Most adventure chasers can recall their first big journey with crystal clarity—the one that left the weekend warrioring, even the full week funfest, bobbing in the wake of this escapade’s scale. Being out for 10-plus days is a long trip, no matter your make-up or method of travel. That’s where our six teams are now; and some of them are deep into their longest journey to date. Personally, I have loved my own trips longer than 10 days, relished them to the core actually, but I’ve always been surprisingly elated to sit in a chair (a chair, the extravagance!) and wolf down that burger and a cold one on the other side of DONE too. When adventures meander past the 10-day mark, they get hard to sum up immediately. These racers will need some time to comprehend, let alone convey, what they’ve just done. What we can know from the outside looking in is that they’ll hold these forever memories dear; once the acute effort and active hardship (and there has definitely been some hardship) fades into the friendly fog of rosy retrospection anyway.
Similar to its bigger Alaska-bound sibling, WA360 doesn’t really wrap up with a bang. The finish line fanfare tends to get more subtle, finishers’ vibes often as much relief as rejoicing, their accomplishments usually more internal than externally recognized (though no less grand, and unambiguously bigger). Yet, yesterday’s finishers were treated to a nice crowd to cheer them home.
As Katie shared in yesterday’s update, the four paddling teams who finished at roughly the same time arrived in a spirit of outright cooperation and support. But that doesn’t mean they would characterize the experience similarly.
Moments after finishing and walking from her boat to greet her family and friends gathered there, Team Trishkabob enthused, “Jesus effing Christ, that was so hard.” She continued, as she accepted and opened a beer, “The SEVENTY48 sucked me in! I was super excited about it. It took me until day 4 to realize it was a stupid idea. I did not think it was a bad idea off the bat.”
You’d never know Trishkabob’s co-finisher Team Pandatrax had just paddled the same 360 miles over almost 10 days. He felt surprisingly energetic, declaring: “I absolutely loved it. I had the greatest time. I think it made up for the trying times we experienced.” He said he felt less tired at the finish of WA360 than after SEVENTY48. Double-fisting a popsicle and a beer, he reminisced about his highlights, which were numerous, perhaps none more gratifying than riding the current under the Narrows Bridge in the middle of the night, not even having to paddle.
That’s pretty incredible perspective, especially considering that another member of that same group, Team Zunderdog, noted that this whole kayak crew overworked themselves the last two days. On Sunday, they paddled from 8:30 AM to 2 PM Then took a quick break until 6 PM—he got one hour of sleep in that time. Then, they paddled from 6 PM all the way through the night to the finish the following afternoon; but only after he had capsized around 7 AM and recovered with the assistance of Pandatrax.
Moments before the time of this writing, Team Hard on Port’s duo rowed their CLC Dory up to the dock to ring the bell and take a deep breath as the 52nd team to complete this epic voyage. They were tired in every dimension, rising early to get on the water around sunrise for this exhausting 20-mile final push from Bowman Bay near Deception Pass. Their nuggets of wisdom and celebration will wait until after a nap.
Of the six teams still on the water, three are human-powered vessels, and three primarily hope to capture the breeze. As it has been since the first day out, the experiences of these teams continue to run the gamut from delight to borderline despair. Chatting with the Race Boss this morning, I got some solid intel to pass along.
Team MZEE had a “hell of a day,” according to the Race Boss. MZEE left Point Roberts on his Kruger Seawind kayak yesterday in the early afternoon, and pulled into Patos Island around 10:30 last night. The first portion of that run involved bucking current and the second half offered increasing breeze. A big effort and some hard won miles on a sizeable crossing. MZEE is now back underway, skirting Sucia as I write this.
Several other teams got stymied by currents in Rosario Strait. The ruthless flood ran heavy from late morning through happy hour. That’s a prime traveling window made much more complicated by 3 knots of water running against you. Team Big Moo Canoe made some good progress in the morning hours, winding up down near Deception Pass before the full flood and day’s wind and waves made things difficult. His Angus RowCruiser flooded, and he turned around for the safety of the islands, getting sent all the way back to Lopez Island’s Telegraph Bay just north of Watmough for what he hoped would be a quiet night to recover. Not so for Big Moo. The Race Boss’s phone blurped to life shortly after midnight, getting the report that Big Moo’s anchor had dragged as the wind kicked up into the 20s in the nearby Strait of Juan de Fuca. Big Moo was shaken, and had his finger over the eject button, ready to call the whole thing off. Decreasing breeze and the morning light found Moo rethinking it, when he texted Race Boss, “Okay, I’m still in this.” He plans to stay put today and make a run for the finish on Wednesday.
Team Tar Keels’ departure from James Island coincided with the onset of the flood, and the current reality set harshly in, sending them back to Lopez Island’s Shoal Bight in the afternoon, tallying only 4 miles on the day. They’re back underway now, making good progress, and showing promise for a finish later today.
Let Loose the Goose’s T-bird rolled in to Point Roberts around sunset yesterday, presumably the latest in the long line to be generously hosted by NWM Adventure Race superfans and super-supporters, Heidi and Tor, who have provided many passing teams everything from tracker charging to a luxurious soak in their hot tub.
The last two teams on the course, Rogue Kayaker and Paddle On… Paddle On are a married couple and perennial SEVENTY48 participants who have matching tattoos of their past race finish times. They’re taking a zero day today, but are in fairly frequent contact with the Race Boss, mainly to say “We’re just over here being happy, wanted you to know.”
At this point in the WA360, you might think it was getting harder to rhapsodically celebrate the victories large and measurable as well as small and intangible; tougher to authentically honor the grit and grind and goodness of these racers; that our cup of inspiration overfloweth a little less each day. But you’d be mistaken—we’re still watching, rooting, amazed and awestruck. This race is just so dang cool.
– Joe Cline, Managing Editor of 48° North.
Fresh Footage
Video by Garret Weintrob, Header photo by Mark Cole