R2AK3 Entry Deadline Is This Weekend
The third Race to Alaska won’t start until 5 a.m. on June 8, but this Saturday, April 15, is the deadline to enter. The grueling 750-mile full course takes sail- and human-powered craft from Port Townsend, WA, to Ketchikan, AK, with one stop in Victoria, BC.
Four teams have signed up for the ‘Proving Grounds’, the first leg to Victoria. Sixteen more have signed up for the full course. A quick scan reveals one with a Bay Area connection: Guy Rittger of San Francisco is joining Canadian Duncan Gladman, an R2AK vet, in the Victoria, BC-based Team Pear-Shaped Racing. Their trimaran, Nice Pear, is a VPLP-designed Multi 23, made for round-the-cans day racing, not offshore expeditions. "For this reason, TPSR’s resident naval architects, in consultation with actual experts, determined that carbon reinforcement needed to be made in several key areas, particularly the crossbeams, crossbeam mounting points, daggerboard case, rudder assembly and shroud/running backstay termination points," they posted on their blog at teampearshapedracing.wordpress.com. The nimble tri will get a human assist from pedal drive.
Besides North America, teams have signed up from France, Australia and the UK. Among the hardy are three SUPers! The long-distance adventurers will be vying for the first-to-finish prize of $10,000 (the second-place prize is a set of steak knives). But there’s another chance to earn ten grand, via the ‘Buy Back Program’ for the first boat sold back to the organizers at the finish line, no questions asked.
The Pre-Race Ruckus on June 7 will first expose the sailors and paddlers to the rigors of a party to which all of Port Townsend — and everyone else — is invited, complete with loud music, gustatory indulgences and liquid refreshments.
Be entertained in the meantime at www.r2ak.com.