A good read from the NY Times…

Shortly after dawn on Sept. 30, 2021, Richard Jenkins watched a Category 4 hurricane overrun his life’s work.The North Atlantic storm was a behemoth — 50,000 feet tall and 260 miles wide.

Wind circled the eye wall at 143 miles per hour; waves the size of nine-story apartment buildings tumbled through a confused sea.

More here.

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(May 9, 2023; Day 17) – The morning began with the news that GUYOT environnement – Team Europe lost their rig at 0243 UTC when in gale force winds and big waves, the boat slammed off a wave and the mast crashed down. It is the second dismasting after overall leader Holcim-PRB lost their mast on the fifth day of the leg.

Meanwhile, at the front of the fleet, 11th Hour Racing Team (USA) and Team Malizia (GER) were the first to emerge from what Amory Ross, the veteran onboard reporter on 11th Hour Racing Team called ‘terrifying’ conditions.

While the leading pair remain close, skipper Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team may benefit from some local knowledge on the approach to the crew’s home port.

“We are doing everything we can to try not to break anything,” Enright reported from the boat. “The difference in the leg can be made here by not making any mistakes, keeping high [speed] averages, and keeping the boat moving towards the mark. No bear aways, no breakages and none of that stuff.”

Team Malizia skipper Will Harris said the crew of the German entry had also been focused on avoiding serious damage in the boat breaking conditions overnight but were gunning to chase down their American rival before the finish…

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Somewhere between the harbor of Sydney, Australia (where one aspirant still hasn’t begun his solo ocean crossing to the start line), and a country lane just a stone’s throw south of Sherwood Forest (where last year’s Team Zen Dog has been licking his battered paws and planning for redemption), Race to Alaska 2023 has, in the hearts of the racers, already started.

All told, 112 humans, comprising 40 teams overall, are readying themselves for the seventh R2AK.

The rules still haven’t changed: get a boat (any boat). Take out the motor (if it had one in the first place). Get to Ketchikan before the race is over without any pre-planned support. Besides that, it’s all up to you.

The original idea behind this thing: We nail $10,000 to a tree in Alaska and say “Go get it.” The funny part? Most folks know even before they start that upon their arrival in Ketchikan, all they’ll find is what they brought, what they discovered along the way, and an empty nail hole and the lingering smell of money. Through six incarnations of the race, it’s become clear that the definition of “winning” might, in fact, be somewhat broader than who gets there first.

The R2AK course is a true wilderness and a place you’ve got to mean to be. That said, the race through it is built to bring that wildness and the stories the racers paint on it to anyone inclined to be inspired. The 24-hour tracker will be on for every minute, the media team will hunt down and capture each and every delicious story and bring it to your table through email, social media, and any other way they can find.

Race start: 5 AM, June 5, at the Northwest Maritime Center.

Race details – Entry list – Facebook

The 7th edition of the Race to Alaska in 2023 will follow the same general rules which launched this madness in 2015. No motor, no support, through wild frontier, navigating by sail or peddle/paddle (but at some point both) the 750 cold water miles from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska.

To save people from themselves, and possibly fulfill event insurance coverage requirements, the distance is divided into two stages. Anyone that completes the 40-mile crossing from Port Townsend to Victoria, BC can pass Go and proceed. Those that fail Stage 1 go to R2AK Jail. Their race is done. Here is the 2023 plan:

Stage 1 Race start: June 5 – Port Townsend, Washington
Stage 2 Race start: June 8 – Victoria, BC

While the Stage 1 course is simple enough, the route to Ketchikan is less so. Other than a waypoint at Bella Bella, there is no official course. Whereas previous races mandated an inside passage of Vancouver Island, the gloves came off in 2022. Previously, the course mandated the inshore passage but for teams that could prove their seaworthiness, they now had the option of the western route.

There is $10,000 if you finish first, a set of steak knives if you’re second. Cathartic elation if you can simply complete the course. R2AK is a self-supported race with no supply drops and no safety net. Any boat without an engine can enter.

There were no races in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In 2022, there were 45 starters for Stage 1 and 34 finishers. Of those finishers, 32 took on Stage 2 of which 19 made it to Ketchikan.

Source: R2AK

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Just four months ago we heard the news that singer/sailor David Crosby had crossed the bar. He died at 81, leaving behind a legacy of music that spanned more than just his generation. When we learned this week that Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot had died on May 1, we were immediately thrown into humming his tune “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The 1976 release was written about the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank during a storm on November 10, 1975, in Lake Superior. The song is surely known by most sailors (this writer recalls it coming to mind while experiencing her first storm at sea). But what may not be as well known is that Lightfoot himself was a sailor, and after the success of his ninth studio album — Sundown (1974), which hit Number One on the Canadian and US charts — he told reporters at the Detroit Free Press that he would now like to buy a sailboat.

“I would now like to spend more time with each album, each song, and I would also like to get a sailing yacht. Not for competitive sailing, I’m a cruiser. But that’s going to take a lot of time. I’ve got to study navigation and things like that,” the article quotes.

With that newfound knowledge, we set off to learn more about this musician, who, it now appears, was also a sailor. According to a piece we found on Lightfoot’s website, the singer had in his time owned more than one boat. “It was the summer of 1976 when Gordon Lightfoot decided it was time to have the halyards quieted down on his stock 39-footer. The cacaphony they raised when they whacked against the aluminum spar was a bit too much for the ears of this Canadian folksinger, who said he was tired of fiddling around with his old boat.” Understandable. What happened next led him to replace the fiberglass-hulled boat with a wood boat.

Lightfoot had engaged the talents of boat designer Victor Carpenter, who worked under the name Superior Sailboats, to solve his noise problem. In doing so the pair struck up a true sailors’ relationship — they raced each other aboard their current boats: Lightfoot’s 39-ft Sundown, and Carpenter’s 28-ft mahogany-hulled O-Race.

Lightfoot was impressed, and upon returning to shore he looked over Carpenter’s plans for a 45-ft model of the mahogany hull that he had designed some years ago, but never built. “You wouldn’t buy a fiberglass guitar, would you?” Carpenter reportedly shot at Lightfoot as the pair discussed fiberglass versus wood. By the time they were done, Lightfoot had ordered his new sailboat, built of wood, for an “undisclosed sum.” The boat would be called Golden Goose. A little ostentatious perhaps, but if one can, then, why not?

Aside from owning and sailing his boat, Lightfoot drew upon the seafaring life for inspiration for other songs, each of which, in its own small or larger way, reflects some of the nuances of sailing. They include “The Sea of Tranquility,” “Christian Island (Georgian Bay),” “Ghosts of Cape Horn,” and “Ballad of Yarmouth Castle.” We recommend looking them up on YouTube, the Ballad of Yarmouth Castle in particular, as it has a lilting, sailorly vibe that wooden boat aficionados may enjoy.

We realize Lighfoot’s music may not appeal to all audiences, as evidenced by a letter to the editor in Latitude 38‘s January 2012 issue. But personal preferences aside, it’s been an interesting journey learning about Gordon Lightfoot, the singer, songwriter, and mariner. Fair winds, sailor.

The post Another Singer/Sailor Crosses the Bar: Gordon Lightfoot 1938-2023 appeared first on Latitude38.

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