Watching our backs.

Most of the miles that will be sailed/rowed or otherwise transited in the R2AK will be in Canadian waters.  Only 76 miles of the total 750 miles, as the Salish Sea raven flies, will be in US waters.  Hopefully NOBODY gets in trouble deep enough that they have to hit the SOS button on their SPOT.  If they do, or we do, there will be a number of safety resources to help us out of a tight spot including the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue.  These men and women are volunteers so if you see them on the water thank them for being there – just in case you meet up again later on.  Like them on their Facebook page too.

Going for the R2AK Gold

Scott and I have been doing HTFU training with the help of our buddy Kevin as I posted about a few days ago.  While we were trying to survive the cold waters of Puget Sound, it happened that Emily Riedel of The Discovery Channel’s Bering Sea Gold fame wandered down the beach to see what was up with the swimmers.   She then proceeded to join us in the water as the countdown timer hit 6 minutes to go.  She was pretty casual about it all, laughing and clearly enjoying herself.

Screen Shot 2015-01-21 at 3.29.39 PMToday I had coffee with her to talk to her about cold water, the spirit of Alaska and going for the gold.  In her words:

It only hurts until you go numb,  I saw you out in the water and thought “kindred  spirits” and getting the gold is never easy, it can be a disaster!

When I suggested she join the race, her eyes lit up and she said “I’m fascinated by this race and will consider it in the future.”

Jake Beattie and the Northwest Maritime Center, you better start planning R2AK 2016!

Opinion about race speeds and what team will win.

Colin Angus has written a great entry on his blog at Angus Rowboats about who he thinks might win the R2AK.  Totally worth reading if you are wondering!  Better yet, buy one of his row cruisers and enter the race to win!

http://angusrowboats.com/blog/2015/01/2298/