Vancouver brothers complete Race to Alaska in trimaran

Despite that unknown, that night of cruising and crashing along the waves was one of the brightest on a 15-day Odyssey for the Vancouver brothers. Racing under the name Team Vantucky, the Bay brothers were the second boat shorter than 20 feet to complete the second Race to Alaska — a 710-mile race open to any engineless watercraft from Victoria, British Columbia, to Ketchikan.

They reached the Ketchikan finish line at about 2 a.m. on July 11, some five days later than they’d hoped and just in time to be greeted by family members who were scheduled to fly home that day. Mother Nature made sure the trip was more exhausting than the Bays imagined a year earlier when Justin first heard a radio interview that sparked his interest in the race.

Avid sailboat racers who have had success in local races on the Columbia River, the idea of sailing up the inland passage excited the Bays from the moment Justin heard race a organizer interviewed on NPR.

But this Race to Alaska was not the grand sailing adventure they dreamed about. Instead of rowing 15 or fewer hours as planned, a lack of wind meant the brothers spent much of the journey pushing water — they estimate as many as 500 miles.

“It wasn’t the Race to Alaska, it was the Row to Alaska 2016,” Kevin said.

“Bear in mind, we weren’t in a row boat and neither one of us is a rower,” Kevin noted.

In fact, neither Bay brother enjoys rowing, but they did prepare with rowing workouts with the help of Vancouver Lake Crew.

Still, there was no way to prepare for days of alternating two-hour shifts rowing — fatigue compounded by a lack of sleep. The rower had to sit in the sleeping quarters, so there was no shut-eye for the rower on break.

The lack of sleep explains why Kevin saw a couple of phantom cruise ships during one “awesome night of instant-coffee sailing.”

Living in wetsuits for half a month, eating packaged meals, sleeping only when tide and wind conditions were of no use to them, the brothers spent much of the journey believing they were near the back of the flotilla.

“After Day 4, we really didn’t see anybody around,” Kevin said. Forced to row all day, they figured they were falling behind. But they were not about to quit.

Stopping only to refill their water bottles, or when the current made rowing counter-productive, they pressed on. When there was wind, they alternated four-hour sailing shifts during which the other brother would climb into the cozy forward compartment to sleep. The wind that did come often came at night, which meant that after 16 hours of rowing they sailed through the night instead of resting.

Justin Bay described the challenge as a metaphor for life itself.

“The goal was Ketchikan. We had a plan to achieve that goal. Everything that was happening along the way was making us alter our play and alter our short-term goals. But the long-term goal never changes.”

Team Vantucky’s aggressive mind-set was evident as they approached Seymour Narrows, a 3-mile stretch about as wide as the Columbia River at Vancouver famous for its whirlpools and crazy currents and a spot where the water is 20,000 feet deep.

With the tide about to change and the sun setting, they decided to go for it instead of waiting and losing time.

“It was kind of like white-water rafting,” Kevin said, noting that the current pushed them through. As they sped past whirlpools, they were alongside a group of Humpback whales and at one point were yelled at by a nearby fishing boat.

After Seymour Narrows, Team Vantucky really was on its own. Participants had been warned before starting that it might take the Coast Guard as long as 24 hours to reach them on that part of the journey.

But Team Vantucky never felt alone. In fact, it was the support of folks who contributed to their efforts pushed them on as much as the competitive urge to win the race. Even as the fatigue mounted and the blisters grew, even when the frustration of missing goals for the first seven days led to a minor emotional meltdown — quitting was never an option.

“We’re putting in too much effort not to achieve this goal” was the mind-set, according to Justin. “We’re going to achieve it for us, and also achieve it for all the people who believe in us.”

As unbelievable as it might sound, each Bay said he would like to Race to Alaska again. But both said if that happens it will probably be as a crew member on a larger sailboat, not in a small, plastic vessel exposed to every element.

“It was a struggle, one of the most trying experiences of my life,” Justin said. It was mentally very difficult and physically draining. But I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

More online

To see more photos from Team Vantucky and the Race to Alaska, visit their Facebook page: Facebook.com/TeamVantucky

A short YouTube video can be seen here: