R2AK - Whale Watching and Final Course Update from Martin!

Received via email 5:27pm from Martin.

We just had the craziest whale sighting! Dark Star passed us on their way back down, and generously offered us some beers, then, as they were disappearing into the distance, and Rhys was peeing off the back, he gasped and we all looked back. 

Dark Star appeared to be engulfed in white water! Josiah and I both thought they had exploded, but Rhys finally found the word: Whale!!!

Moments later, another breached. It was massive, most of the way out of the water, and made a splash like dynamite! It was so incredible! Really, words don't do it justice. 

In any case, we're just 5 miles or so from the finish and trying not to say what we are all thinking: that we have this thing in the bag. 

It's a trickey finish, narrow, shallow, with rocks and obstacles and light and variable winds. Currents should be helping us but aren't. We have the kite up and are making good progress. 

Wish us luck! All we need to do now is not screw up. Gotta focus. We've fully abandoned our watch schedule in favor of coffee, sugar, and pedaling through the lulls. 

STEAK KNIVES!

Before the wind died and the sun came out.


R2AK - Becalmed

Update from Martin. Received via email 9:14am June 20th.

Since the last update, we worked our way around Cape Nootka which proved to be just as challenging as the stories say. Instead of taking it wide, as is the conventional wisdom, we took note that there were 25 knot winds out wide, with a quick pressure gradient to a dead zone close to shore. We emptied our water ballast, shook out the reef, and used the jib to short tack our way between the 9-14 knot pressure lines, which still took all night, but proved effective. As the sun came up, the pressure gradient disappeared and we were left with light winds all around. We made a sail change to the #2, before immediately making another for the #1, which we carried all morning. Luckily, the wind built a little to 12 knots and backed ever so slightly to allow us to make progress straight along the shore on a close reach. That was until the noon watch change, when the wind all but died and the lumpy seas made it impossible to steer, so Odin and I are peddling again (in our unplanned matching underwear) as Josiah makes modified Ruben sandwiches and Rhys drives.The sun is out and the weather is warm, but it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Our modified ballast system, which involves flooding the engine compartment only to use our second bilge pump to evacuate it into the ballast bags (don't tell OSHA), worked a little too well. You see, we drilled a 2 inch hole in our engine compartment for the pedal drive shaft to pass through, and when the water level gets that high, it floods the battery compartment. Bad news! Odin and I discovered the flooding issue at the same time and exchanged a look of despair. He used the same bilge pump to get two bucket fulls of water out, and I sponged up as much of the rest of the water as possible, but having your head I'm a hole like that can make you seasick in no time, so it wasn't a fun task. Also, our rig is making creepy sounds. We're gonna try to investigate while the pressure is down. Wind building now, lunch ready, and music blasting!

Sail fast!

R2AK - No Updates from the Weekend

Haven't received an update from the guys this weekend, but a quick look at the tracker shows good progress being made, and we're getting regular data updates from their tracking device. A look at the reports from R2AK teams on the inside passage shows that there are logs everywhere and that our guys likely made the superior route choice—both for their speed and the safety of the hull.

As a reminder, it's been expected since the beginning that there will be periods where we don't get regular updates. The boat is well-equipped, both in terms of the knowledgeable crew aboard and the safety and emergency equipment that they have. If they ever needed help, the folks who would need to know would. So fret not, they're just busy kicking ass. I'll let you know when I hear more.

R2AK - North of Ucluelet

Received from Capt. via text at 3:15pm on Friday June 17th.

Elsewhere is currently driving hard under first reef and number 3 just north of Ucluelet. Sun is shining and it’s blowing about 15 knots from the north north west. The seas are choppy and uncomfortable but I’m afraid it looks like it’s going to get rougher before it gets smooth. The scenery is breathtaking if you’re lucky enough to be on watch now. The other half is below charging up after the toll the midnight to four am watch takes early in the schedule. The food Josiah precooked is great and we are keeping our powder dry. After a little non ABYC approved jury wiring our water ballast pumping system is working again.

The pump that came with the wakeboarding ballast bladders that we have on the rail began to fail and is now working in concert with our spare bilge bump.

All’s well.

Har Rai’s notes: The team is currently second among the boats on the outside. The previous inside leader, Malolo, has taken damage from a strike with a submerged log and seems to be stopped and assessing a crack in their starboard hull. The windy model looks to be forecasting headwinds for team Elsewhere that are averaging 20kts, gusting to 40kts over the next 24 hours.

R2AK - Leaving Victoria

Update from First Mate Martin Gibson. Received via email at 7:10pm Thursday June 16th.

I don't know if you ever saw the movie Hidalgo, but it's a great movie about a horse race through the desert. All the racers make a show of galloping across the start line into the dunes, only to then pace themselves when they are out of sight of the spectators. I sorta feel that way about what we just did: now that we are all out of the gate, the real race has started. 

Light winds and strong spirits helped us pedal our way out of Victoria Harbour. We put up our # 1 as soon as we were allowed and crossed tacks with the other teams in the same situation. We quickly learned that we were one of only 3 teams to decide to go outside. We will take it!

