Team members: Justin Bay, Kevin Bay, James Bay
Hometown: Vancouver, WA, USA
Race vessel: Corsair F27
LOA: 27′
Human propulsion: Pedal (Prop)
Connect: facebook
2016. It’s 2 AM in Ketchikan. Two brothers who just rowed and sailed 750 miles slide up to the finish line dock. They’ve been cold, wet, and avoiding direct eye contact for 14 days. Waiting for them: one dude clapping.
Ten years later, Kevin and Justin are back. This time, they’ve added their dad, Jim, because the boat is bigger, and apparently, that means you can add more family dynamics. Justin is the one who got the ball rolling—Jim says he can “sell you a bucket of shit and a spoon to eat it with.” Kevin resisted harder this round (he’s got a three-year-old now), but memory is selective. The suffering blurs.
They remember rowing about 80% more than planned. They remember the movie line about being “brothers working on being enemies.” They also remember the bioluminescence—anchors glowing through black water, the part that makes you forget the rest.
Now they’re on a Corsair F27—faster, sharper, less forgiving. There’s a pedal drive in the works, a daggerboard to think about, and a healthy fear of logs at night.
The goal is 5–7 days. The plan is smarter weight, fewer heroics, and anchoring when it makes sense.
And maybe someone will be there when they finish.
The Race to Alaska Podcast
Episode 7: Team Vantucky, Team Northbound Nutters, Team Norn To Be Wild
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What’s your team’s origin story?
We competed in, and completed the 2016 Race to Alaska in a 17ft rotomolded torture chamber. After 14 soggy, sleepless days we pulled into Ketchikan as the 19th overall finisher and 2nd in a boat under 20ft. It took 10 years for us to forget/suppress enough of the painful memories to decide it was a good idea again. But we’ll be darned if we’re going back out in the big scary ocean without our Daddy this time!
What part of this race keeps you up at night?
Logs, No Wind, To much Wind… The realization that we may actually be mentally unwell. The first go in 2016 was an absolute challenge for a couple of kinda fit guys in their late 20’s early 30’s. Fast forward 10 years and everything is harder, except our muscles.
Duct Tape Fixes (Linear Feet)
16
Friendship Survival Rate
100%