Stage 1: Port Townsend to Victoria
Team Name: Team Forest Grove
Team captain: Tom Auran
Total onboard: 2
Race vessel: 1985 Montgomery 15 sloop
Tom Auran describes himself as “an aging mountaineer” who’s looking for a sport a bit “less taxing.” He started sailing on the Columbia River a couple years ago and got bitten by the bug. “What I lack in water experience,” he writes, “I more than make up for with my ability to withstand prolonged discomfort.”
Oh, yeah, and there’s this: First mate Steve Molin is an ASA certified sailor and instructor who has sailed all manner of small craft across San Francisco Bay, the San Juan Islands and the Columbia River.
So why race to Victoria? Because it’s there.