Team members: Jay Blackmore, Michael Bowick, Doug Kennedy, Roger Hassol, Todd Kettner, Mike Sagal
Hometown: Nelson, BC, Canada
Race vessel: Flying Tiger Monohull
LOA: 33′
Human propulsion: Dual pedal drive & SUP paddles
Connect: Instagram
TL;DR: Beer, 80s music, bad haircuts, Canadian self-stereotypes, and the existence of Bob Perry.
If you’re like us, chances are that when you hear the word Kootenay you’re back in the macrobrew glory days of the 1980s. Hamm’s was the beer refreshing, the Silver Bullet never slowed you down, and the cultural divide was defined by your stance on the noteworthy Less Filling/Tastes Great debate rather than whether you thought masks were tools of public health or signals of being a simp. Those were simpler times: a Sasquatch hawked beers on television while 4x4s filled with two-fours delivered lager to 1980s gender-stereotyped mountain campfires, to the call of Bob and Doug McKenzie:
Coo-Roo-Coo-Coo-Coo-Coo-Coo-Coo!
If you’re old enough and from around here, you can’t hear that and not slam one down and crush it on your forehead—nostalgia is what nostalgia does. The Kootenays was the source of Kokanee brew, eh? Kokanee was BC’s answer to Coors, the beer of choice when quantity mattered and Molson wasn’t cheap enough. The Kootenays fueled a hockey-haired generation to make bad decisions with enthusiasm. What’s the connection? Beyond the fact that they hail from the Kootenays, “enthusiastic bad ideas” may just be the common source code for their team members and the R2AK.
They aren’t just ok, they’re Bachman Turner Overdrive-ok. Look at them: they’re self-employed, taking care of business every day.
To a man, the team members of Team Kootenay Pedalwheelers have made lives out of the sort of decisions that make beers and worried mothers get drunk. Their self-employed, adventure-seeking non-conformity looks like they made a pact back in Grade 12 to freak out their guidance counselors, only to return successful and drink a Kokanee toast to themselves at their 30th reunion. All of them dove deep into the adventure-forward lifestyle: 8-months-at-a-time breaks to climb mountains or sail the Sea of Cortez, five consecutive seasons sailing in Alaska, whitewater paddling, cross-Pacific deliveries, Peruvian mountain climbing, bicycling Europe, and collective years spent sailing up and down Lake Kootenay transporting grain for a carbon-free CSA. Suck on that, guidance counselors: who’s a hoser now?
They all decided to go their own way, and in between the near ridiculous amount of recreational mountaineering and sailing, they flipped the altimeter to work 5000ft (km? Either way…) underground and fought fire in postcard-perfect wilderness.
Their boat: a Flying Tiger—potentially the only design that could match their streak of Pacific Northwest/Canadian Southwest self-determined individuality. The Flying Tiger was born in the mid-2000s from a predictably heated online discussion on Sailing Anarchy where a group of one-design racers group-thought the parameters for the design of the perfect 30-foot sports boat. Then PNW’s own resident genius, Bob Perry, the crusty Wizard of Tulalip, got roped into the process and cranked out the Anarchy 30, which begat the Flying Tiger 10 M, which was conceived and birthed in the gracious and supportive scrutiny that only an open internet forum can offer. Despite and because of the “all play” polyamorous process of conception and design, the boat is a monster in 32 feet. Fin/bulb keel and a rig for days, the FT is a competitive one-design fleet—it even has enough of a cabin that you can duck in, shotgun a Kokanee, smash the can on your forehead, and grab a quick nap while the rest of your crew pounds north at boat speeds of 16+.
Shit hot boat, proven crew, the potential for nonstop references: this is going to be epic.
Welcome to the R2AK, Team Kootenay Pedalwheelers. Even if you’re running against the wind, we’re sure you’ll make the Great White North proud.