R2AK: Team Oracle

As another Race to Alaska begins, we thought it would be fun to take a closer look at some of the teams employing smaller boats on the 750-mile adventure from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, AK. Small Craft Advisor is once again offering the $1,000 “Side Bet” prize to the first team to finish in a boat 20 feet or under. Turn Point Design will award that same team with a set of tactical titanium sporks. Oh the glory!

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1. Tell us a little about your boat and crew. Team Oaracle is aboard an 18.5 foot long kevlar tandem tripping canoe designed by marathon canoeist Eugene Jensen. At a weight of 55 lbs it is one of the lightest boats in the R2AK fleet.
   
   Ian and Janice met on the dock in Port Townsend just before the start of the 2016 Race to Alaska. We were on different teams but the same type of sailboat. After the race Janice said that she wanted to row the race and Ian put up his hand. So began the adventures of Team Oaracle. Successively slower vessels (sailboat followed by rowboat, then kayak and now canoe) have been chosen during a period of rapid physical decline associated with aging. Oldest human powered finisher to date (Janice). Ian has started in all R2AKs and is one of two racers to have finished the race 5 times. Janice has finished four.

2. What makes you think this crazy plan might actually work? Because we’ve done it before we feel that our odds of finishing again are good though not guaranteed. Also, while we are older our boat is lighter and easier to move around on shore as well as to pack and unpack. We hope that this compensates a bit for slower boat speed.

3. What do you expect will be your biggest advantage—or biggest challenge—in the race? Biggest advantage is our experience and the simplicity of our craft. The challenge will be in managing the physical demands of back to back very long days with aging bodies.

4. Anything else you’d like readers to know? We (Janice mainly, along with help from PT resident Julie Knott) spearheaded the Hecate Solo Star award that will be awarded to first ever solo female finisher of the race. We’ve raised over $2000 USD (from Canadians and Americans). Oaracle is also putting up the Oaracle Blister prize—a bag of loonies or $1000 CAD. Looking forward to the 9th running of this amazing event! •SCA•