Race to Alaska 2019

Read the resumes of the first four boats to finish. Those sailors are the best of the professionals, having sailed in a LOT of races, in a variety of boats.

If one thinks that you can just get a group together, find a boat and (just) do well in that race, it ain't true. Those a supremely good sailors in fast boats. Apparently there's a lot of skill there.

Boris
 
If you've been following the daily sailing report on Scuttlebutt, the North American sailboat racing newsletter for the past decade or four, you'll have noticed an increasing emphasis on professionalism in big and even some small boat racing from everything from the America's Cup and the Olympics and on down.

Paid drivers, tacticians, crew members, support crews, etc. Some racing series even have a global / world wide venue circuit. To win some of the big boat regattas one has to assemble a racing crew from professionals to be competitive.

Meanwhile, amateur / local origin racing regattas continue to decline both in numbers of events and competitors, and youth sailing has declined, too.

I don't like the trend, but the forces that be, seem to drive the boat, so to speak. :cry:

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
One of the beauties of the R2AK is that it is a different kind of "race"--no handicaps. The high end racing circuit utilized "professional" sailors even in the 70's. The crews on Windward Passage, and Kialoa ( II, III, & IV) which were professional sailors. It is just that there are more of the professionals now. it Youth sailing has certainly changed--not sure it has actually declined. But there are more organized programs than in the past, and more coaching--perhaps more intense. There are new boats designed as intermediate, either as step up from the Opti Prams or a more exciting boat for a learner.(For example RS Tera, Zest and Neo , Laser Pico or the Topper ) Then there are the windsurfers, and kite boarders--all under the aphesis of US Sailing. There do seem to be less young adults getting into racing.

Here is what it would look like under PHRF (a widely used time on distance handicap system in seconds per mile):

Team Boat Type Rating ToD Elapsed Corrected
Educated Guess Millennial Falcon MELG24-ODR 90 18.00 112.10 94.10
Angry Beaver Secret Squirrel SCHO40 9 1.80 99.93 98.13
Shut Up and Drive Envolee FIGR32-1 48 9.60 109.32 99.72
Trickster Trickster F28CCTRI 64 12.80 115.48 102.68
Sail Like a Girl Maks to the Moon MELG32-1 27 5.40 111.55 106.15
Pear Shaped Racing Dragon MULTI42 -42 -8.40 102.38 110.78
Narwhal Tatiana F32 -10 -2.00 115.98 117.98

(sorry the chart would not stay in columns).

The number in Italics is rating in seconds per mile. The bold is corrected elapsed time--the number before is the actual time to complete the course. When the handicap system was established, the best a theoretical fast boat could go was 0 seconds a mile...now some of the real speedsters rate as low as -168.

Also the R2AK is really a true "proving ground"--there is a lot of innovation--some works--and some doesn't. In any case it takes a lot of guts and hard work to compete, let alone to win! Hats off to all of the competitors.
 
One of the beauties of the R2AK is that it is a different kind of "race"--no handicaps. The high end racing circuit utilized "professional" sailors even in the 70's. The crews on Windward Passage, and Kialoa ( II, III, & IV) which were professional sailors. It is just that there are more of the professionals now. it Youth sailing has certainly changed--not sure it has actually declined. But there are more organized programs than in the past, and more coaching--perhaps more intense. There are new boats designed as intermediate, either as step up from the Opti Prams or a more exciting boat for a learner.(For example RS Tera, Zest and Neo , Laser Pico or the Topper ) Then there are the windsurfers, and kite boarders--all under the aphesis of US Sailing. There do seem to be less young adults getting into racing.

Here is what it would look like under PHRF (a widely used time on distance handicap system in seconds per mile):

Team Boat Type Rating ToD Elapsed Corrected
Educated Guess Millennial Falcon MELG24-ODR 90 18.00 112.10 94.10
Angry Beaver Secret Squirrel SCHO40 9 1.80 99.93 98.13
Shut Up and Drive Envolee FIGR32-1 48 9.60 109.32 99.72
Trickster Trickster F28CCTRI 64 12.80 115.48 102.68
Sail Like a Girl Maks to the Moon MELG32-1 27 5.40 111.55 106.15
Pear Shaped Racing Dragon MULTI42 -42 -8.40 102.38 110.78
Narwhal Tatiana F32 -10 -2.00 115.98 117.98

(sorry the chart would not stay in columns).

