Nearly ready for the R2AK trimaran
Sealark is a 19’ expedition trimaran built for the 2015 Race to Alaska, but did not make it to the start. The construction is multi-chine stitch-and-glue plywood/epoxy with fiberglass skins, and a custom carbon fiber mast and sails. Weight is approx. 400 lbs complete. Human power is by sliding seat rowing, or paddle.
The boat requires more development and work (like figuring out how to keep the amas firmly attached) but the project…
Palindrome: skin-on-frame proa for the R2AK
A few days after the start of the R2AK I was biking around Point Hudson Marina to see what I might see, and decided to duck into a grassy field behind the RV lot when I ran into a proa! I skidded to a stop and pointed at the boat, “That’s a proa!” I cleverly exclaimed. The young man who was doing something on the boat stopped what he was doing, smiled and affirmed “Yes, it is!” That’s how I met Dillon Majoros, the owner, designer and…
R2AK Update - June 9
The Race to Alaska is proving to be just as tough on boats and sailors as expected. Uncharacteristically strong winds (up to 20 knots dead on the nose) and the resulting brutal chop are discovering every weak link in the fleet, causing gear failure, DNF’s, even a dismasting. Two of the early race favorites, the 24’ carbon fiber catamaran of Team Turn Point Design, and the Paul Bieker designed proa of Team Pure and Wild, called it quits…
Multihulls in the Race to Alaska
The R2AK starting gun goes off in less than two days: June 4, at 5:00 am. Among the fleet of 56 boats due to depart Port Townsend on Thursday morning, nearly 50% are multihulls. Point Hudson is beginning to resemble Plymouth during the OSTAR and St. Malo during the Route du Rhum! The harbor is filling up with the coolest multihulls we’ve ever seen, many purpose built for the race. Not to say that there aren’t very interesting monos as…
The Iditarod with a chance of drowning
The Wave Writer - Kurt Hoehne, on the R2AK and its founder, Jake Beattie, and the Brown/Bieker proa of Team Pure & Wild. -Editor
In today’s world, there are few adventures with Big Questions. It seems every adventure has been done at least once before. Somebody’s going to find a new route to the summit, win the game on a superlative performance or lucky bounce, or find that extra bit of speed around the race. Those are relatively…
R2AK - April Update
The Race to Alaska - only 40 days until the June 4 starting gun! The new boats are finally getting splashed, the first hurdle of many to come.
The first and only proa to be entered in the race is Team Pure and Wild, launched this Saturday at CSR Marine in Seattle. Designed by America’s Cup foil master Paul Bieker, built by legendary proa builder Russell Brown, and raced by the team of Joe Bersch and Dalton Bergan (I-14 National…
R2AK - January Update
Port Townsend’s Race to Alaska made it on the cover of the Rolling Stone Seattle Times this week. It features Seattle’s own Thomas Nielson and Scott Veirs, who will be entering a Hitia 17 with crab claw rig in the event. Both Tom and Scott are experienced watermen, they and their rugged little Wharram will make a formidable team.
However, they are just the tip of the local multihull iceberg forming around the race. Edensaw Woods is…
The R2AK gold rush
One topic on everyone’s lips at the PT Wooden Boat Festival this year is the Race to Alaska, a sail/row/paddle race from PT to Ketchikan, AK sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center, and promoted by our friends at Smallcraft Advisor. It’s a 750 mile “Aquatic Iditarod” with no rules except no engines allowed but muscle and wind. First prize is $10,000, and there is no second.
The start is set for June 4, 2015, which is a notoriously…
Alain Thebault Interview
This is a nice interview of L’Hydroptere skipper Alain Thebault by CNET’s Molly Wood. L’Hydroptere is a member of a very exclusive club: “Former holders of the world sailing speed record”. Unlike most record holders, the flying hydrofoil trimaran is not limited to shallow and waveless speed traps, but is open ocean capable. Highlights include photos of Alain’s early scale models that he built as a teenager.
This post is also a test of…
Happy is the man
Loïck Peyron: Triple winner of the Ostar, holder of the Jules Verne Trophy, champion of many other races including the Barcelona World Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre, and an America’s Cup helmsman in 2010 (Alinghi) and 2012 (Artemis). In 1986, he finished fifth overall and first in his class in the Route du Rhum (Saint Malo, France to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadalupe), despite a dismasting at the start. “One of my best races”!
After…
