Team Hell ‘n’ Ready

Team members: Kat Hartman, Sarah Kerley, Rea Inglesis, Karen Madsen, Anna Frick, Pat Heiss, Shelli Bohrer
Hometown: San Francisco, CA, USA
Race vessel: Columbia 10.7
LOA: 35′
Human propulsion: Row
Connect: instagram

Team Hell ’n’ Ready is an all-women strategic maritime initiative focused on delivering scalable adversity solutions along the Pacific Northwest corridor aboard a legacy Columbia 10.7 performance platform recently upgraded from “neglected in Tacoma” to “probably seaworthy.”

The cross-functional crew was assembled through Bay Area women’s sailing networks and includes expertise in trauma medicine, fiduciary operations, educational administration, wilderness systems management, offshore asset deployment, and advanced snack logistics. Core competencies include cold-water rescue, pediatric critical care, remote expedition planning, emergency response, heavy-weather decision-making, and calmly explaining to Coast Guard personnel why the propulsion system appears to involve bicycle parts.

Rather than pursuing outdated speed-centric metrics, Team Hell ’n’ Ready is committed to values-driven endurance deliverables emphasizing resilience, collaborative leadership, and adaptive morale architecture. Their operational doctrine centers on a three-phase response framework:
Plan A: Sail.
Plan B: Row.
Plan C: Cheesecake.

Current organizational concerns include whirlpool exposure, crab pot entanglement, weather volatility, playlist governance, and an experimental pedal drive that remains largely conceptual.

By leveraging low-ego teamwork and iterative problem-solving methodologies, the team hopes to achieve a successful Ketchikan-facing outcome while maximizing stakeholder joy, minimizing catastrophic fouling events, and avoiding nutrition-based mutiny associated with prolonged salad deprivation.

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First things first, why Race to Alaska?
Challenging times deserve a challenge. R2AK is a shared goal of ours that requires an equal measure of teamwork and self-reliance. We admire the community and want to be a part of it. We can’t wait to see the spectacular BC coast. Also, it’s the ultimate DIY project.

What’s going to break first—and what’s your plan when it does?
Our hearts when it’s over.
But seriously, it was going to be the jib furling system, so we’re ditching it. It was going to be the tiller, so we replaced it. Hopefully not the fan for the composting toilet. Probably the pedal drive that has yet to be built.

Friendship Survival Rate (%)
100%

Confidence Level
80%