Interesting to consider what might be a "Perfect" race in the territories of the R2AK.
What better time than on the eve of this race to introduce thinking about different perspectives as entrants and observers assess what happens on the course?
This first race can be viewed as a powerful team competing in a unique environment, working together to discover how an event like this can get more meaningful as a reflection of the places it contains, and the non-motorized human efforts toward speed, safety, innovation, and dare we say...fun?

Wow!
Seen from afar this pre-race phase is playing out with classic and thrilling unpredictability.
Amid all the seat of the pants piloting our local hero gets knocked out.
Then our world champion who has survived everything this planet's oceans can dish up slips on a banana peel and shipwrecks his boat on dry land..
Now, a day before 0 hour, a big high pressure differential is promoting a westerly flow that won't quit, and we all get to worry about some mini Fastnet on the first day!
You can't say it's not been suspenseful and dramatic, and the gun hasn't even gone off!
What a relief it will be back behind some islands paddling, grinding out a 4 hour watch....

>Amid all the seat of the pants piloting our local hero gets knocked out.
>Then our world champion who has survived everything this planet's oceans can dish up slips on a banana peel and shipwrecks his boat on dry land..

Dirk, for those of us who weren't there when all this was going on, can you give us more information about the events you mentioned (above)?

Thanks,
Tom

Wet&Wild morning, diminished field, 3 races in 1 ??

The Ferarris and Porsches had a milk run, on a leg and a breeze made to order, made more interesting by navigational boo, boo's...

The Volkswagens and Fiats were/are the most interesting to second guess on strategy...and performance!

The in- betweeners, they showed their stuff, too, when conditions permitted . How about those bursts of human powered acceleration?

Whoa, ho!
Is this strategic finish just the best, or what? Bus Bailey with the masterstroke, Mike's kayak noodling around the rocks and kelp beds, those other stout sailors being swept up and around the corner! That was some demonstration of the powerful currents these smaller entries are up against!

I think the guys over on the Wooden Boat forum deserve an extra tot tonight, and a big round of kudos for their updates and interpretations.
Their experience and background knowledge really gave life, excitement and suspense to this first ever event!

What a display for boatmen of all backgrounds...!!

I must say it was amazing. Did anyone catch how fast Windsurfer was going? ! He was in the lead for over half the leg, with Soggy Beavers proving to be strategic and powerful. Bus Bailey get one of the burly awards and everyone get an award for smarts, tenacity and being the first ever to race in the Race to Alaska. And that wind was not giving it up easy. Did anyone notice that FreeBurds were still on the beach 15 minutes before the start and pulled out a beautiful 2nd place behind the a cat built for this kind of weather, Golden Oldies. And there are not enough words of admiration for the rowers to meet a challenge like this day. Lattuca is still out there rowing. An amazing start to the Race to Alaska. Thank you all. Really great!
Race Boss

Hi Tom,
To answer your question, there has been quite the build up, backstory interest, and speculaton among mariners of all kinds before this actual race began on Thursday morning.
These threads have been keeping up with some of the developments..and trying to extend what the boats represent and what the race might come to mean ...
It's really quite a multi-dimensional event already, as the day before yesterday showed us in spades!

Anyway, I referred to Scot Domergue as the local hero because he has contributed a lot to this site for a long time, and he shared his thoughts on his old and new boats whose designs reflected considerable experience in the nearby waters. The new boat suffered some unfortunate damage in sea trials near Anacortes. Tough to take after such a great construction effort.

The other guy, Colin Angus, really is a world champion oarsman, check out his ocean and river creds, it will amaze you what he and his wife Julie have accomplished. He was testing his new boat too, and things were exceeding expectations, until somehow, on the road, the new vessel had a damaging separation from the boat trailer.

The banana peel was purely metaphorical...

Now with a little more than 12 hours before the beginning of the whole unbroken rest of the race... We have to be longing for stage wins and podium appearances in Campbell River, Port Hardy, Bella Bella, Prince Rupert as well as the Grand Finale in Ketchikan, later Juneau, Sitka, and beyond!.. The Queen Charlotte's are part of it too...

I got the feeling half way across the Straits 3 days ago that what this thing is really about is freedom..with a capital "F"... Yes !.. Not just for the racers, but you and me as well!!
When Bus Bailey took off west in that big loop, hours behind the early finishers, and later came slotting right into the breakwater channel, I said to myself, " this is actually IT!, the other half of the whole enterprise!"
Knowing that crossing a little more than casually, I had never seen anything like it in my life!

C' mon, next year R2AK could gain some serious power by splitting up into at least a few stages, it's just too good to miss the celebration of chapters like Thursday's.
The podium! Stage wins! ....Kick it...!!!!

Understood that there weren't resources for these luxuries in the innaugural year, but money is generated in this way, funds that can be put to good use, and people are made aware and educated....

Believe me, race fans are totally grateful to those wild visionaries making everything happen tomorrow...

...But small boat mariners, and people who value the elements as much as the game, they want to contribute more...

..And this is a race for the world!

22 hours into the R2AK now, and the concept of perfection is playing out on the tracker and in the commentary.

Bottom line: The course is perfect in it's unpredictable complexity and challenges. The boats, the teams, the strategies, likewise.
Mistakes, like the Active Pass option last night, show observers how easy it is to be fooled with all the possible options available.
Successes like team SB's romp out of the chute yesterday are a window into how these waters have been at the center of human power and mobility in this region for centuries.

Now as Day 2's northwest breeze stiffens we see the modern side of things. EP's long graceful tacks across the Georgia Strait... MM staying close inside almost keeping up south of Denman and Hornby.

The fleet is finally breaking up.. This will mean we can watch several races at once, study up on the groups, pick favorites and enjoy the events within the Event!

Who cares about a lousy ten grand or some stupid steak knives anyway?

2nd day's night already, Golden Oldies far from anyone, out there pounding through the black at almost 8 knots, hoping to earn atonement for an innocent miscalculation yesterday, prospecting for a breeze in light airs that became weightless.
Maybe three or four hours in Beaver's wake was a factor...they are still slogging along coastside, in the loom of "civilization" picking up a precious 2 or 3 miles every hour.
Hopes are that the gale winds now forecast might not arrive, but a lot of the fleet is understandably hunkered down tonight. Even E.P. is resting on the pick, all alone, way up on the other side of Seymour. No one knows exactly how they did that today !!
Business as usual for Mother Ocean?
Well, you wanted a real boat race, be careful what you wish for!

And Elsie Piddock sails on, "Skipping while she sleeps" her wake a magic carpet of Queen Charlotte Sound starstuff..
We've even watched a recent video, but who among us can see how it is done?
This is now the night of day 3. Our afternoon was filled with speculations due to the unforseen retreat of Golden Oldies from
Seymour. A failed main halyard apparently.
The fleet seems to be taking their time today.
It is a marathon after all, not a sprint anymore.
This realization may allow the teams to start enjoying the trip a little , no rule against that either, as far as I can tell !