R2AK Rumors and other Informal Speculation

We’re into the second day of action since racers left Victoria and things are significantly more interesting.

As expected, the fleet, which was bunched up fairly tight heading in Haro Strait, splintered into many sub groupings as the cerebral part of the R2AK began and racers picked their courses.

Many of the bigger boats—including the leg-one-winning 38-foot catamaran of the Golden Oldies—chose to head outside to the wider part of the Strait of Georgia seeking more wind. This strategy appeared to backfire, as teams MOB Mentality, Hexagram 59, and Turnpoint Design found enough wind squeezing between the islands to rejoin the Strait with a good lead.

While many of the teams said before the race that they planned to sail through to Ketchikan with few or no stops, many are now likely feeling the harsh reality of the task before them. Early favorites Team Freeburd in their ARC 22 catamaran apparently sustained minor damage last night and have pulled into Nanaimo for repairs, and early challengers, Turnpoint Design in their just-launched carbon-fiber catamaran, have dropped out of the race because of technical problems. The last Spot Tracker showed them heading southeast toward Point Roberts.

Another new, untested design and early favorite, Team Pure and Wild’s performance proa was last seen suspiciously heading south at 7 knots themselves. It could be that adventure-race rule number one—“know your boat”—is inviolable here at the challenging Race to Alaska.

Team Real Thing (L-7 Trimaran) dismasted this morning at 8:20 am. They are reportedly safe and sailing under jury rig to Galiano Island, but have withdrawn from race.

Team Real Thing pictured above

The latest tracker view shows the highly skilled crew of Team Elsie Piddock’s F-25c trimaran with a nice lead heading north near Denman Island. The real question is whether they’re moving fast enough to sneak through a tidal window at Seymour Narrows that their competitors miss. If not, all of their hard work sailing through last night might be for naught as the “slinky effect” comes into play and slower racers catch up while they all await a favorable current.