← WA360 Home ← 2025 WA360 Teams
Crew: Linda Thompson and Alan Bishop
Hometown: Bellingham, WA
Vessel: Gig Harbor Boat Works Salish Voyager
Class: The Wind Division
Get to know Team Flying Hamster
First thing first. Why race in WA360?
Well, there’s not a better stepping stone between SEVENTY48 and Race to Alaska that we could figure out. (Also it’s hard.)
What’s your connection to these waters?
When we moved to Bellingham in 2023, it was to within walking distance of the bay. Almost all of our saltwater training has been out there, between Bellingham and Lummi Island. We’re rowing or sailing in circles around the Bellingham waypoint nearly every time we’re out.
Superpowers. Each crew member gets one. What are they and why?
Alan is capable of picturing every possible worst-case scenario in excruciating detail. Linda is capable of solving all of those scenarios with a trip to the hardware store. (Well. Perhaps not quite all, but she’ll cover a lot of them and have a plan for the ones she can’t outright solve.)
Defend your vessel choice for WA360. What makes it so cool and worthy?
Before SEVENTY48, we practiced capsizing the boat so we would know how to right it. This mostly resulted in a bunch of people being very amused as we sat on the edge and bounced while attempting to pull it over with a line. We moved on to practicing getting back in the boat.
(It turns out you really need the leverage of the mast.)
What are your adventure qualifications for WA360? What makes you (y’all) cool and capable?
It turns out that failing to complete SEVENTY48 (probably) taught us a lot more than successfully completing it would. There’s no teacher like finding your limits and learning how to work within them.
Also, Linda thinks running endurance races is fun and Alan thought convincing her to try them on the water was a good way to share the hobby while saving his knees. (He used to do multi-day trips on a Hobie 16 in North Carolina but wants slightly more comfort these days.)
What is going to break?
Going by past experience, probably the epoxy holding the collars on the oars. Hopefully not Linda’s rear. Possibly Alan’s power-hungry cell phone running 24/7 with Garmin Boating, Boat Beacon, Deep Zoom, and AIS Catcher (complete with rubber duck antenna hanging off the phone).