RACE TO ALASKA 2016 (R2AK.com)

H

hardee

New member
RACE TO ALASKA 2016

It’s on again, and it looks to be more exciting and more enticing than last year.
Here is the home page link:
http://r2ak.com/


Stage One: Port Townsend, WA to Victoria, BC

Start: Thursday, June 23, 2016 @ 05-0600
40 miles and 36 hour time limit
12 teams
Smallest boat – 6 feet, Solar Sailor


Stage Two: Victoria, BC

Start: Sunday, June 05, 2016 @ noon
710 miles, 2 check points
Anything that floats without a motor

There is some local stuff:
Pre-Race Ruckus
https://r2ak.com/pre-race-ruckus/
Wednesday, June 22
3:00–8:00 p.m. in Port Townsend, WA

I don’t have the links to the tracking site yet, but each vessel will have a SPOT tracing device again this year, with “improved” tracking, and communication. It is a big operation, involving several hundred volunteers, and agencies.

It will be worth watching. The Port Townsend waterfront has never been as busy as early in the morning as last year’s start. And the 40 something boats that crossed the line at that start came at me like a rush of elk out of a morning mist, all looking for me. (Well, I was just at the line where they turned the corner around Point Wilson, into a 20+ wind against a 10 - 12 foot tidal drop.) WhaaWhooo.

Check it out, come out and see the start in Port Townsend, or the Victoria celebration first finish or the second start on Sunday morning, June 26.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Oh my, now I am trouble. Last year, I would get up in the middle of the night to see what progress they made!

Thanks for the heats up. Wish we were up there to see the start!

After reading the entrants for the full, race, all I can say is WOW..It is going to be quite a race--no matter what. Please if you have any sailing back ground take the time to laugh your way thru the list and comments on all of the boats and crew!
 
Watch MOB this year Mail Order Bride got a weight reduction!!! (From where I asked Wayne, he wasn't saying) and a rig increase for more power!!!yikes
This is a fast machine and Wayne and crew are drivers
Local guys who like to go fast and Push the limits
Fun race coming up
George
 
Right George, it is a "fun race coming up". Stay tuned.

Anyone in the area that has a chance should come to Port Townsend for the Race Ruckus, the day before. You will get to meet the crews, see the boats, and have a ton of fun.

The Ruckus is Here.


Be sure and check the participants list. You may need some ace bandage for doing that. it could make your ribs hurt :lol: :oops: :shock: :lol:

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Susan and I were in a shop in gibbons harbor last week and met the mom of the boat yard boys , or boy as her son is racing solo this year. She was hoot to talk to too. told us all about the race and why her son is a dumb ass for going. She is used to him doing crazy things but is still worried.
 
I jsut asked for info on the tracker page and got this email from the Race Boss, Danial Evans, who is, right now, a very busy guy.

Hey Harvey

We won’t have the correct embedded code until it is up on our website, but if you point them to. http://r2ak.com/ the tracker will be there by race day.


Cheers,
Daniel Evans
Race Boss - Race to Alaska
Northwest Maritime Center

www.racetoalaska.com

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Any C-Dorys (C-BRATS) going to be out for the start of the race? It is an early wake-up call. Start is scheduled for 0600, with the start line leading south off the Wooden Boat, (PT Maritime) Center dock. It promises to be an exciting, and picturesque start, No matter the weather.

If you are out and have not put in the C-BRATS Group Call MMSI number, it might be worth it to do before Wednesday night.

Here's the number for you:

036697831

check the link for more info and basic instructions.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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You could be right Tom, but then again there are variables. Wind, current, travel time, and .... said the turtle to the hare :smiled

For the place to get current status on racers, news of the day and photos check this link:

https://r2ak.com/2016-race-updates/

and make your choice.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Fore warning, RANT about to happen. :evil: :twisted:

Somewhere between a fit of brilliance, a stroke of total insanity, and a rather blatant shout of apathy toward efforts to provide safety communication capability for the Race to Alaska participants, the RSV (Race Support Vessels) Safety, Escort and Medical vessels who volunteer services for this event, the US Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Auxillary, who have a communication trailer, which is ostensibly designed for this exact purpose, have seen fit to withdraw the offer of it's use for this event.

Apparently there is conflict with those agencies as to who can operate the on board radio equipment and who gets to say what the procedures would be for monitoring and rendering assistance, should any adverse event occur. And probably some other "politics" involved too.

OK, I'm done ranting now, so those of you who prefer not to read rants can start here. :wink:

The race is still going to go one, adjustments have already been put into place, and I for one, have lost a huge amount of respect for those 2 agencies and their "mission".

Predected weather is either 4 knows out of the south on a big ebb. Increasing to 12-15 later in the day

OR

F o o o o g

This is going to be interseting. BTW, the 70+ foot multihull that was entered "broke" on the way up the west coast and will not be in the race. That crew (of 11) is going on a 30+ something multi instead.

"Broke" = something major broke but all on board are safe.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

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Haven't seen the official times, yet, but Mad Dog won handily. They were well ahead within a short time after the start. There was a 20 knot Northerly at Smith Island (head of the Strait) for much of the morning. I saw several boat speed readings in the 16 - 18 mph range, and I'll bet the winner, at least, exceeded that from time to time.

We went up to check the boats out yesterday. Pretty obvious this year's entrants include a lot of people who noticed what kind of boat won last year!
 
NORO LIM":34tz4u49 said:
We went up to check the boats out yesterday. Pretty obvious this year's entrants include a lot of people who noticed what kind of boat won last year!
Click to expand...