As the hour progressed, we switched to the finger licker, then to our AP kite, back to the finger licker, and then back to our #1, before the wind built enough for us to put up the #3 and carry it all the way to race rocks, where we switched once more to the #1 and have been trying to stay in the wind ever since. (Or so I think, I just woke up from a long nap and don't really know what's going on upstairs.)

We've been eating fresh eggs and bread, supplemented with candy. And we were able to successfully use our ballast system to load up the rail. All our systems seem to be working as intended, although the pedal system was derailing for a while in the beginning. Luckily, very luckily, I found a cool chain tensioner on my way back from the showers yesterday morning. It was brand new, in its bag, resting in the middle of the path at 7am. I put it in my pocket and I'm glad I did it because it was exactly what I needed to fix the issue, and the problem didn't really arise until we were already motorsailing our way to race rocks. 

Well, I'm hungry. Better get on cooking dinner. I believe Josiah has prepared beef and broccoli for us.

#elsewheresailing

R2AK Sailboat Race Tracker

R2AK - Proving Ground. Port Townsend to Victoria.

Update from the Captain himself. Received via email at 8:22am Thursday June 16th.

I'm writing from Victoria BC where my crew and I are spending our last hours ashore for what will be about a week of sailing as we head up the outside of Vancouver Island to Ketchikan Alaska in this year’s Race to Alaska. We’ve removed the Diesel engine per this race's requirements and designed and fabricated a double recumbent peddle drive unit that drives the boat’s existing folding propeller. The boat is a Soveral 33 built in 1986 and one of the oldest boats in the race. Her mast is 47 feet tall and she weighs 6500 pounds. We have a water ballast system where we can pump 1000 pounds of seawater onto the windward side of the boat to make up for our lack of crew. These boats were made to be sailed with twice the crew that we have aboard. The good side of this is that there are only 8 stinking feet aboard. The start is at noon today and is a LeMond-style start where the racers run down the dock to their boats and paddle out of the harbor. Once clear of the channel, they hoist their sails and either turn right to go up the outside of the island or left to go up the inside. The boats going up the outside have had to go through a rigorous inspection process to be allowed to transit this exposed water where little assistance is available. We have participated in a few offshore races, so the boat was already equipped with more than the r2ak inspectors required. We have a tracker device onboard that will post our position to the tracker page with a slight delay, so people can check in on where the boats are. I will add that these divices are fallible and it isn’t unheard of for them to run out of batteries. So if you see a boat's beacon disappear, don’t be too alarmed. We have an EPIRB which is a much more reliable beacon linked directly with the Coast Guard and rescue service. We also have a 6-person life raft and some other expensive safety stuff. 

Having had a wonderful shake-down sail on the way over from Port Townsend, we were able to fix the final elements of our water ballast system. While in Victoria, we’ve had beautiful weather and the good fortune of getting a plotter and anemometer installed, thanks to our friends at Anchor Marine Electrical. 

We are all feeling good about the boat and the team and the forecast. Everyone has been asking if we plan to go on the outside and the answer I can finally say after looking at the most recent forecast is yes. The big water suits us better and the captain will sleep better knowing the rocks are far away. This race is such a mix of boats and types of people and it’s been great sharing the docks with everyone these past days. We wish the best of luck to everyone and hope we have no more instances like what we saw on the first leg. As skippers and racing crews, we have to sail our boats as though we were the only ones on the water. We have to sail our own boat to the best of its ability and perhaps most importantly we have to be aware of the limitations of our boats and crew and sail accordingly. Personally, I think one of the more rewarding things about remote sailing is the feeling of satisfaction one gets from this sort of independence. You can feel isolated in the best way while also feeling a sense of camaraderie that you seldom get in this modern world.

Riding the Ebb tide from Port Townsend before the wind picked up shortly after and we tacked to starboard and hoisted the little jib and sketed the rough water before tacking back to port and making it al the way to vic on one tack. Credit: R2AK photographer Jim Meyers @vertizonphoto

Our last-minute crew replacement a veteran of the race and the youngest to compete it Odin Smith will be an asset aboard. 

PT on the pumpout after the marina filled with twice as many boats as the previous year they ran the race.

Our arrival to Victoria from Port Townsend in the gale-force winds that day

R2AK - Updates Start Now!

Greetings race fans! Team Elsewhere social media intern Har Rai Khalsa here. The social media intern position was created for me after COVID sidelined me from being on the boat at the last second—which is a bummer, but now I get to be your connection to the guys and maybe get some school credit in the process if I don’t break anything around here.

I’ll compile a daily update with the info that I have received directly from the team via sat phone, as well as what I can gather from the race tracker and general weather. The tracker is available here: R2AK 2022.

As a general reminder, the team is racing in a remote area with very limited connection to the outside world. There will be times when the race tracker appears offline or when we don’t get timely updates from the boat because they have better things to do. But worry not, that’s normal. They’re well prepared—both in their abilities and their safety equipment. Should they need assistance, the people who need to know will know before we do. They’ve got this.

So let’s get to the racing!