I spent 2-3 weeks on North Padre Island in Texas last fall, parked at the windsurfing campgrounds on the inner channel. My neighbors were a mix of beginners there to take lessons, extremely competent boarders from all over the world, and professional boarders and snow skiers. While I sat in my chair with a book gazing out on the water, my neighbor was getting paid from a sponsor to sail around with the logo in my vision.
Another neighbor from Montana was re-learning the sport of stand-up paddle boarding, essentially standing on a surf board and using an oar for propulsion on flat water. SUPs are what they’re called. Once you master the techniques, it’s a fairly good way of getting around when conditions are favorable.
When I mentioned that I was from Port Townsend, a lot of the folk recognized it and brought up R2AK, even knowing more than I and I followed it pretty closely. R2AK is a challenging endeavor considered to be an “extreme sport”, of great interest to the people I was hanging out with. During the second drink, the question of running the race on a SUP was possible came up.
Under great conditions an SUP can do about 2-3 knots. Tidal currents under your board can be typically 3-5 knots. Along the race course currents of 15-20 knots are common. When the wind blows you become a sail, worth about 3-5 knots. When you are going 750 miles, making an ideal total of 20-30 knots is great. An SUP can do it.
But, tides go the other way half the time, and the winds could just as easily go the wrong way. You could be making 3 knots north with your paddle, and wind and tide could be moving you at 30 knots southward. So you stop if you are sane. But, you cannot cover 750 miles when stopped.
There are SUPs in the R2AK, and they’ll be watched closely. My friends from North Padre will be watching, no doubt learning and plotting how best to do it…