Woodie R2AK Leader

[Hugh MacD]

Team "We Brake for Whales" on a cold molded cedar Lyman Morse 40 is the current leader for the race. Not the only wood boat, but certainly the fastest

https://r2ak.com/2023-teams-full-race/team-we-brake-for-whales/

[stromborg]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

24 hours later they are about 7 miles ahead of the second place boat after swapping the lead yesterday.

It is interesting (and maybe a bit sad) to see how the race has changed since it's inception. I remember fleet of scrappy little boats the first year, they've been largely replaced with big monohulls, cats and trimarans. Still an epic adventure, just a little more grown up I guess.

[WI-Tom]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

It is interesting (and maybe a bit sad) to see how the race has changed since it's inception. I remember fleet of scrappy little boats the first year, they've been largely replaced with big monohulls, cats and trimarans. Still an epic adventure, just a little more grown up I guess.

It is what it is. I thought, on inception, that it was intended to be small open solo boats, something with a size filter maybe like the Everglades Challenge. That would have interested me somewhat, maybe. An experience more than a race. I might have tried it.

But as it turned out, I am not their target audience. I really find that racing to beat others holds less than zero interest for me personally. Others apparently find it inspiring.

I may still end up sailing to Alaska, but it won't be as part of an organized event. And I'll be much happier.

Tom

[stromborg]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

I too would rather see the Inside Passage at my own pace. Much as I'd like to sail it I think Wylie "Curve of Time" Blanchet had the right idea with her small powerboat.

My primary sailing season has been bookended by the "Ruckus" (end of the 70/48 race and start of R2AK) in early June and the Port Townsend WBF in early September since I started doing volunteer work with the NWMC.

[rgthom]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

It is what it is. I thought, on inception, that it was intended to be small open solo boats, something with a size filter maybe like the Everglades Challenge. That would have interested me somewhat, maybe. An experience more than a race. I might have tried it.

But as it turned out, I am not their target audience. I really find that racing to beat others holds less than zero interest for me personally. Others apparently find it inspiring.

I may still end up sailing to Alaska, but it won't be as part of an organized event. And I'll be much happier.

Tom

I thought it was just me. The concept in the first video, small boats needing human power in the calms and solo sailors dealing with overnights in bear country, that was interesting. Trimarans racing 24/7 and blasting past everything is not my thing either. I do have the tracker running...

[cstevens]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

My take, as a confirmed R2AK and SEVENTY48 junkie, is that it is still very much a "run what ya brung" event. Sure, the fast boats are going to be bigger, with larger crews, and not at all in the raid tradition. But there are still plenty of solo or small open boat participants and year after year they generate the best stories and the best tracker watching. Let the big boats run for Ketchikan as fast as they can and good luck to them. But I'll be watching and rooting for the tail end teams to beat the sweep boat. If you dismiss the event as just another sailboat race you are missing the best part of it!

[NeilMB]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

After Leo's 70-48 participation, now I find myself wondering how fun Tally Ho would be to watch in the R2AK?

[Woxbox]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

After Leo's 70-48 participation, now I find myself wondering how fun Tally Ho would be to watch in the R2AK?

Indeed, but he'd have to rip out the engine first.

[rbgarr]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

The second place boat, a trimaran, Tres Equis, has dropped out and is heading for the barn from off the outer tip of Vancouver Island. I don't know what happened but earlier this afternoon their VMG was negative and speed through the water zero. Now they are moving along at 6 plus knots. The second place boat now is Dacron & Denim, a Dash 34 monohull.

Race tracker here: https://r2ak2023.maprogress.com/#

[Paul Pless]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

The second place boat, a trimaran, Tres Equis, has dropped out and is heading for the barn from off the outer tip of Vancouver Island. I don't know what happened but earlier this afternoon their VMG was negative and speed through the water zero. Now they are moving along at 6 plus knots. The second place boat now is Dacron & Denim, a Dash 34 monohull.

Race tracker here: https://r2ak2023.maprogress.com/#

it seems they've broken the boat three times during this race
first a bulkhead
then a shroud
then the rudder

[Hugh MacD]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

"We Brake" is still in the lead (9:00 Sunday). It's refreshing to see a monohull leading (2nd place is a Dash 34). No records this year, except they may show the fastest monohull time...but I've not checked and a lot can change in the next couple hundred miles

[Woxbox]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

it seems they've broken the boat three times during this race
first a bulkhead
then a shroud
then the rudder

Yes -- and they have a new Corsair trimaran, and they just ain't made the way they used to be. I had a 30-year-old F-27 that was built to last and it did. The original Corsair partner and designer, Ian Farrier, split with the company years ago when they wouldn't stick to his high standards.

But -- Team Trimorons was sailing a vintage F-27 and they wacked something hard with their daggerboard. The case cracked and the boat started filling with water. Now this is interesting, because Farrier intended that the board would shear off before the case would crack open. And in fact, this has been the usual outcome for these boats when they catch something solid with the blade. So it's a tough one for the Trimorons. I should add that this is not a life-endangering situation. If the boat was not modified, it will obviously have two amas/floats to keep it up, and also watertight compartments at bow and stern. Things were reported as being soggy onboard, but the boat was safely beached and the owner was staying onboard.

[rbgarr]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

"We Brake" is still in the lead (9:00 Sunday). It's refreshing to see a monohull leading (2nd place is a Dash 34). No records this year, except they may show the fastest monohull time...but I've not checked and a lot can change in the next couple hundred miles

"We Brake..." posted a video of them eating fresh-baked cookies under sunny skies charging along the rhumb line. The woman on the video looked like she was wearing false eyelashes. Sailing Stylez!

[stromborg]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader


She's quite a boat, sails out of the same harbor I keep my boat in.

[WI-Tom]

Re: Woodie R2AK Leader

She's quite a boat, sails out of the same harbor I keep my boat in.

That is not at all the kind of boat that I understood this race was supposed to be about when it began. It has evolved far away from what the original messaging suggested.

Tom