Another Record
The walls of Race High Command are plastered with Post-it Notes indicating various R2AK World Records. In addition to things like “Fastest Finisher,” “Most Miles in a Day,” and “Most Human Days Spent R2AKing,” here are some less common superlatives:
Most Face-Stitches Gained (7)
Most Tubes of 5200 Marine Adhesive Consumed (6)
Largest Surface Area of Blisters (A lot)
Most Pies Received Along the Way (4)
Yesterday, after the arrival of Team Supernautiloid, the nano-bots that crunch the numbers popped out some ticker tape with a new record:
Longest Uninterrupted Time Spent Underway, Landless
Indeed, the fantastic foursome aboard the good ship Gita pushed off from Bella Bella with a bold plan to take a big dig into the wide waters of Hecate Strait in search of a strong and steady breeze. What they found instead was a giant doldrum in place of what had been an oceanic gnashing of teeth just days before. And so they found themselves alternating 1-2 knot sailing with a glassy sea drifting in whatever direction Madame Nature felt like nudging. They Supernautiloitered (thanks to Facebook’s C. Nally for coining the term) themselves to Ketchikan after 122 Hours on the briny expanse.
Those of us living in a pup tent on the finish line dock in Ketchikan for the past few weeks had no way of knowing what the attitudes aboard would be—perhaps 5 full days of a frustrating creep north would have congealed into resentment of the fickle nature of things. Maybe the time and pressure had manifested as team infighting or a Lord of The Flies-type tribal standoff—two at the bow, and two in the cockpit all armed with hastily crafted spears.
When Gita appeared with full mainsail at the finish line, and coasted to a gentle stop—it quickly became clear that none of those (admittedly pessimistic) options were anywhere close to the reality of the experience of Supernautiloid. In near silence, they took care of all the normal arriving-ashore tasks—mooring up the boat, stowing gear, tidying up sails—with an aura of calmness and focus of a group who had spent their time absorbing the what-it-is of it all, rather than the what-they’d-like-it-to-be.
“We just took things as they came. We weren’t in a huge rush. We wanted to have fun, be safe, enjoy the journey. And I think that’s what we did,” Markus reflected.
“We controlled what we could control, and accept what we couldn’t,” added Jason, leaning barefoot against the boat.
As they stepped ashore to our fanfare (but none of their own), they grasped hands and Captain Jason made official their victory with a single clear sounding of the bell.
Returning Racers Go Faster
In 2019, Team Backwards AF, the two-person rowing team of Dameon Colbry and Leigh Dorsey finished the course in just over 17 days, hitting the dock about a day-and-a-half ahead of the first chapter of Team Solveig (siblings George and Stina Booth).
Smash cut to now.
This, the year of the 40-Knot-Batten-The-Hatches-And-Sit-On-The-Beach Fest that was Johnstone Strait added a full three days to the efforts of not only the human-powered fleet, but most of the sailing crews as well. One would logically expect that Solveig—who rowed the same boat as in 2019—would thusly land somewhere in the 20-day range. One might also expect that Dameon, now a solo rower (Leigh is still tired from crushing R2AK last year), would be landing somewhere amongst the pack of kayakers (or behind). Oh, ho, ho, one would be very wrong. Three days on a beach was just a brief vacation for two teams who astonishingly bested their personal bests.
George and Stina rolled into Thomas Basin in their usual dancing-in-the-boat style, and after stretching their legs and ringing the bell, declared definitively: “Well, we don’t need to do that again.” Your mission, R2AK fans? Convince them otherwise.
Dameon, on the other hand, (with a resting heart rate that we believe to be 12), glided to a stop begrudgingly, quickly informed the crowd gathered there that he wished it weren’t over, and that he felt like he could turn around and do it again. His mission? Do it once more by half: one-handed next year.
Welcome to done.
Header photo by Liam Pareis