The boats are yellow, the pants are brown, let’s do this!
STAGE ONE- Port Townsend to Victoria
Team Name: Toledo Community Boathouse
Team Captain: Andy Linn
Total crew: 2
Vessel: 12? Goose (stretched version of a Puddle Duck Racer)
Team Toledo Community Boathouse are the kind of steely eyed individuals who stand with their two feet on the ground and stare down the face of change with an unblinking countenance. Think Clint Eastwood crossed with the rock of Gibraltar. They aren’t ones to follow trends or experiment with the latest whizbang doodad. They know what works. They cut their teeth on the trials of the Texas 200; an annual 200 mile hardship in the state you don’t mess with. Filled with hellacious winds and biting flies, this white knuckle calamity is traditionally undertaken in the best boat you can build out of three sheets of plywood: The 8-foot Puddle Duck Racer.
When the folks from Toledo heard about the R2AK they didn’t try to follow the masses jumping on the multihull bandwagon or diving headfirst into the folly of maritime traditions native to the Pacific Northwest. They stuck with what they knew. Bigger water? Bigger Puddle Duck. 12 foot.
Solid plan, unwavering, resolute. Our hats are off to these guys- 40 miles of open water in a 12-foot box is a steadfast undertaking indeed.