Race 2 Alaska on a J/24?

Race 2 Alaska on a J/24 © r2ak.com

Victor Felice from the Tiller & Kites sailing organization he created on Lake Pleasant, Arizona shared this little vignette about a USA veterans sailing team racing a J/24 that he salvaged!

The Race 2 Alaska is 750 nm from Port Townsend, Washington north up the inside channels to Ketchikan, Alaska... it's an EPIC, extremely challenging race!

Said Victor, "The Veterans Admin sailing crew on Lake Pleasant hand-painted a J/24 called REBEL YELL. If you recall, each veteran created artwork and then adapted it to paint it on the hull. It was a very cool, artistic "pop art".

After a few years, we transferred REBEL YELL to Michael Tieman and the Guardian Sailing Team, a team of veterans! Incredibly, they just completed the R2AK (Race to Alaska)!! A long, grueling test of teamwork and seamanship on ANY boat! Here's a photo of them at the finish line in Ketchikan, Alaska!"

Here's the report from the "Race Boss" of R2AK:

The happenings on Day Nine of this Alaska Race provide a punctuative note to the frenetic, punk rock pace of the first days of team finishes. A steady blues soundtrack echoes from the next racers down-course, still over a hundred miles distant. Across the line came two teams: Team Guardian Sailing in the early hours, and miracle mad-people Team Tips Up, arriving mid-afternoon—both to howls, cheers, and jaw-drops from the dock and across the R2AKosphere.

New finish line guardians

6:16 am in Alaska and a bass-slapping groove pulsed from Team Guardian Sailing's J/24 as it appeared around the Ketchikan breakwater to fishing boat horn-blasts and cheers from the dock. Fans, friends, and recently-arrived and sleep-deprived racers roused themselves for the TGS victory.

The J/24 is on loan from a friend and is decked out with one of the most bomb-proof pedal drives on the course. It was built by team member Eric who said "I've never built anything like it, but it worked pretty well." The boat is colorfully tattooed like an old wrinkled sailor—each new image an homage to a completed adventure, and TGS has yet to settle on what their next addition will be.

The traditional bell ring (now played on a quickly fabricated gas-canister-turned-instrument) was, for Captain Michael, a bell-toll ceremony for fallen friends, as he called out five names to be remembered. Guardian Sailing is his brainchild— cooked up when he was on deployment in Afghanistan. It came to life not only as an R2AK team but as a non-profit with a mission to create healing experiences for veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD.

There's a lot to be processed in the first few minutes on the dock. The team was getting their legs back and starting to relearn how to talk to anyone but themselves. Before long, team member Emily was able to sum it up well: "It was the best experience of my life."

Learn more at r2ak.com