Team members: Mark Newell, Ari Rubenstein, Luis Buen Abad, Jodi Stone, Anne McCormack, Julia Guard
Hometown: Seattle, WA, USA
Race vessel: 1978 Santa Cruz 33
LOA: 33′
Human propulsion: Pedal (Prop)
Connect: facebook
Six adults on a Santa Cruz 33, one Google spreadsheet, and a secret box of wine.
The Santa Cruz 33 is the stretch-limo version of the Santa Cruz 27—the boat currently under federal review for invasive-species behavior along the R2AK course. The same ultralight lineage, just longer, roomier, and theoretically capable of withstanding 3.26% more rowdy water.
This team didn’t happen overnight. The idea circled for years before it hardened into fiberglass. WA360 followed. So did an overnight pedal-drive surgery and a vanished bicycle pedal somewhere near Tacoma, sacrificed to the gods of reverse-threading. They kept going. A pattern emerges.
There is real R2AK experience aboard—freezing nights, deadheads in the dark, an entire pedal drive researching the bathymetry of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and an EPIRB that briefly gave the Coast Guard something to do. There is rowing pedigree from SEVENTY48. There is national-level canoe racing. There is the quiet confidence of people who know that cold is not theoretical and that morale sometimes requires contraband wine.
They are thoughtful. They prepare. They retrofit things at midnight. They believe six extra feet buys leverage.
Whether it buys enough is a different question.
The Race to Alaska Podcast
Episode 6: Team Mistakes Were Made, Team Much Ado About Muffin, Team The Bristol Bear
→ Listen on Spotify
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→ Listen on Apple Podcasts
First things first, why Race to Alaska?
R2AK feels like what I imagine El Cap was for Alex Honnold, tantalizing, terrifying, the ultimate challenge, and something absolutely to try. Long cold nights, wet flat days of pedaling, unknowable conditions and situations, all opportunities to build bonds with old friends and new, forged in the challenge and experience.
What’s the biggest unknown for you right now?
Umm, how will our inboard come out, and how will it get to Ketchikan, and what happens if we don’t get to Ketchikan and the motor is there?
Friendship Survival Rate
110%
Duct Tape Fixes (Linear Feet)
0.5