Yesterday we traded tracking dots for a brief reminder that this whole enterprise runs on the goodwill of people who think a race this poorly conceived ought to exist. Thanks to everyone who threw money at the bucket.
Back to the boats. The last team we logged in Ketchikan was Outliers, which happened about fourteen years ago in race time. Since then, ten more teams have sputtered onto the dock, found garments that don’t smell like a wet bilge, and slowly re-learned how to use silverware. Welcome to Alaska to Teams Tips Up, Casuals, Darwin’s Interns, Calorically Dense, Yes!, Against Wind and Reason, Vantucky, Mooretgage Bond, Mike, Marty & the Bonesaw, and Agile Racing.
A few hundred miles south, things are not so restful. A high-pressure system the size of a minor continent is currently squatting over the left armpit of North America, enthusiastically shoving air molecules southward. The forecast for the next four days reads like a personal threat, promising steady twenties with gusts that make you wonder if your life insurance is fully paid up.
South of Cape Caution, the human-powered contingent— Teams Notes, Lillian Signed Up To Suffer, Apple Bottom Boy, Belly Full of Tea, and The Bristol Bear—spent Friday evening trying to get as close to the corner as possible before the weather dropped the guillotine. Apple Bottom Boy and Belly Full of Tea (Apple Belly Bottom Tea) tucked into a marine park campsite at Wilkie Point, an actual place with places to set up tents and zero room service. Notes, Lillian, and The Bristol Bear settled into an unnamed indentation in the coastline eight miles further south. Careful digital analysis of grainy satellite imagery concludes it contains rocks, trees, and zero spa services.
Saturday morning arrived, and just as the forecast was about to move from ominous to actively hostile, everyone launched. The Wilkie Point duo cleared Cape Caution around 4:30 a.m. The southern trio followed two hours later.
Apple Bottom Boy and Belly Full of Tea (Belly Full of Apple Tea Bottoms) made it around. Meanwhile, “Lillian Takes Bristol Notes” got out into the rough stuff and spent a bunch of time sparring with the conditions. They went north, then west, then initiated a brief loop back toward the south. In the conditions that only they could see, but everyone on this side of the tracker can only guess at, it was – concerning. But just as our editorial department threatened to take away our keyboard, their tracks started to make sense. They got back on a northward track, travelling north inside of Ugwiwa Cove, and presumably headed for the very spot that Apple Bellied Tea Boy’s Bottom stayed last night.
It’s easy to watch tracker dots from a dry room. Out there, the cold is real, the fatigue is absolute, and every course change carries real consequences. Every 15-minute tracker refresh has us leaning a little closer to the screen. More than anything, we can’t wait to hear the stories once everyone is safely ashore.
Header photo by Lynnette Oostmeyer | Video by Garret Weintrob