An amazing number of the "F" boats--But also looks like some other amazing stories going to come out of this race.

Tritium, the 73 foot tri with crew of nine (was a trail boat for the America's cup foil developments ) had done the Transpac in just over 5 days. She was being sailed from Los Angeles to Port Townsend on the 17th of June (less than a week before the start!), and things began to break up in the first few hours, so they scratched the boat, on the 17th. By the morning of the 18th the crew had a F 32 foiler lined up and on a trailer on the way to Pt. Townsend. they started the race late--maybe related to bolting the Hobie Mirage drives on the transom?--and did not do that well in the first leg--but still finished 10th. Certainly a boat to watch for the race over all. Consider that probably none of these guys had sailed on this boat before 3 days ago, had to get gear and provisions etc.

first 5 finishers: 1. MAD Dog Racing 2. Bad Kitty 3. Big Broderna 4. Pure & Wild
5. Mail Order Bride

First two cats, and next 3 tris--

For those who cannot keep track of what boat is what here is a list which can be printed out:
PDF list of boats, type size crew #
 
Although there were more boats entered this year, and some are really intriguing one-offs or purpose-built (or customized) boats, there did not seem to be as many of the "lived-in-Nebraska-my-whole-life . . built-this-thing-in-my-basement-over-the-weekend" types. My brother and I, however, both predicted one for an early come-apart. Sure enough this morning's report shows that very boat had to abandon the race shortly after the start. It appears to have failed right where we thought it would.

I can't wait to see what the weather has in store, and how these boats do. There are some definite screamers in this race.
 
The day started for me with a 04 wake up, and heading for John Wayne Marina to pick up my co conspirator and able pilot on his own turf. Bob came with internet reception capability (covering most of our assigned area, which was between Protection Island and Dungeness Light house), and we stretched the edges of that considerably.

The northerly winds generaly were coming up Admiralty Inlet, and put those closer to the south side of Juan de Fuca into a lighter wind situation so most of the bigger race boats were able to catch the wind to the north and blew through the course. The Paddlers, Rowers and the small boat sailors who were closer to the south side struggled in light to no air, and some are still at it as I write this, 2345 on start day.

The small "Autonomous Surface Vessel" Navocean, appears to be in a holding pattern east of protection island. It was on of those becalmed early and looks to be riding the tidal drift waiting for some wind.

We had the pleasure of making personal contact with several of the boats, and these folks are cut from strong cloth for sure. Individual and independent, and driven to succeed. I wish them all the best of luck. They all seem prepared, and capable and I hope to see them up at the other end of the big island on the left.

In just over 8 hours, with speed varying from idle to WOT, the fuel worked out to be 2.5 gal per hour. The Big surprise was when I turned on the Vision Watchmate AIS for the first time after a major firmware update and BINGO, the touch screen does not work, all the "buttons" are gone, and I can not get it to turn off. Thanks to the excellent tech support from Rodgers Electronics in Portland, a phone call away and it's all good now.

Stay tuned, there was an ABC News crew there, a private helicopter doing video of the racers and a whole media crew. There will be lots of coverage, so stay tuned.

Bob, thanks for posting those links.

Bill, I was there too, sorry I missed you.

Stay tuned,

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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We have a couple of R2AK questions that we hope someone here can answer;
1- Is it just our computer or is their race tracker no longer working? We show three boats still out in the middle of the strait.
2- We've gone through the R2AK web site but can't seem to find any list of the boats that have made it to Victoria and what their positions are.

We're trying to keep track of some of the "little guys" in the mono hulls, average Joes, small sail boats such as the Cal, and Thunderbird and those types.
Any help in regards to this is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
Best regards,
Chris

EDIT - We JUST got the standings off of Facebook of all places. Thanks. Still need to know if the tracker is operational or our computer may be at fault.
 
The tracker should start working Sunday, with the start of the second leg.

The link to the face book is the best way to get the "results'. There are also "daily" clips.

There is the PDF link I put up for the list of all competitors: I printed that out and slipped into a clear mylar folder--too many boats to memorize all of them. 7th column shows the type of boat: Thunderbird is "super Friends" Cal 20 is "Why not?" Santa Cruz 27 is "Salish Express" and "Ketchikan", Mirror 16, is "Coastal Express". Mont. 17 is"Excellent Adenture" 'B W Harpoon 17 is "Bunny Whaler", There are a lot of common mono hulls. Download the PDF--if you have a problem, send me a PM.

Bill, Thanks for the heads up on The boat which withdrew--"Self rescued"...It didn't look that good from the photo--makes you wonder? ("Take me to the Volcano" I believe that several of the "home built" are "stitch and Glue" For example the "Agnus Row Boat 19 foot row sail cruiser... Stitch and glue can be awesome boats, but plans have to be followed exactly--especially if engineered. `
There is a rather comprehensive review of the build: http://www.mattjohnsonboats.com
 
There is a great piece on the start by the crew (?skipper) of Mad Dog Racing--first to finish on sailing Anarchy. They almost lost the boat 2x at least, before the start. Also comments and a link about the helicopter which was flying below the top of many boat's masts!~ That guy ought to be arrested, and loose his pilot's license. Just lucky that no-one was injured or killed. Reckless--and I rarely say that!

There is also a great link to weather on the inland passage, which may have some further use! By Star Path Navigation. Should be fun to watch this, and second guess the tactics. I wonder how this plays out "no help from land support"...Who is going to have inter net--or is someone going to be sending data? Now with satellite data available to small boats--but a real disadvantage to those who cannot afford, or don't have this information??
 
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