The number in Italics is rating in seconds per mile. The bold is corrected elapsed time--the number before is the actual time to complete the course. When the handicap system was established, the best a theoretical fast boat could go was 0 seconds a mile...now some of the real speedsters rate as low as -168.

Also the R2AK is really a true "proving ground"--there is a lot of innovation--some works--and some doesn't. In any case it takes a lot of guts and hard work to compete, let alone to win! Hats off to all of the competitors.
 
The race is still on for a bunch of hardy, focused, can do people. It's the race to the finish that is the goal for most of the entrants, not the race to win. For the few, to win, but for most it is just to finish.

Most of the racers have plenty of experience, but there are some who are weeded out on the first leg, (Port Townsend to Victoria), which aside from the distance, is as chalenging as they will meet on the entire 710 miles to Ketchican. This year there were more overnighters on shore the first night than all previous races combined. One SUP I spent about 2 hours with, who intended to go all the way, nearly did not make it to Protection Island. In 12 hours of paddling he made about 18 miles. Poor choices:, equipment, tactitcal, and nutrional. At a couple of hundred feet from the island beach, but bucking the tide he decided to just sit down on his board and go wherever the tide took him. We encouraged him to expend more effert and get to that beach. Next morning he went with the tide, back to PT. Good choice.

Also, the trackers are SPOT, and are rented for the race. For an example of a good tracker system take a look at:
Osprey-alaska.org
To follow one of our C-Brats on an Alaska journey, using the Garmin InReach. And he has a great blog to follow there as well.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Sometimes we might think that the inside passage is really no longer that big a deal to transit in small boats. However at least two of the R2AK participants are super glad to have had Spot Trackers and to have had fellow boaters and the CG to call upon!
Rescues:

On Sunday evening, Team You Either Do Stuff or You Don’t was pulled from the water from nearby boaters following a capsize and a call for help in Johnstone Strait. The one crew member onboard was ok, and taken to a nearby resort.
At approximately 4:20 AM AKDT today, R2AK was notified that Team Holopuni had pressed their SOS button on their SPOT tracker. All three team members were picked up by the Canadian Coast Guard in Dixon Entrance and are safe ashore in Prince Rupert, BC. The team is okay and in good spirits thanks to rescue efforts. We’re sending warm wishes to Team Holopuni and gratitude for the US and Canadian rescue forces that intervened.
Click to expand...
https://r2ak.com/2019-daily-updates/2019-day-11-finishes-rescues-sidebets-explored/
 
Ron on Meander":26tizquu said:
Sometimes we might think that the inside passage is really no longer that big a deal to transit in small boats. However at least two of the R2AK participants are super glad to have had Spot Trackers and to have had fellow boaters and the CG to call upon!
Rescues:

On Sunday evening, Team You Either Do Stuff or You Don’t was pulled from the water from nearby boaters following a capsize and a call for help in Johnstone Strait. The one crew member onboard was ok, and taken to a nearby resort.
At approximately 4:20 AM AKDT today, R2AK was notified that Team Holopuni had pressed their SOS button on their SPOT tracker. All three team members were picked up by the Canadian Coast Guard in Dixon Entrance and are safe ashore in Prince Rupert, BC. The team is okay and in good spirits thanks to rescue efforts. We’re sending warm wishes to Team Holopuni and gratitude for the US and Canadian rescue forces that intervened.
Click to expand...
https://r2ak.com/2019-daily-updates/2019-day-11-finishes-rescues-sidebets-explored/
Click to expand...

I have recently been hearing about the "Inside Passage" as the "Hiway to Alaska". It is not a freeway with rest stops and a nice median divider. It is 710 miles of raw and ruthless saltchuck, subjects to the whims and wilds of Mother Nature. There are miles of open ocean, and hours of dark and dizzying monotony where you dare not, not pay attention to every detail. Ron, thanks for the new link. The race is still on, not to win, but to finish ... alive.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

9_Sept_Seq_2019_Cal.thumb.jpg
 
The Grim Sweeper is on the run, Campbell River today and heading to Bella Bells tomorrow.

Here is a link to one of the "rescue" stories from just of the Ketchikan shore.

https://r2ak.com/2019-daily-updates/201 ... er-cometh/

Seems like it has been a long time ago that I was on the starting leg. Lots of water under those keels by now. I can't imagine paddleing straight through from then to now.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

9_Sept_Seq_2019_Cal.thumb.jpg
 
Skipper of Sail Like a Girl spoke at a Bremerton lecture series this evening. She is pretty impressive - professional life and non-profit volunteer - as well as a sailor. Also a great presenter.
 
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