Team members: Jason Hanford, Taylor Buschy, Joseph Tregoning
Hometown: Berthoud, CO, USA
Race vessel: Corsair F-27
LOA: 27′
Human propulsion: Pedal (Prop)
Connect: instagram
We first met Jason several years ago when he assembled the Platte Canyon High School Yacht Club for SEVENTY48. Students built a crazy/amazing/dumb/awesome “catacanoe”—held together by ratchet straps and nightmares, trained on a Colorado lake, then pointed the whole thing toward Port Townsend. Against all appearances, it worked. It worked well enough to race multiple times and eventually inspire Team Utah School for the Deaf and Blind (racing again this year) to carry the banner after PCHS went into the history books.
Most people would call that a successful chapter.
Jason likes sequels.
The instinct to get away from tumbleweeds and toward seaweed remains strong. These days it has taken the form of Team Hull Yeah and a trimaran named Magpie, which has spent the offseason accumulating modifications at a pace familiar to anyone who has ever convinced themselves they were “almost done.”
The rest of the crew arrived by a similarly direct route. Joe and Taylor bought a sailboat before learning how to sail. Then they moved aboard. They took a YouTube on it, and at some point found themselves in Mexico.
Last year’s WA360 aboard Magpie involved overnight rowing, Sour Patch Kids, and the sort of sleep deprivation that turns conversations into private mythology.
Colorado’s largest natural body of water offers just enough room to toast one side of bread during a single tack. Nevertheless, the state appears capable of producing mariners.
The Race to Alaska Podcast
Episode 18: Team Boomerang, Team Against Limits Sailing, Team Hull Yeah
→ Listen on Spotify
→ Listen on YouTube
→ Listen on Apple Podcasts
What’s the one piece of advice you’re absolutely going to ignore?
That sounds dangerous, so you should not go.
What’s going to break first—and what’s your plan when it does?
Anything that hits a log is going to break. We have begun an extensive inspection of every aspect of the boat. We are building redundancies anywhere we can. Priority areas are communication, navigation, and propulsion. We will be carrying an assortment of spare parts and tools, and a nice first aid kit.
Duct Tape Fixes (Linear Feet)
75
Night-Before Sleep (hh:mm)
01:00