippancy of racers too exhausted to filter out a level of decorum, the very stately harbor where the Queen once stayed was given a different kind of royal treatment as the teams arrived. Our favorite:

Customs: “What state was the boat built in?”
Tim from Team Can’t Anchor Us: “What, I’m Canadian?”
Customs: “What state was the boat built in?”
Tim: “Sober?”
We Laughed as hard as the agent didn’t, And Tim was eventually allowed entry into his native province, raring to continue on to Alaska in the little boat he pulled from the blackberry bushes. In case it mattered, we learned that the bushes were built in British Columbia too.

Sunburned and bruised, elated, defeated, bored and enthralled. Less than a day after it began all were in and accounted for, setting to the tweaks and repairs. Sunday’s high noon start will come too soon and not soon enough. Will you be ready?

Final Stage One Standings:

1. Team MAD Dog Racing
2. Team Bad Kitty
3. Team Big Broderna
4. Team Pure & Wild
5. Team Mail Order Bride
6. Team Un-Cruise Adventures
7. Team Ain’t Brain Surgery
8. Team Turn Point Design
9. Team Jungle Kitty
10. Team Tritium Racing
11. Team Madrona
12. Team Traffic
13. Team Fly
14. Team Ghost Rider
15. Team Hot Mess
16. Team Shadowfax (First boat under 20’!)
17. Team Angus Rowboats
18. Team LOST Boys
19. Team Ketchikan
20. Team Salish Express
21. Team Green Kulshan
22. Team A Pirate Looks at 30
23. Team Sistership
24. Team Sea Runners
25. Team Sparrowhawk
26. Team Jomon
27. Team Whitehall Border Patrol
28. Team Alula
29. Team Supernauts
30. Team Onism
31. Team Vantucky
32. Team Whitehall Yukon River
33. Team Mike’s Kayak
34. Team KELP
35. Team Why Not?
36. Team Coastal Express
37. Team Squamish
38. Team Bunny Whaler
39. Team Excellent Adventure
40. Team LITEBOAT
41. Team Heart of Gold
42. Team The Windsurfer
43. Team Nordica
44. Team Foggy Sailing
45. Team Noddy’s Noggin
46. Team Roving Renton Ranger
47. Team One Wooden Boat, Five Sore Butts
48. Team Bus Bailey
49. Team Whitehalls & Whiskey
50. Team Gold Rush
51. Team Super Friends
52. Team Can’t Anchor Us
53. Team Hodge
54. Team Kraken Up
55. Team Wabi Sabi

DNS: Team Mad Agnes, Team Archimedes, Team Later Dudes, Team Discovery, Team Focsle Refugees

DNF: Team Take me to the Volcano, Team TBD, Team Navocean

[sleddog]

If you enjoy rooting for the underdog, and would like to see some serious R2AK boat porn, check out Jan Andersen of Jan's Marine Photography. Hers is the best photography of the 2016 R2AK start for sure. (I like the rear view mirror on Team Lite Craft)
https://janpix.smugmug.com/Events/R2AK-2016/i-SzpPRbs/A

The racers all have bow numbers and here is the list and description of entries:
https://r2ak.com/wp-content/uploads/...ceTeamList.pdf

[Philpott]

I love your photos, Skip. They have that genuine polaroid look at details a professional photographer might miss, also the appreciation of do-it-yourselfers that is shared by a lot of singlehanders. Were you on a boat at the start? Are you staying w friends or in a motel 6? Is Norton Smith up there?

[sleddog]

Sunday, 6/26/16

A lovely day for a race to Alaska. Clear skies, north,northeast winds at 5, gusting 8 knots, and 72 degrees. You can view the LeMans start in front of the Empress Hotel in downtown Victoria as 35 teams sprint down the gangway, untie their vessels, and row, pedal, and paddle out of town in a giddy-up hurry.

https://www.facebook.com/racetoalask...type=2&theater (the start bell rings at 5 minutes into the video, so skip ahead.)



No surprise, Team MADDOG has jumped out to an early lead and is already well up Haro Channel against an ebb tide.

Two surprises: the multihulls, like Broderna, Bad Kitty, and TurnPoint Design, are consistently able to pedal at speeds above 4 knots with their efficient systems.

