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It Ain’t Brain Surgery

The Ma’s Rover crew tried out their new oars during the postponement of the South Bay InterClub Race on May 14.

latitude/Chris
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC

When Bay Area trimaran sailor Mark Eastham read about the 750-mile Race to Alaska last year he said, "Wow that’s an unbelievably cool or crazy idea." After that first race from Port Townsend, WA, to Ketchikan, AK, Michelle Boroski formed Team Sistership, bought an F-27 and contacted the Bay Area Multihull Association for help because she hadn’t really sailed multihulls much. "A couple of days after Christmas, I took her out for a sail on my boat here to help her with tips about multihull sailing and get the feng shui down," said Mark. "Unfortunately, there was no wind in the Bay, and we just kind of floated around. So she asked me to come up to Port Townsend to race with her in their inaugural race (the Shipwright’s Regatta in February). While I was up there I thought, ‘I’ve got one of these boats. You know what, we’re only getting older. Let’s just do it.’ I put a feeler out for people who were interested in the team."

Mark Eastham (left) and Sherry Smith, crew on Sistership, attended Jake Beattie’s R2AK seminar at Strictly Sail Pacific in Richmond. Beattie is the executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center and the instigator of the R2AK.

latitude/Chris
©2016Latitude 38 Media, LLC

One of Eastham’s regular crew, Stephane Lesaffre of San Francisco, who was onboard Ma’s Rover when they absolutely smoked the Doublehanded Farallones in March, signed on.

Stephane Lesaffre and Mark back at Golden Gate Yacht Club after BAMA’s Doublehanded Farallones.

© 2016 Chris Harvey

Jeremy Boyette is the third team member. "He sails with one of the best guys in the fleet, Darren Doud. Darren hasn’t been sailing that much this year because he’s doing the Pac Cup with his dad," explained Eastham. "Jeremy’s a wonderful find. We were trying to put together how to attach oars to the boat. He goes, ‘How about if you did this…’ I asked, ‘Are you familiar with this kind of stuff?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I’m an engineer. I can even build the part.’ The thing he built looks like it belongs on a NASA mission to Mars. It’s light as a feather and strong as can be."

Each ama now sports a custom-made rowing stanchion.

Ma’s Rover
©2016Latitude 38 Media, LLC
"The Marin Rowing Association was getting rid of some scull oars, the big long carbon fiber ones," said Eastham. "So I picked those up for next to nothing."

latitude/Chris
©2016Latitude 38 Media, LLC

The team has been chiseling away at transforming Ma’s Rover from a Bay racer to a long-distance racer. "We don’t want to over-provision or under-provision. And what has me concerned is how do we get in and out of a dock. If it’s filled up there’s really nowhere you can go. Without any propulsion, we get one shot at it. If the wind is up and we have to slow down to come in, we have to drop the sails. With three hulls there’s a lot of windage. They don’t coast like a regular monohull. I thought it would be awesome if we could just anchor. But then should we drag a kayak with us or have an inflatable? And Jeremy says, "No, I’ll just take my Speedo and jump in.’ I said, ‘The water’s like 49°.’ He says, ‘I swim in that all the time. I can swim 500 yards no problem to shore with a dry bag, pick up water, food, whatever we need and swim it back.’ And he’s strong as an ox." Jeremy is an Ironman triathlete.

The F-31 is sailing in support of the Brain Injury Network of the Bay Area. Based in Larkspur, BINBA is a grassroots nonprofit that offers outpatient support and therapies for clients who’ve had strokes, brain trauma, or tumors. Eastham, a neurosurgeon, is on the board of directors. Each year he donates a sail on the Bay and a picnic aboard Ma’s Rover to be auctioned off at the annual gala. If Team It Ain’t Brain Surgery wins the first-place prize of $10,000, they’ll donate it to BINBA. T-shirts are available for a $250 contribution and feature the logo and a quote from Helen Keller: "Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure… or nothing."

Instead of a skull and crossbones, Team It Ain’t Brain Surgery’s logo is a brain and oars.

Ma’s Rover
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Mark says that the art was designed by the brain-injured clients. "So everything’s working together like a nice little package deal." Donations can be made through binba.org (reference the Race to Alaska). The race will start from Port Townsend on June 23, and donors, patients and fans will be able to follow the team via GPS tracker on www.r2ak.com.

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