The other surprise is Team HEART of GOLD, the lone Stand Up Paddler (SUP) on his 19 foot board, Karl Kruger, a friend from Orcas Island, is doing remarkably well, averaging over 3 knots, playing the back eddies, and is well placed in the top 10 of 36 starters. Karl's other boat is the old, 50 foot, IOR warhorse TOMAHAWK (ex-Margaret Rintoul), on which he runs day trips out of Deer Harbor.

As has been said, "if you like standing on long bus rides, you'll love paddling a SUP to Alaska." Karl has managed to singlehandedly maximize difficulty while leaving TOMAHAWK on her mooring at Orcas. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. https://r2ak.com/full-race-participa.../#toggle-id-24

[sleddog]

I love your photos, Skip. They have that genuine polaroid look at details a professional photographer might miss, also the appreciation of do-it-yourselfers that is shared by a lot of singlehanders. Were you on a boat at the start? Are you staying w friends or in a motel 6? Is Norton Smith up there?

Thanks DM. Yes, I was able to watch the start of the R2AK from aboard Dan and Linda Newland's PEGASUS XIV. Both Dan and Linda, residents of Port Hadlock, WA, are SHTP vets. As well, Linda has raced solo to Japan, and Dan is the only three time winner of the SHTP.

Norton Smith, who was my first choice for crewing in the R2AK, chose instead to paddle into the wilds somewhere north of the Arctic Circle, solo-portaging his canoe and 60 days of supplies on waterways seldom, if ever, visited. When and where Norton will reappear is unknown, and that's how he likes it.

This morning, Monday, after just 20 hours on the course, the R2AK has turned into a one boat race. MAD DOG, the M-32 cat, is so fast in light winds that she is "hunting" 25 miles ahead of the second place boat, OCELOT (Team Jungle Kitty), a Tom Wylie 44. The rest of the R2AK is scattered all the way back to Victoria, trying to make headway against light winds and strong currents. Good manual propulsion (oars, paddle, pedal) is mandatory for this stage of the course.

TRITIUM apparently lacked in this department, the last minute additions of two Hobie Mirage drives requiring a position of lying on one's back in the intense sun. For whatever reason, yet undisclosed, TRITIUM, the only boat that could challenge MAD DOG, retired from the R2AK less than 10 miles from the start and is being towed to Anacortes. ???? (I suspect TRITIUM's weather router had something to do with the decision: "You'll be pedaling for up to 80 hours.")

[sleddog]

Why my logbooks have destination entered "TOWARDS," rather than "TO."

When sailing in small boats, or traveling by other means, reaching an intended destination is rarely 100% assured. And that is a part of the adventure.

Returning from the start of the Race2Alaska, and somewhere south of Olympia, WA, at 11 pm, my mini-van transmission went limp with a whirring sound. Then it re-engaged with an audible "clunk" and I found I couldn't accelerate past 50 mph without the engine seriously over-revving.

Fortunately there was a Motel 6 at the nearby I-5 exit and I coasted in for a break, preferring to wait until morning to figure out options.

My 1995 Plymouth Voyager mini-van has been comfortable and reliable transportation, good for car camping and hauling boat gear. So much so, the odometer has 295,000 miles.

No matter much of the white paint has blown off like snowflakes, revealing grey primer and rust. The appearance, and other funkiness like the dented door and Spanish windlass on the hood, adds to the car's panache and usually deters aggressive drivers or tail gaters from getting too close. If not, an additional wiggle of the steering wheel does the trick....

At 0500, with 800 odd miles to go to Santa Cruz, I was again underway from the Motel 6, not sure if the car would run. I got to the top of the on-ramp to find I had no 4th gear.

The options were not attractive. Abandon the car and hitch home? Get to Portland Airport and fly to San Jose? I couldn't easily just leave my van and contents.

I'd just watched the Race2Alaska fleet set out on their 800 mile ascent of the British Columbia Coast, some on nothing more than a paddleboard, rowboat, kayak, and beachcat. Though my situation on the road was different, I reckoned if they could do it, I might have a chance too.

After all, except for a few 3,500 foot hills, California is all downhill and downwind from Washington State.

With one eye on the rear view mirror, I kept going, thinking the engine would blow at any moment. I noted the mile markers, in case I had to pull over and call for a tow.

It kept going. And going... And....

Happily, after 17 hours of driving in 3rd gear at 50 mph, I safely coasted into the driveway.

I think the mini-van is about to be retired from distance driving. Good American car.
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